Et Møde Mellem to Mestre

Et Møde Mellem to Mestre

Ann-Christin Wesser Ingels, Kate Macoboy, Amélie Renglet Elenor Wiman, Rebecca Forsberg Svendsen, Amanda Flodin

Jakob Skjoldborg, Luís Toscano, Paul Bentley-Angell Thomas Kiørbye, Jakob Soelberg, Lauritz Jakob Thomsen

Paul Hillier, dirigent

Arvo Pärt (*1935)

Alleluia-Tropus

Ockeghem (ca.1410-1497)

Missa Mi-Mi: Kyrie, Gloria

Arvo Pärt

The Woman with the Alabaster Box

Ockeghem

Miss Mi-Mi: Credo

Arvo Pärt

I Am the True Vine

Ockeghem

Missa Mi-Mi: Sanctus & Benedictus

Arvo Pärt

Tribute to Caesar

Ockeghem

Missa Mi-Mi: Agnus Dei

Arvo Pärt This month Arvo Pärt celebrates his 80th birthday, and this concert is one of the many events taking place around the world to honour the occasion. In rhetoric a 'trope' is a kind of flourish or variation, added for affect to amplify and reinforce the basic message of a text or speech. In music it's normally used to refer to the addition of extra material within an existing line of plainchant. Sometimes melismas were simply provided with syllables of text, though it can also refer to the addition of extra notes as well. In our opening work, Arvo Pärt's Alleluia Tropus, a Slavonic text in praise of St Nicholas, is troped with cries of Alleluia which break into the text frequently like the words of a chorus responding to a priest’s declamation. More subtly, these Alleluias are also in a sense broken into, not by extra material, but by varying the rhythmic shape of the word so that each syllable in turn receives stress. ALleluia, alLEluia, alleLUia, alleluIA. A similar process also gives our program its overall design, the movements of the Mass being separated – 'troped' – by three of Pärt's English settings from the 1990s.Two of these –The woman with alabaster box and Tribute to Caesar were commissioned for the 350th anniversary of the Karlstad diocese in Sweden. The texts of these two famous parables are from St. Mathew’s Gospel. I am the true vine was commissioned for the 900th anniversary of the foundation of Norwich Cathedral in England. This text is from St John’s Gospel, and here the vocal lines rise and fall in curling phrases that create a delightful musical image of the vine. Johannes Ockeghem Most fifteenth-century composers were singers by trade in the way that most later composers were organists and pianists. As a result their music is profoundly vocal in idiom and is imbued with the memory and pattern of the plainchant that formed the aural background to their working life. Johannes Ockeghem seems to have been an outstanding example of the singer-composer, to judge by the reports of his contemporaries who praised his (bass) voice, character and music with the complementary attributes of virtue, sweetness and discernment. Ockeghem was born ca.1410, possibly in eastern Flanders, but spent most of his professional life (from 1453 or earlier) in the employment of the French Royal Chapel, where he served under three kings – Charles VII, Louis XI and Charles VIII. He was honoured by Charles VII in 1459 with the gift of a benefice as treasurer of the important Abbey of St Martin-de-Tours; and under Louis XI further material rewards came his way, including a canonry at Notre Dame in

