Otherworldly Breathtaking Pure These words describe the singing of Nordic Voices, a six-voice a capella ensemble and one of Norways favorite groups. Sense & nonSense presents one of the ensembles several concept programs and explores in a sophisticated but playful way the use of text in music from abstract phonemes to pictorial storytelling. This new CD ranges from the medieval to modernist with works by Gabrieli, Monteverdi, Stenhammar, Poulenc, Petrassi, Ligeti and Hellstenius, and highlights the vast performance register of the ensemble. The voices combine in a seemingly effortless way with amazing balance and precision. Just as the group members blend their individual voices into dissonant but strikingly beautiful harmonies, they weave such disparate works into a cohesive whole and somehow make it all make “Sense.”
Jonathan Digital, 2002
