This release is going to get your attention The title track is a commission by the Hilliard Ensemble, well known for adventurous classic music, performed in concert in Brucknerhaus Linz back in 2003, and the remaining tracks are from a 2009 concert at the Jazztopad Festival Wroclaw. Both ensemble pieces are highly ambitious pieces, the first being conducted by Dennis Russell Davies and he latter by Sebastian Perloswski, while the Hilliard Ensemble of David James/counter-tenor, Rogers Covey-Crump-ten, Steven Harrold/ten and Gordon Jones/bari supply the fervent vocals. The melding of Nordic classical music with Rypdal’s electric, and sometimes distorted, guitar makes for a fascinating meld. What first comes to mind of flashes of scenes from Sibelius’ Finlandia and Karelia Suite, with dramatically delivered and harmonized voices crashing up against the strings like waves along Highway 1. The contrast between acoustic strings and electric guitars also makes for fascinatingly fertile listening, with Rypdal supplying some eyebrow raising solos. Music for the adventurous classicist or jazzer.
ECM Records