Prelude: Judith Weir: King Haralds Saga

CREATOR SPIRITUS – ARVO PÄRT
Arvo Pärt: Veni creator
Guillaume de Machaut: Veni creator spiritus/Christe qui lux es 
Arvo Pärt: Pari intervallo 
Anon C13: Veni creator spiritus 
Arvo Pärt: My heart's in the highlands 
Anon. Italian C14: Benedicamus 
Nino Janjgava: 3 Aliluias (selected from 17 Aliluias op. 44 2008/2009)
Kevin Volans: Walking Song 
---- intermission ----
Arvo Pärt: Berlin Mass

CREATOR SPIRITUS
My very first encounter with Pärt’s music took place in 1983 when I read an article about him in a pioneering contemporary music magazine called Contact. The article was by the late Susan Bradshaw, a renowned pianist and champion of such modernist figureheads as Boulez. In retrospect it seems both strange and significant that she, of all people, would write a seminal article about someone whose music marked such a radical departure from the modernist ideal. Some thirty years later the tension between these two divergent musical streams can still be felt.

What caught my attention as I looked at the article were the musical examples. I had the feeling of looking at something I recognised, even though I had never seen it before. In the first place, some of the notes were written without stems and reminded me of the way I sometimes wrote out early medieval music where the rhythmic values were either ambiguous or simply unknown. Secondly, the music itself with its diatonic dissonance seemed profoundly evocative and deeply attuned to my own interests at that time. I recognised that this music represented an important and hitherto unsuspected destination, and that I had to go there.

Today’s concert matches works by Pärt with pieces of medieval music, and thus offers both contrast and similarity, the two sound-worlds being very close. The program features the original version of Pärt’s Berlin Mass which Theatre of Voices premiered in Berlin in 1990. It also juxtaposes several settings of the two related sequences, Veni creator spiritus and Veni sancte spiritus, whose central motif of spiritual inspiration feels very appropriate to this repertoire.

Nina Janjgava is from Georgia: her music echoes the traditional Georgian style, different from yet connected to the aesthetic of Pärt. Kevin Volans is a South African (now resident in Ireland) whose instrumental Walking Song offers a dancing yet sympathetic contrast to the other music.

© Paul Hillier

Theatre of Voices:
Else Torp, soprano
Iris Oja, alto
Chris Watson, tenor
Jakob Bloch, bass
Christopher Bowers-Broadbent, organ
Paul Hillier, artistic director

Arvo Pärt: My heart's in the highlands
Nino Janjgava: Aliluia i
Arvo Pärt: Pari Intervallo
Nino Janjgava: Aliluia ii
Arvo Pärt: Veni creator
Kevin Volans: Walking Song
Nino Janjgava: Aliluia iii
Arvo Pärt: Berlin Mass

Theatre of Voices visits Trinitatis Kirke in Copenhagen. Music by Arvo Pärt and more. Hear the soundtrack from Sorrentino's wonderful film "La Grande Belezza" live : Arvo Pärt's "My heart's in the highlands" with Else Torp and Christopher Bowers-Broadbent.

Tickets: 50 kr at Poltikenbillet or at the door.

Info on venue: Trinitatis Kirke

More info coming soon!

The concert is sponsored by Københavns Musikudvalg

Theatre of Voices:
Else Torp, soprano
Iris Oja, alto
Chris Watson, tenor
Jakob Bloch, bass
Christopher Bowers-Broadbent, organ
Paul Hillier, artistic director

Søndag 23. marts kl. 16 i Stavnsholtkirken er der koncert under overskriften ”Hommage à Britten”. Programmet er en hyldest til den store engelske komponist, der fyldte 100 år for nogle måneder siden, og det er sopranen Else Torp og guitaristen Per Pålsson, der fremfører musikken.

Programmet byder på værker af Britten selv, men også sange og musik af to af de komponister, han var allermest inspireret af og havde en særlig forkærlighed for: John Dowland og Henry Purcell.

Britten skrev sin musik i en stadig søgen efter balancen mellem tradition og fornyelse. Han var en af det 20. århundredes helt store vokalkomponister, med en enorm produktion af operaer, korværker og sange til både kirkelig og verdslig brug.

Programmets hovedværk er ”Songs from the Chinese” – måske den bedste og mest intense cyklus for sang og guitar nogensinde. Britten udvalgte nogle kinesiske digte fra Arthus Waley’s samling ”Chinese Poems”, og med sin sikre melodiske sans og en stor forståelse af guitarens særlige karakteristika og muligheder lykkedes det ham at udfolde alle de mange finesser og facetter, som digtene rummer.

Vi skal også høre uddrag af hans ”Folksongs”, som charmerende, både lette og alvorlige, fanger lytteren med et helt særligt nærvær.

Med afsæt i renæssancekomponisten John Dowlands sang ”Come heavy Sleep” skrev Britten et af hovedværkerne i den klassiske guitars repertoire: ”Nocturnal”. Dette store værk spiller Per Pålsson; og programmet suppleres som sagt af sange og lutmusik fra 1600-tallet af de to engelske mestre Dowland og Purcell.

Både Else Torp og Per Pålsson har stærke forbindelser til Farum. Else var i mange år ansat som sanger i Stavnsholtkirken, inden hun satte fart i en bemærkelsesværdig international sangerkarriere, der har ført hende til samarbejde med så prominente ensembler som London Sinfonietta, Kronos Kvartetten og Concerto Copenhagen. Hun er mangeårig sanger i og manager for vokalgruppen Theatre of Voices.

Per Pålsson bor i Farum og underviser ved Furesø Musikskole, men han har derudover en omfattende karriere som solist og kammermusiker med koncerter i både Europa og USA. Han optræder ofte i radio og TV, og han har udgivet flere cd’er med sin faste makker, guitaristen Jesper Sivebæk – tilsammen udgør de Scandinavian Guitar Duo. Sammen med Else Torp udgav han i 2012 den meget anmelderroste cd ”Tavole per Orfeo” med musik af Ib Nørholm.

Der er fri entré til koncerten.

Theatre of Voices
Else Torp, soprano
Per Pålsson, guitar
Paul Hillier, artistic director

Tickets and info here

4.45pm Composer Conversation with Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen
6.00pm Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen (all London premieres)
Run; Turn II; Song; Play;
Sound I; Sound II; Company
Post-concert Recital of John Dowland songs performed by Theatre of Voices

The concert is part of Denmark Calling - concerts celebrating Danish music in London.

This performance is sponsored by the Danish Arts Council Committee for Performing Arts.


"A fascinating exploration of a unique and compelling musical voice.” Bachtrack *****

Elegant and deeply moving, Gudmundsen-Holmgreen’s music redefines the concept of simplicity. His works are as humorous as they are contemplative, as violent as they are beautiful, exploring music as a timbral rather than narrative art. Strongly influence by the linear shapes of Renaissance polyphony, his music segues effortlessly into a quote of John Dowland’s Flow my Tears, which brings this programme to a haunting close. With echoes of Samuel Beckett and a strong predilection for the absurd, his taste for near silence will force you to reconsider how you interpret sound.

Theatre of Voices
London Sinfonietta
Paul Hillier, conductor