Reviews
GMCD 7246 Voice of Africa
American Record Guide – July/August
2003
Voice of Africa
University of Pretoria
Camerata/ Johann van der Sandt
Guild 7246 - 73 minutes
We are accustomed to
speaking about musical goings - on and traditions in the Eastern and Western
hemispheres, but what about the Southern? Other than a few good choirs from New
Zealand and Australia, this South African group is the first chorus trained in
the European Tradition I've heard from south of the equator. But this isn't the
first time I've heard them - they are one of the 27 fine choirs whose
performances were captured in last year's World Symposium of Choral Music
(reviewed below).
As their appearance at that august
event suggests, we have here a truly first-rate ensemble. This multi-racial
group of around 60 offers a hearty and spirited, yet highly refined sound that
is well worth hearing. And we get here a fascinating sampling of the choral work
of prominent South African composers, most of them little-known beyond their
borders.
After proving that they can handle
the European masters with the best - with glowing readings of Mendelssohn's
'Psalm 100', Bruckner's 'Os Justi', and Verdi's 'Pater Noster' - they move on to
the music of modern Baltic and Scandinavian masters. Arvo Pärt's mystical
Magnificat and Veljo Tormis's folk-toned 'Curse on Iron', a setting of a
rune from the Kalevala, get striking and thoughtful performances. The
latter work's ancient theme resonates strongly in today's uncertain world,
speaking of the likelihood of anything that man creates turning against him,
unless it is used with respect and ethical forethought.
The most remarkable work from the
Swedish composers represented here is Thomas Jennefelt's (b 1954) 'Villarosa
Sarialdi', a piece written without paying any attention to specific words. He
crafted a work of pure music, by turns flowing and dramatic, then inserted his
own nonsense text to fit the music. This heavily minimalist work weaves quite a
haunting spell. Sven-Erie Johanson, who was one of Sweden's most prolific 20th
Century composers, is represented by his 'Dilemma', a simultaneously serene and
craggy study in moral extremes, with the women gently singing single "good"
words while the men give violent voice to more "evil" vocabulary. Jazz pianist
Lars Jansson's (b 1951) 'Mothers of Brazil', offered here in Gunnar Eriksson's
choral arrangement, is a setting of the sacred Salve Regina text, but it
is in fact a searing hymn to mothers who have lost children to oppressive
political regimes.
The Scandinavian pieces conclude on
a truly comic note with the Finnish composer Jaakko Mäntjärvi's 'Pseudo-Yoik',
poking raucous fun at Yoik, a widely misunderstood form of folk-chant
from his country's Arctic regions (N/D 2002, p 235).
The choir also gets down to the
serious business of celebrating influences and voices closer to home, first with
the 'Himne' of Roelof Temmingh, one of modern South Africa's most prolific and
admired composers. This is a deep and lovely sacred piece (with piano)
reflecting the composer's predilection for music that "glides around in music's
most inspiring domain. the great, carefree world between the old, distant
boundaries of tonality and atonality". But it doesn't sound very African.
Somewhat more idiomatic is 'l am the Voice of Africa', a patriotic piece by Niel
van der Watt (b 1962) that offers jazzy tunes and echoes of some of the tribal
choral traditions of his homeland. There's also some African-American-inspired
material: a spine-tingling arrangement of 'Deep River' - and in the gospel
classic, 'Operator', by William Spevery, the singers jump and jive their way to
the collection's rousing close.
These pieces are mostly
unaccompanied, save for one number with piano and a few more with selected
percussion or soulful solo saxophone obbligatos. At least two of them were
recorded in concert, but I suspect the rest are studio efforts. Notes and texts
are fine, and the sound is faultless. In all, this is a delightfully varied and
accomplished program that is sure to please any choral buff.
KOOB
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