76 year old Norwegian composer Arne Nordheim is something of a Godfather to the Scandinavian electronic music scene – indeed Rune Grammofon have released two albums of his music, and he’s been remixed by Biosphere. And now we have this new recording of Nordheim’s music by Kenneth Karlsson (piano/synth) and Bjorn Rabben (percussion) – aka Cikada Duo – aided by Ake Parmerud (electronics) and Elisabeth Holmertz (voice). The album consists of three long pieces plus a shorter song at the end. The music is at the austere end of modern classical, but the occasional shimmering electronics and chiming percussion make it quite listenable.
‘Colarazione’ features organ dischords which swell and fade, isolated xylophone notes, weird electronic colours. The music played by the performers is continuously recorded and played back to them, sometimes after being ring modulated, and they then react to the playback of what they just played 15 seconds ago, and so on, in a feedback loop which continues until the end of the piece. (Oddly enough, in places it sounds like something from Tangerine Dream’s Electronic Meditation.) ‘Den Forste Sommerfugl’ is a beautiful setting of a poem by Henrik Wergeland, and is a showcase for Elisabeth Holmertz’s bewitching soprano voice. It’s a lovely way to close this challenging disc from the Nordic avante-garde.
[Technical note: this disc is released as an SACD – if you have a compatible player, you can listen to a 5.1 surround mix of this album.]
Ewan Burke
