DAVID LANG
The Little Match Girl Passion

GEORGE MACFARREN
Orpheus with his lute

EDWARD ELGAR
My love dwelt in a northern land

JULIUS BENEDICT
Dirge for the faithful lover

JOHN CALCOTT
The Erl King

R.J.S. STEVENS
Sigh no more ladies

Theatre of Voices
-Else Torp
-Kate Macoboy
-Signe Asmussen
-Laura Lamph
-Miles Lallemant
-Paul Bentley-Angell
-Jakob Skoldborg
-Danny Purtell
-Andrew Mahon

Paul Hillier, artistic director

MICHAEL GORDON
A Western

ARVO PÄRT
Drei Hirtenkinder aus Fátima
Morning Star
Virgencita
Habitare fratres in unum
Bogoroditse dyevo

JOHN LUTHER ADAMS
A Brief Descent into Deep Time

(Danish text below)

Two very different visions of the Americas are presented in this concert. We begin in the USA during the 1950s. Michael Gordon’s 'A Western' is based on the cowboy film High Noon starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. Gordon’s Western is about the Wild West and good guy–bad guy, but also references TV fantasies, gun law and consumerism. Gordon is one of the USA’s most important living composers; based in New York and southern California, he is is one of the leading figures in the Bang On A Can music collective. 'A Western' was composed for Theatre of Voices and might be described as punk rock meets close harmony.

'A Brief Descent into Deep Time' was also composed for Theatre of Voices and here receives its world premiere. John Luther Adams lived for many years in Alaska where his music was deeply influenced by the northern soundscape. There he started to explore the ‘space’ between the environment and human culture. He now spends much of his time in the Sonoran desert in Mexico. 'A Brief Descent into Deep Time' is a musical representation of time measured on a geological scale. Scored for voices, organ and percussion, it passes metaphorically through 1.7 billion years of descent through the layers of the Grand Canyon. A quotation from William Carlos Williams’ famous poem, 'The Descent', reads: 'The descent beckons as the ascent beckoned'. In his score, John Luther Adams quotes from the same source.

In between these two larger works are a set of five sacred pieces by Arvo Pärt. Pärt often seems to reflect in his music something of the actual place where a new piece is commissioned and is to be first performed. Sometimes this process is quite apparent – as with Virgencita – at other times it is subsumed by more personal influences. These five works were commissioned for five very different places: Basel in Switzerland, Durham Cathedral in northern England, Guanajuato in Mexico, Paris in France, and King’s College in Cambridge.

Arvo Pärt – nye klassiske toner, en western & hele jordklodens historie

Mexicos ørken, lagene i USAs Grand Canyon og Alaskas vidder mødes i dette program, der lægger ud med en historie fra det Vilde Vesten. Michael Gordons ’A Western’ er baseret på den berømte western ’High Noon’ fra 1952 med Gary Cooper og Grace Kelly i hoverollerne og skrevet til Theatre of Vocies til en koncert i Elbphilharmonie, som Die Welt roste til skyerne. Her er det klassiske opgør mellem godt og ondt, og et skarpt blik på TV-reklamer for våben, våbenlove og moderne brug-og-smid-væk kultur. Gordon bor i New York og er en af grundlæggerne i komponistgruppen Bang On A Can, der med deres festivaller og sommerkurser er med til at sætte retningen for ny musik i USA.

’A Brief Descent into Deep Time’ er også skrevet til Theatre of Voices og opføres her første gang for publikum. Komponisten John Luther Adams bor nu i den mexikanske del af Sonoraørkenen, men har i mange år boet i Alaska, og hans musik er dybt inspireret af musikken i naturen højt mod nord. ’A Brief Descent’ er en musikalsk gengivelse af jordens geologiske lag – en slags tværsnit gennem 1,7 milliarder år af klodens historie – ned gennem Grand Canyons lag, hvor menneskets historie ikke fylder meget. En tanke, der inspirerer til en vis ydmyghed.

Imellem disse store historier har vores dirigent Paul Hillier udvalgt fem værker af den estiske komponist Arvo Pärt, som han har arbejdet sammen med i snart 40 år. Også Arvo Pärt har en forbindelse til Mexico – i den lille sats ’Virgencita’, som er skrevet som hyldest til Jomfruen af Guadalupe, Mexicos skytshelgen. Når Pärt får bestillinger, tager han tit udgangspunkt i det sted, han skriver musik til. Nogle gange med helt åbenlyse referencer – andre gang mere skjult. De fem stykker på dagens program er skrevet til Basel in Switzerland, Durham Cathedral in northern England, Guanajuato in Mexico, Paris in France, and King’s College in Cambridge.

