SWEDISH CHORAL SOCIETY Vol. 2 Sånger för blandad kör a cappella (komplett) Wilhelm Peterson-Berger Erik Westbergs Vokalensemble Musikhögskolans kammarkör i Piteå Erik Westbergs Vokalensemble (foto: Sebastian Lönberg) Musikhögskolans Kammarkör i Piteå (foto: Robin Cox) Om Swedish Choral Society Körsång är en folkrörelse. Det har sjungits i vårt land i generationer, och utomlands har vi gjort oss kända som en riktig körnation med stor bredd och hög kvalitet. Körer och ensembler sjunger i kyrkor och konserthus, på arbetsplatser och torg, i gallerior och på vårdinrättningar, i slott och koja... Man har uppskattat antalet svenskar som regelbundet sjunger i kör till en halv miljon människor. I Sveriges Körförbund finns blandade körer, damkörer och manskörer. Men de kan också delas in i ungdomskörer, vokalgrupper, kyrkokörer, kammarkörer, barbershopkörer, gospelkörer, sceniska körer och företagskörer – listan med nya körtyper växer ständigt! Sveriges Körförbunds historia går tillbaka till tiden kring förra sekelskiftet, då körsångare började organisera sig i regionala och rikstäckande organisationer. Manskörerna bildade redan 1909 Svenska Sångarförbundet och 1925 bildades Sveriges Körförbund av de blandade körerna. 1997 gick de båda förbunden samman. Bland förbundets främsta syften är att hävda körsångens musikaliska, kulturella och sociala betydelse. Ett unikt skivutgivningssamarbete har år 2009 inletts mellan Sveriges Körförbund och skivbolaget Naxos. Syftet med samarbetet är att dokumentera vårt svenska körliv i all dess bredd och mångfald och göra det tillgängligt för en större publik såväl i Sverige som utomlands. Under en tioårsperiod planeras en rad inspelningar som skall visa på de skiftande genrer och körtyper som finns representerade bland medlemmarna i Sveriges Körförbund. Serien – Swedish Choral Society – kommer att bestå av femtio körskivor. En så omfattande dokumentation av vårt nutida svenska körliv har aldrig tidigare gjorts! Utgivningen av denna CD har även möjliggjorts tack vare stöd från Stiftelsen Framtidens kultur, the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation samt Sommarhagens vänner. 2 Erik Westberg (foto: Katherine Hjukström) Nacional de España and Coro Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, Brasilien. He has also been artist- About Swedish Choral Society in-residence at Wollongong University in Australia. Choral singing is an integral part of Swedish culture. People have sung in choirs here for generations Erik Westberg was the first recipient of the Royal Swedish Academy’s conducting grant in 1992. and Sweden now has an international reputation as a nation of choristers with both breadth and He was awarded the Norrby Medal in 1993 and the arts prize of the Norrländska Socialdemokraten quality. Choirs and vocal ensembles can be heard in churches and concert halls, in workplaces and newspaper in 1997. In 1999 he was voted Choral Conductor of the Year at KÖRSAM and he received on public squares, in shopping malls and hospitals, in castles and cottages. It has been estimated the arts prize of the Municipality of Piteå in 2002. In 2006 he was awarded the King’s Medal of the that about half a million people in Sweden are regular members of choirs. Order of the Seraphim. He has been Professor of Choral Conducting at the School of Music in Piteå since 2003. Erik Westberg is since 2008 a member of Royal Swedish Academy of Music. Sveriges Körförbund (The Swedish Choral Association) is an organization of mixed choirs, female choirs and male choirs. Theses, in turn, can be further divided into youth choirs, vocal groups, church choirs, chamber choirs, barber shop choirs, gospel choirs, operatic choirs and corporate choirs. The list of new types of choir is constantly growing! The history of the society goes back to the end of the 19th century when choral singers began to organize themselves into regional and national associations. The men’s choirs formed their own society – Svenska Sångarförbundet – in 1909 and the mixed choirs formed Sveriges Körförbund in 1925. In 1997 the two societies amalgamated. Among the principle aims of the society is that of promoting the musical, cultural and social significance of choral singing. A unique recording collaboration has in 2009 been introduced between Sveriges Körförbund and Naxos. The aim of this collaboration is to document the activities of Swedish choirs in all their breadth and diversity and to make this documentation available in Sweden and the rest of the world. A succession of recordings are planned over a ten-year period that will illustrate the many different genres and types of choirs represented by the members of the association. The series – Swedish Choral Society – is planned to comprise fifty discs of choral music.This is a very much more extensive documentation of contemporary Swedish choral singing than has ever been attempted before. This CD has been made with grants from Stiftelsen Framtidens kultur, the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation and the Wilhelm Peterson-Berger Institute. 