Schola Cantorum Reykjavicensis & Hörður Áskelsson - Meditatio II: Music for Mixed Choir (2023)
WEB FLAC (tracks) - 209 Mb | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 142 Mb | Digital booklet | 01:01:12
Classical, Sacred, Choral | Label: BIS
WEB FLAC (tracks) - 209 Mb | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 142 Mb | Digital booklet | 01:01:12
Classical, Sacred, Choral | Label: BIS
With Meditatio I released in 2016, the Schola Cantorum Reykjavicensis and Hörður Áskelsson presented music commemorating the departed. Recorded some six years later, Meditatio II similarly contains compositions that interpret man’s thoughts and feelings about death, and celebrate the immobility and beauty found in age-old church texts such as Ave verum corpus, In paradisum, Lux æterna and Agnus Dei. With one exception, the fifteen works for mixed a cappella choir – none longer than 6 minutes – were written in the 21st century, and they originate in America and Europe. Seven Icelandic composers are represented, five of them from current or former members of the Schola Cantorum. Peaceful rather than desolate, these refined miniatures unfold over slow rhythms, coated with nuances that rarely go beyond the mezzo forte. This disc also includes an impressive arrangement of ‘Sofðu unga ástin min’, a traditional and bittersweet Icelandic lullaby, here sung without words.