Theatre of Voices
-Else Torp
-Kate Macoboy
-Signe Asmussen
-Laura Lamph
-Miles Lallemant
-Paul Bentley-Angell
-Nils Greenhow
-Danny Purtell
-Andrew Mahon

David Bendix Nielsen, organ
Mathias Friis Hansen, percussion
Ying-Hsueh Chen, percussion

Paul Hiller, artistic director

Produced in collaboration with:

Hørbygaard Gods

Statens Kunstfond

Holbæk Kommune

William Demant Fonden

Lemvigh-Müller Fonden

Koda Kultur

C.E.F. WEYSE
Nu vågne alle Guds Fugle små
Barcarolle

JONATHAN BATTISHILL
Amidst the myrtles

JOHN CALCOTT
Erl King

FR. KUHLAU
Nu løvsalen skygger

C.E.F. WEYSE
Lysets Engel

(Danish text below)

Join us in the Garden Room of the historic Hørbygaard Gods for a short, informal recital of partsongs by 19th-century English composers, and by C.E.F. Weyse, whose music was also known and admired in England.

Hørbygaard Gods inviterer indenfor i Havesalen, der normalt ikke er åben for publikum. Programmet er sat sammen som en selskabelig aften kunne have sluttet en dag omkring år 1800. I England, havde man en lang tradition for ’underholdende herresang’ i de berømte ’clubs’ og private sammenkomster. Musikken kaldes ofte ’glees’ og kan bedst sammenlignes med ’studentersangernes repertoire’ – fædrelandets sørgmodige sange om kærlighed og død.

Dirigent Paul Hillier kommer netop fra England og her har han udvalgt et par, der kan synges af Theatre of Voices sangere – sammen med sange af C.E.F. Weyse og Fr. Kuhlau. De to komponister kom begge til København med den stærke tyske musiktradition i bagagen, men formåede i høj grad at skabe hvad der senere blev til ’den danske sang’. Weyses musik blev ikke kun værdsat i Danmark, men blev også både skrevet om og lyttet til i samtidens England. De engelske korsange løber som en tråd gennem dette års festival – tilsat danske perler fra samtiden.

[i programbog: noget om Erl King, Goethe, dansk inspiration – både på dansk og engelsk]

Theatre of Voices
-Else Torp
-Kate Macoboy
-Signe Asmussen
-Laura Lamph
-Paul Bentley-Angell
-Nils Greenhow
-Ben Mckee
-Andrew Mahon

Paul Hiller, artistic director

Produced in collaboration with:

Hørbygaard Gods

Statens Kunstfond

Holbæk Kommune

William Demant Fonden

Lemvigh-Müller Fonden

Koda Kultur

PHIE AMBO
Songs from the Soil

Showings: 1300, 1400, 1500, 1600

(Danish text below)

Songs from the Soil is a celebration of biodiversity: a visual poem created for music by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt with astonishing film images from the farm Thorshøjgaard in Denmark. The film lies beyond any traditional narrative structure, other than the passage of the changing seasons, and the poetry of its images communicates the essence of biodynamics to our senses and our emotions. 

The film has no words or dialogue; instead, Nature gives voice through the music, which has a separate existence of its own. Songs from the Soil offers the audience a meditative experience and shows how wonderful Nature’s workings can be, if we make time to stop and observe them closely.

The award-winning documentary film maker Phie Amboe and the Grammy winning ensemble Theatre of Voices first worked together when the group recorded music by Jóhann Jóhannsson for Amboe’s earlier film Good Things Await. This is a more conventionally narrative film that tells the story of Niels Stokholm, an aging but still active, biodynamic farmer in the north of Denmark. During the three years when she was creating Good Things Await, Ambo developed exquisite, close-up filming techniques. Once that film was made and edited, all involved were keen to create another work together, but this time using live music. Thus two films resulted from this partnership, Good Things Await and Songs from the Soil, and after numerous film festival successes, they were subsequently issued together as a two-DVD set. 

The music for Good Things Await was selected by Phie Ambo and Paul Hillier, and indeed in the live version the choices can be varied on different occasions. This is not music edited for a film, with specific moments reflected or illustrated in specific sounds, but rather the co-existence and interdependence of two separate artistic strands. That said, there is naturally a sense of correspondence between certain sections of the film and the music that ‘landed’ there. 

