Shadows and Light
Toimitusaika: Noin 7 - 14 arkipäivää
After collaborating on the operas Trådgården and
Hemligheter, composer and librettist Jonas Forssell
and Magnus Florin are reunited in Skuggorna och Ljusen
(‘Shadows and Light’) – a remarkable work for five
vocalists, trombone and percussion expressing both
grief and outrage at the Utøya killings of 2011 and searching
for peace among the wreckage of human tragedy.
Forssell’s score takes its inspiration from the declamatory
madrigal operas of Gesualdo and Monteverdi, but
also from the most solemn tradition found in Christian
worship: the ‘tenebrae’ devotions recited during Holy
Week. The juxtaposition of Forssell’s ‘contemporary
and profane’ modern madrigals with original tenebrae
responsories by Lassus, Gesualdo and Victoria reflects
the anguish and confusion that can overwhelm humans
facing death. Meanwhile, Florin’s ‘soaring yet spare’
poetry inspires some of Forssell’s most radiant, mournful
and propulsively angry music. All four composers
are united by the highly original way in which they
respond to the texts they set, whether in the sixteenth
century or the twenty-first.
Fredrik Malmberg’s technically outstanding ensemble
Vokalharmonin is joined by the virtuosic trombonepercussion
Axelsson & Nilsson Duo for Forssell’s revised
version of his original score from 2012. Forssell and
Florin’s reflection on Norway’s Friday of suffering
treads a moving line between emotional outpouring
and devotional reflection. It receives an impeccable and
intense performance on this new recording of a landmark
score whose resonance will be felt in across the
Nordic region and far beyond.