26 3 CD 1 (Erik Westbergs Vokalensemble) The Erik Westberg Vocal Ensemble 1 Tonernes flugt [Fleeting tones] ............................................................................................. 0’57 The Erik Westberg Vocal Ensemble was founded in 1993 and consists of 16 singers from the Musik: Halfdan Kjerulf (1815-1868) northern provinces of Sweden. Based in Piteå, the ensemble has established an international Text: Henrik Hertz (1797/1798-1870) reputation, notably for commissioning and performing contemporary choral music. The ensemble Arr: Wilhelm Peterson-Berger has also made some 15 international tours of Europe, Asia, South America and the USA. At the Manus international choral competition in 1996 in Takarazuka, Japan, the ensemble won first prize in the class for mixed choirs as well as first prize for the best choir overall. 2 Lokkende toner [Calling tones] ............................................................................................ 3’56 Musik efter Halfdan Kjerulf (1815-1868) At the turn of the millennium, the ensemble promoted an international project entitled “Choral Singing Text: Johan Sebstian Welhaven (1807-1873) for Peace and Justice” with a tour that included the Kingdom of Tonga in the Pacific Ocean. In 2002 Arr: Wilhelm Peterson-Berger the Erik Westberg Vocal Ensemble was selected by Sveriges Körförbund [Federation of Swedish Manus Choirs] to represent Sweden at the Nordic-Baltic choral festival in Klaipeda, Lithuania. In 2005 the ensemble took part in the Toronto International Choral Festival in Canada and toured south-eastern 3 Brudeferd i Hardanger [Wedding in Hardanger] .................................................................. 3’16 Europe with the Norbotten Big Band. Musik: Halfdan Kjerulf (1815-1868) Text: Peter Andreas Munch (1810-1863) Arr: Wilhelm Peterson-Berger Manus The Chamber Choir at School of Music in Piteå 4 Till skogsstjärnan [To the chickweed] ................................................................................... 1’02 The Chamber Choir at School of Music in Piteå was founded in 1990 by Erik Westberg. The choir Musik: Vilhelm Svedbom (1843-1904) currently consists of 26 singers, who are all students in various departments at the college. The Text: okänd repertoire of the choir is mainly a cappella music. The choir has premièred a succession of new Arr: Wilhelm Peterson-Berger compositions by established composers like Jan Sandström and Jan Ferm as well as by composition Manus students at the college. In 2007 the choir performed in South Africa as well as in Sweden’s northernmost city of Kiruna. In the same year the choir showed its versatility by appearing with both 5 Sang på vandet [Song on the water] ................................................................................... 2’05 Chinese superstar Wei-Wei and the Sámi priest and musician Johan Märak. Musik: Halfdan Kjerulf (1815-1868) Text: Johan Ludvig Heiberg (1791-1860) Arr: Wilhelm Peterson-Berger Erik Westberg Manus 6 Erik Westberg (b. 1956) studied choral conducting with Eric Ericson at the Royal College of Music Vårsång II (Det ljusnar i rymden den klara) in Stockholm which he attended from 1976 to 1987. He has been the regular director of the KFUM [Spring song II (The heavens are brightening)] ................................................................... 0’56 [YMCA] Choir in Stockholm and the Oslo Philharmonic Choir in Norway and has guest-conducted Musik och text: Wilhelm Peterson-Berger the Swedish Radio Choir. Further afield Erik Westberg has guest-conducted Pro Coro Canada, Coro Ur Sånger för blandad kör Abraham Lundquist Musikförlag 4 25 Norwegian romantic nationalist Hans Gude, Lokkende toner (Johan Sebastian Welhaven) (1892) 7 Guldfågel [Golden bird] ........................................................................................................ 1’21 (I:19) while Prinsessen (Bjørnson) (1895) (I:21), is a wide-ranging song for solo soprano and choir. Musik: Wilhelm Peterson-Berger Min hu (Ernst van der Recke) (1892) (I:20) speaks of a bird returning to the sunshine and warmth of Text: Carl Snoilsky (1841-1903) summer in the same way that the singer is drawn to his beloved. Ur Sånger för blandad kör Abraham Lundquist Musikförlag Besides these four collections and the separate songs already mentioned, P.-B. also composed a number of original songs for mixed choir a cappella: the deeply moving Solefallssang (Nordahl 8 Virgo gloriosa ......................................................................................................................