Today Niels Stokholm still runs Thorshøjgaard and delivers its fine produce to NOMA, the world-famous Copenhagen restaurant, and to many private customers as well. Phie Ambo: ‘This farm is unique. Here, all organisms are given the space to live and enrich each other.’ Faced with growing demands from the agricultural authorities and a farm in dire need of repair, life is truly a challenge for this idealistic man.

Located in Hørbygaard Gods' Gildesalen, the film will be shown throughout the afternoon.

Naturskøn film og musik af Arvo Pärt

Hørbygaard Gods lægger hus til både biograf i Gildesalen i en af staldlængerne og i Havesalen, der normalt ikke er åben for publikum.

I biografen viser vi Phie Ambos fortryllende billeddigt over årstidernes gang på den biodynamiske gård Thorshøjgaard – kendt som leverandør til både NOMA og Copenhagen Street food. Filmen er lavet til musik af Arvo Pärt med Theatre of Vocies. Der er ingen historie, ingen ord – bare naturens stemmer gennem billeder og musik.

Se den med duften af halm i næsen og staldgulv under fødderne – og læs mere herunder.

Theatre of Voices, soundtrack
Phie Ambo, director
Arvo Pärt, composer

Produced in collaboration with:

Hørbygaard Gods

Statens Kunstfond

Holbæk Kommune

William Demant Fonden

Lemvigh-Müller Fonden

Koda Kultur

R. L. PEARSALL
Lay a Garland

ANTHONY HOLBORNE
The Honey-Suckle
Galliard
The Night Watch

JONATHAN BATTISHILL
Amidst the myrtles

JOHN STAFFORD SMITH
Blest pair of sirens

ANTHONY HOLBORNE
Pavan-Bona Speranza
Galliard-The Tears of the Muses

ANTHONY HOLBORNE
Heigh Ho Holiday
The Feast of Love
The Fairie Round

AGOSTINO STEFFANI
Stabat Mater

(Danish text below)

Our first concert reflects England's discovery of Early Music during the period 1720-1820, when composers studied Renaissance music and wrote imitation madrigals, and presented them at a society in London called the Academy of Ancient Music. The first president of this society was the Italian composer Agostino Steffani, (who never set foot in England, but was revered as one of the finest living composers in Europe (after Handel). One of his last works, which he regarded as his masterpiece, was the 'Stabat Mater' for voices and strings, this rarely heard work is the centre-piece of this concert. We begin however with a sequence of early 19th-century glees and madrigals of the kind performed at the Academy of Ancient Music, alternating these with English Renaissance dances by Anthony Holborne. The glee—a kind of partsong— was a purely English invention, admired by Haydn during his London years, and we will be presenting a selection of these throughout the festival.

2021 Theatre of Voices Festival slår dørene op til åbningskoncert med et program for både stemmer og orkester. Dirigent Paul Hillier holder helst til i Vestsjælland, men kommer fra England, hvor man har en lang tradition for ’underholdende herresang’ i de berømte ’clubs’ og andre sammenkomster. Musikken kaldes ofte ’glees’ og kan bedst sammenlignes med ’studentersangernes repertoire’ – fædrelandets sørgmodige sange om kærlighed og død. Her har Hillier udvalgt en lille håndfuld, der kan synges af Theatre of Voices 8 sangere – krydret med små orkesterstykker fra 1600-tallet. De spilles af vores strygere i TOV Band, der alle spiller på barokinstrumenter.

Sangere, strygere og orgel slutter af med den italienske Agostino Steffanis Stabat Mater, om Maria der stod ved korsets fod. En alvorlig tekst i storslåede toner. Agostino Steffani var beundret af de engelske glee-komponister, som brugte ham som forbillede for mange af deres kompositioner. Italienske madrigaler var højeste mode i England, og Steffani blev udnævnt til formand for The Academy of Ancient Music i London.

De små engelske korsange løber som en tråd gennem dette års festival – tilsat danske perler af C.E.F. Weyse og Fr. Kuhlau.

Theatre of Voices
-Else Torp
-Kate Macoboy
-Laura Lamph
-Miles Lallemant
-Paul Bentley-Angell
-Nils Greenhow
-Danny Purtell
-Andrew Mahon

David Bendix Nielson, organ
Mathias Friis Hansen, percussion
Fredrik From, violin
Jesenka Balic Zunic, violin
Rastko Roknic, viola
Marie Becker, viola
Mikkel Schreiber, viola
Hanna Loftsdottir, cello

Paul Hillier, artistic director

Produced in collaboration with:

Hørbygaard Gods

Statens Kunstfond

Holbæk Kommune

William Demant Fonden

Lemvigh-Müller Fonden

Koda Kultur