Espen Aalberg, Trondheim Sinfonietta & Kai Grinde Myrann - Mantra (2018) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

On this album, the Trondheim Sinfonietta, founded in 1998, has gathered four works from the three decades encompassing the ensemble’s existence. All four seem to be haunted by an even deeper past: Bent Sørensen’s Minnelieder is the composer’s third version of a work originally sparked-off by a book about the 14th century, while Toshio Hosokawa’s Drawing, from a decade later, was inspired by the very start of life. Kristin Norderval’s Chapel Meditation began its existence as an improvisation, but looks back to music from centuries earlier, while the most recent work, Mantra by Ellen Lindquist, also mines a venerable musical tradition, that of the age-old Indonesian gamelan orchestra that for over 100 years has had an influence on Western composers such as Debussy, Britten, Steve Reich et al. Set for varying forces and numbers of performers, the four works together form a fascinating picture of the kaleidoscopic possibilities open to composers around the turn of the millennium.

Tracklist:
01. Drawing
02. Minnelieder (Zweites Minnewater)
03. Mantra
04. Chapel Meditation

Personnel:
Espen Aalberg, gamelan
Kristin Norderval, soprano
Else Bø, piano
Trondheim Sinfonietta
Kai Grinde Myrann, conductor