Hallgrímsson Passía, Op. 28
Mary Nessinger (mezzo); Gardar Thór Cortes (tenor);
Hallgrímskirkja Motet Choir and Chamber Orchestra/Hördur Áskelsson.
Ondine ODE 1027-2 (full price, 1 hour 1 minute).
Icelandic texts and English translation included.
Website www.ondine.net.
Producer Sveinn Kjartansson. Engineer Vigfús Ingvarsson.
Date March 2002.

This evokes the expansive, desolate and often forbidding coastal seascape of Hallgrímsson’s native Iceland rather more vividly than it does any sense of the Passion of Christ. To be fair, the texts, drawn from Icelandic religious writings of the seventeenth century as well as several twentieth-century Icelandic poets, do return continually to the theme of the vastness of the sea, and, as such, Hallgrímsson’s Passía can be seen as a musical voyage reflecting the vastness of the ocean in all its moods as an allegory of the events leading up to Christ’s crucifixion. The music is spacious, sparse and unconcerned with the progress of time, it’s hour’s duration belying its tautly condensed texts. Orchestral effects, frequently spiced up by clusters and unearthly effects from the organ, replace any coherent thematic or rhythmic design, while the function of the choir is more to expand on the effects created by the orchestra than to deliver clear lines of text. In that, it achieves a remarkable synthesis with the orchestra and displays quite amazing tonal control. In short, this is a work of effect-music which is elevated by the sheer breadth of Hallgrímson’s vision and his obvious empathy with the texts and their subject-matter.

Originally scored for chamber orchestra, organ duet, choir and mezzo soprano soloist, Passía was subsequently revised to include a tenor soloist and it is that version, premièred on Good Friday 2002, which is recorded here. The addition of the tenor soloist was an inspired move and with the words of Jesus so movingly sung here by Gardar Thór Cortes in the work’s fourth section, luminous choral singing from the choir and simply magical playing from the orchestra – with particularly impressive horn solo work from Joseph Ognibene – we have here music of the most sublime beauty. The remainder of the cast on this recording were those involved in the work´s original première (in 2001), including the American mezzo Mary Nessinger. Her astonishing feats of breath control add a gloriously ethereal touch to her contributions, not least the very touching words of Hannes Pétursson which open the desolate third section.

Hördur Áskelsson, who was responsible for the commissioning of the work for his choir at Reykjavík’s imposing Hallgrímskirkja, is clearly deeply committed to it and, under his direction, the majesty, passion, desolation and vastness of Hallgrímsson’s score is powerfully portrayed. He times things to perfection, building up to the occasional climaxes with impeccable timing and controlling his resources with unerring precision. Supported by Ondine’s unobtrusive recording this is a deeply impressive release for those willing to give up an hour of their time for the unhurried absorption of this sparse music.

Marc Rochester, International Record Review, May 2004