Fine 4 stars review in Fanfare
January 16, 2025
Raymond Tuttle
KREK Three Autumn Songs. Vöra bije. Salmo XLII. Samotno ugibanje. Vester, Camenae. PADE Korsatser. Maria Martina Batič, cond; Danish Natl Vocal Ens OUR 8.226924 (68:08)
This disc is titled O Listen after the first words (and title) of the first selection, the first of Uroš Krek's Three Autumn Songs. We do not need to be invited a second time, such is the quality of the music presented here, and the way in which it is sung by the Danish National Vocal Ensemble.
Krek (1922-2008), a Slovenian composer, and Else Marie Pade (1924-2016), a Dane, were contemporaries, and both found a sympathetic environment within their respective national radio stations. All of the music on this CD uses more or less traditional tonality, and all of it is both responsive to the texts and respectful of the singers. (I just finished listening to Bruckner's Te Deum again, and I wonder how the chorus and the soloists ever get through that work without murdering their voices.) Between the two, Krek is probably the more traditional. His music leaves an impression of simple familiarity, but not of dullness. Indeed, it is possible to long for home without ever leaving it. To that end, most striking, perhaps, is Vöra bije (The Clock Ticks), which is a sad story of a Slovenian emigrant, newly arrived in America, and the sweetheart he left behind.
Pade's style is more varied and modern, and the Korsatser (Choral Movements) are melodious and sincere in a way we now associate with composers still with us, such as Eric Whitacre and Bob Chilcott. Choral directors, take note—Korsatser would be welcomed by your choir and by those who come to hear them sing. There is a surprise, however, and that is the 11-section Maria, which Pade composed in 1980. This is a very unusual work for coloratura soprano, bass baritone, speaking choir (subjected to electronic treatment), seven trombones, and tape. Pade was an electroacoustic music pioneer in her country. Four decades and more have elapsed, and you might expect Maria to sound dated, but it does not—at least not more than anything else that was composed in 1980. In fact, it sounds both old and new, and this is appropriate, because Maria is a sacred work structured around the Apostles' Creed, and it “portray[s] the stages of the Virgin Mary's suffering.” It begins and ends with an arresting bell sound (electronically processed) and contains a variety of intriguing sounds, strictly musical and otherwise. For me, Maria is the best reason to explore this disc, given the relative rarity of sacred electroacoustic music, and given how resourceful and forward-looking Pade was, without lapsing into facile gimmickry. Soloists Anna Miilman and Jakob Soelberg, both members of the Danish National Vocal Ensemble, are outstanding, and kudos to conductor Martina Batič for programming this work. I guess the electroacoustic music textbooks will need to be rewritten now.
The booklet lists 18 singers in the Danish National Vocal Ensemble, so this is a chamber ensemble in which everything needs to be precise—and it is. All of the performers bring intensity to this program, which is wide-ranging despite being grounded in tradition. This was recorded in Danish Radio's Studio 2 last April, and the quality of the recorded sound is excellent. Raymond Tuttle
4 stars: A Slovenian and a Dane, who accomplished much without fanfare. Pade's Maria is an electroacoustic music discovery.