Paris from 1463 to 1470. During subsequent years he is known to have travelled to Spain (1470) and Flanders (1484). His death in 1497 occasioned poems of tribute and lamentation from Guillaume Crétin, Erasmus and Jean Molinet. The Missa Mi-Mi survives in various sources, the most important of which is the Chigi Codex in the Vatican Library. This manuscript, which is also the sole source for Ockeghem's Requiem, is abundantly decorated with illuminated letters, miniatures and grotesqueries, and the style and content of these drawings confirm its Flemish origin. It probably originated in Ghent during the last years of the fifteenth century and seems to have been intended for use in the chapel of Philip the Fair of Burgundy. The Missa Mi-Mi takes its name from the opening motif heard in the bass part at the beginning of each part: a descending fifth, whose pitches were both called "mi" in the medieval hexachord system. Apart from the opening motif, the Missa 'Mi-mi' is not known to be based upon any prior material, whereas most Masses of that time were either 'parodies' of other compositions, sacred or secular, or were built around a cantus firmus. Ockeghem foregoes this method of construction and, in effect, extemporises an intricate, compelling web of sound out of thin air. Having so started, he even avoids any but the most passing instances of imitation. The voices are forever setting one another off, but each voice has something very different to say about any melodic or rhythmic idea proposed by another. There is a supple, always varied and often very complex use of rhythm, sometimes climactic (at the end of the Gloria or Credo), or pictorial as when (in the middle of the Credo) a sudden fluttering of notes depicts the heavens as the upper voices sing 'descendit de coelis', the descent being depicted by the final curve of the lines and the reiterated notes of the bass. Ockeghem had equal mastery of the fluid melodic style that had characterised the generation of Dufay (d1474), and to his manifestation of this tradition he adds a new dimension of harmonic colouring, particularly where he wishes to emphasise an emotional direction in the music such as the beginning and towards the end of the third repetition of the words 'Agnus Dei'. - Paul Hillier

Alleluia-Tropus (2008) Orthodox prayer Pravilo vieri, i obraz krotosti, vozderžanija učitelja javi tja stadu tvojemu, jaže veščej istina: sego radi stjažal jesi smirenijem visokaja, niščetoju bogataja, oče svjaščenonačalniče Nikolaje, moli Hrista Boga, spastisja dušam našim.

A rule of faith and a model of meekness, a teacher of abstinence hath the reality shewn thee unto thy flock; therewithal hast thou acquired: by humility - greatness, by poverty - riches; O Father hierarch Nicholas, intercede before Christ the God that our souls may be saved.

The Woman with the Alabaster Box (1997) Matt. 26:6-13

Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, there came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat. But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor. When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me. For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always. For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.

I Am the True Vine (1996) Joh. 15:1-14

I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

Tribute to Caesar (1997) Matt. 22:15-22 Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men. Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's. When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way.

ARS NOVA Copenhagen blev grundlagt i 1979 og har for længst etableret sig som et af verdens fineste vokalensembler. Ensemblets chefdirigent og kunstneriske leder siden 2003 er den anerkendte engelske dirigent Paul Hillier. Ars Nova har desuden arbejdet med bl.a. Bo Holten, Tamás Vetö (begge tidligere chefdirigenter), Kaspars Putnins, Andrew Lawrence King, Anthony Rooley, Michael Bojesen og Søren Kinch Hansen (som alle har optrådt som gæstedirigenter). Ars Nova har den lidt usædvanlige konstruktion, at det er sangerne der ejer ensemblet og er den øverste beslutningsmyndighed. Gruppen omfavner således sammen med Paul Hillier den kunstneriske vision at være førende indenfor ensemblesangens svære kunst. Ensemblet har specialiseret sig i fortolkning af renæssancens polyfone kormusik og ny vokalmusik, der udføres med præcision og nerve og med en sound, som vækker opmærksomhed overalt i verden. Med en årlig koncertsæson i København og Århus, adskillige koncerter i det øvrige Danmark og tilbagevendende turnéer verden over, er gruppen i dag mere efterspurgt end nogensinde. I år besøgte gruppen bl.a. Kina på en længere turne, som en markant del af det danske kulturfremstød. Ars Nova har indspillet en lang række CD’er, der har vundet adskillige priser; heriblandt en Grammy for The Little Match Girl Passion med musik af David Lang. To aktuelle cd’er på DaCapo er ’Carambolage’ i samarbejde med Århus Sinfonietta med musik af Axel Borup Jørgensen (november 2014) og ’Carl Nielsen – Songs for Choir’ med 21 sange af 150-års jubilaren (december 2014). Andre nyere udgivelser (i udvalg) er ’Creator Spiritus’ på Harmonia Mundi med musik af Arvo Pärt og ’Fragments of Requiem’ på DaCapo med musik af Ockeghem og Bent Sørensen. I juli i år udkom på Orchid Records ’Gallos Y Huesos | Notker’ med musik af argentinske Pablo Ortiz, der har været Ars Novas huskomponist i 2012-2013. Albummet er på tale til en latin-grammy. Paul Hillier er fra Dorset i England og er uddannet fra Guildhall School of Music and Drama i London. I løbet af sin karriere har han virket som både dirigent, sanger, lærer, redaktør og forfatter. Han var grundlægger og kunstnerisk leder af Hilliard Ensemblet, og senere grundlagde han Theatre of Voices. Han har undervist i USA ved University of California i Santa Cruz og Davis og i perioden 1996-2003 som leder af Early Music Institute ved Indiana University School of Music. Han var kunstnerisk leder og chefdirigent for det Estiske Filharmoniske Kammerkor 2001-2007 og har været chefdirigent for Ars Nova Copenhagen siden 2003. Hans mere end hundrede cd-indspilninger (som bl.a. omfatter 7 solo recitals) har indbragt ham verdensomspændende hæder og adskillige priser. Hans bøger om Arvo Pärt og Steve Reich er – sammen med adskillige kormusik antologier – udgivet på Oxford University Press. I 2006 fik Paul Hillier en O.B.E. (Order of the British Empire) for sin indsats for kormusikken, og i marts 2007 tildeltes han Den Hvide Stjernes Orden af 4. grad for sin indsats for estisk musikliv og modtog en Grammy for Best Choral Recording. I 2008 blev Paul Hillier udnævnt til chefdirigent/kunstnerisk leder for The National Chamber Choir of Ireland samt kunstnerisk leder for det nydannede Coro Casa da Música i Porto, Portugal. I 2009 var han 'artist in residence' på Institute for Sacred Music på Yale University. I 2010 modtog han sin anden Grammy - for David Langs The Little Match Girl Passion. I 2013 blev han tildelt Ridderkorset.

