Refractions. Pedersen.

   in Choir & Organ (May, 2013)
This collection of spectacular performances introduces a retrospective of four works by Fartein Valen, from the lyrical opulence of Psalm 121 of 1911 to the unremitting Kom regn fra det høie (‘Come rain from on high’) for women’s choir with clarinet obbligato of 1937. Messiaen’s Cinq rechants are magnificent, and the ease with which Webern’s early Entflieht auf leichten Kahnen and the op.19 songs – clearly more challenging for listeners than singers – is admirable. But it is an arrangement of Berg’s Die Nachtigall for 16 voices by Clytus Gottwald that is truly glorious, with its effortless high D at the end. …