Asheim: Høgsongen / Tchaikovsky: Serenade - Ensemble Allegria / Barker, Petronella (2019) LWC1191
I SLEPT, BUT MY HEART WAS AWAKE
With this release, Ensemble Allegria wishes to present two contrasting sides of the string orchestra: the classical, perfectly structured melodious sound, and something more challenging that ventures out into the instruments’ border zones.
Nils Henrik Asheim’s “The Song of Songs” — with its subtitle “I Slept, But My Heart Was Awake” — takes as its point of departure a woman’s erotic awakening as related in the Bible’s Song of Songs, or, as it is also called, Song of Solomon. Passages of the text are read by actor Petronella Barker and interwoven with the string orchestra’s almost cinematic sound images.
Asheim is interested in the physical aspect of playing a stringed instrument. As he writes in the CD booklet: “A string orchestra is a body, the most sensual body of sound that exists. The movement of the arms sketches the sound, caresses it out. The sound comes into being through contact, through skin contact, I would almost say. The bow hairs are an extension of the skin. At the friction point where the sound is created, it happens with all possible degrees of sensitivity, suppleness, touch, emotion; likewise with the potential for ruthlessness, brutality.”
As a complete contrast to this tonal language, the other half of the album is devoted to Tchaikovsky’s familiar “Serenade in C Major for String Orchestra”. Here the musicians get to display their mastery of classical sound and phrasing, as well as showcase the spirited playing for which the young ensemble Allegria is known.
Composer and organist Nils Henrik Asheim (b. 1960) studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music and the Sweelinck Academy in Amsterdam. He has composed both chamber music and orchestral works, as well as dramatic music and place-specific works.
Ensemble Allegria is an up-and-coming chamber orchestra at top level internationally. Established in 2007, the orchestra has built up a solid reputation over the years and has attracted attention for its playful performance style and spirited virtuosity.
Reviews
«A few years ago we had the opportunity to listen and review the debut of the ensemble Allegria (see review)), and feel the authenticity and artistic sense of the young orchestra. In this new recording, we confirm that over the years they continue to be a measure of musical and human quality. The first thing I read from the book in the record, signed by Nils Henrik Asheim, already impresses me: A string orchestra is an organ, the most sensual body of sound that exists. (...) Sound comes through contact, at through skin contact, I would almost say. (...) With their bodies, musicians create the most varied layers of a soundscape. (...) The bow's hair is an extension of the skin. Nils Henrik Asheim (born 1960 in Oslo) is an organist, pianist, composer and artistic initiator. We like the word "initiator" because it has a more endearing meaning than the term "energizer". He is an artist who combines music with other forms of art.» Marçal Borotau, Sonograma Magazine, 29.12.2019
«[…] Asheim's music both imitates what the words say and stands as independent expression. The music never takes over the words in this work, even though there are purely instrumental parts that are relatively long; those that capture affects, feelings, moods, caresses. Or the music is like a kind of afterthought, e.g. at the end of part 2, after "he tells me that I am sick with love. There is no pause between Asheim's work and Tchaikovsky's serenade, and the first measures here acquire the abruptness or suddenness that characterizes the sublime. Or the opening is, as Asheim so beautifully writes in the text booklet, "a kind of incantation, a framing of the happiness and the idyll as long as it lasts.» Arnfinn Bø-Rygg, Stavanger Aftenblad, 29.12.2019
«[…] The composer and organist Nils Henrik Asheim (b. 1960) always arouses my curiosity with his music - and I can easily put the music away after one listen, but then there is something that tickles. And then the CD ends up in the player again - and again […] The ensemble that gives us this experience is the incredibly beautiful Ensemble Allegria. They give their best on this record - and it's absolutely excellent. Good listening!» Trond Erikson, Den klassiske CD Bloggen, 27.01.2020