Kommende koncerter Orpheus Behind the Wire En af vor tids største komponister, Hans Werner Henze, har med udgangspunkt i den klassiske fortælling om Orpheus rejse til dødsriget efter sin elskede Eurydice skabt et værk drevet af indignation mod våben, nød og de sultende masser. Hans værk suppleres med musik af Byrd, Franke, Holmboe og Hindemith. Aarhus Domkirke, fredag d. 20 november 2015 kl. 17.00 Garnisonskirken, København, søndag d. 22. november 2015 kl. 16.00 We Wish You a Merry Xmas Ars Novas traditionsrige julepostkort. I år med blandt andet Poulencs Quatre Motets pour le Temps de Noel, et nyt værk af Ib Nørholm, bayerske julesange af Josef Rheinberger samt en masse danske og anglo-amerikanske julesange. Garnisonskirken, søndag d. 13. december 2015 kl. 16.00 Missa Pange Lingua Josquin de Prez’ Missa Pange Lingua. Pange Lingua er en af de mest kendte hymner til Påsketiden. Her sat i scene af renæssancemesteren Josquin de Prez. Hans musik mødes af en vor tids mest interessante komponister: tre motetter af Poul Ruders. Aarhus Domkirke, onsdag d. 16 marts 2016 kl. 17.00 Garnisonskirken, København, søndag d. 20. marts 2016 kl. 20.00 Find information om yderligere koncerttidspunkter på www.arsnova.dk

Ars Nova Copenhagen er venligst støttet af: Statens Kunstråd, Dansk Korforbund,

Det Obelske Familiefond, Oticon Fonden, Augustinus Fonden, Knud Højgårds Fond, Toyota Fonden, Wilhelm Hansen Fonden, Københavns Musikudvalg, Sonning Fonden, Dansk

Kapelmesterforening og Frimodt-Heineke Fonden. Obel Fonden støtter særligt Ars Novas aktiviteter i Aarhus Domkirke.

Mediepartnere: Politiken, Optakt & DR P2

Tak til: Carsten Seyer-Hansen, domkantor ved Aarhus Domkirke, og 13 af hans unge talentsangere for medvirken ved koncerten i Aarhus.

Søren Christian Vestergaard, Indstudering, Kirsten Borregaard, Forhus; Denise Burt, Design; Magnus P. Hansen, Distribution;

Koncerten udsendes på DR P2 i September 2015

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