Femina Moderna – Allmänna Sangen

   in Choir & Organ (Mar, 2017)
Allmäna Sången started out as a male-voice choir, but went co-ed in 1963. Under Russian-born Maria Goundorina, the ensemble has developed an interest in contemporary music as well as the Swedish classics. This mixed programme combines work by the now comparatively senior Libby Larsen (Songs of Youth and Pleasure), Cecilia McDowall (Regina Cæli) and Anna Cederbert-Orreteg (Jordanära), with home-grown talents such as Tebogo Monnakgotla, Andrea Tarrodi and Clara Lindsjö. The all-female composer line-up has nothing doctrinaire about it – simply a celebration of distinctive imaginations sung by a highly distinctive choir which moves easily between lyrical flow and unusual modernist techniques, with no loss of confidence in either direction. A charismatic …