SINIKKA LANGELAND - The Magical Forest
ECM 477 6831
Sinikka Langeland (kantele, vocals); Arve Henriksen (trumpet); Trygve Seim (tenor & soprano saxophones); Anders Jormin (double bass); Markku Ounaskari (percussion)
Trio Mediaeval: Anna Maria Friman, Berit Opheim, Lin Andrea Fuglseth (vocals)
Recorded February 2015
In re-uniting her Norwegian-Finnish-Swedish quintet, aka the Starflowers quintet, kantele player and vocalist Sinikka Langeland once again utilises sung poetry with her jazz quintet furthering the work done on Starflowers (recorded 2006) and The Land Is Not from 2010 with a set of original songs that draw their influence from Finnskogen, the western part of a cultural belt that runs eastward through Finland, Russia and Siberia and as far as Japan and all sharing songs and hunting rituals (as depicted in 'Kamui' describing the ritual of a sacrificial bear cub). To the quintet, Langeland adds the additional voices of Trio Mediaeval that brings an additional richness to the arrangements, and it this unusual blend that gives the album such a wide tonal palette that leads itself to to the reading of Sinikka's verses.
It is therefore interesting to hear how Langeland integrates, and at times segregates, the trio and quintet to create contrast, or in turn have the horns support the voices with their unison lines to thicken up the already rich harmonies and heighten the meaning of the gently unfolding text. In doing so, Arve Henriksen and Trygve Seim have developed and almost telepathic rapport with their sounds blending to become one as can be heard on the exquisite 'Pilllar to Heaven' where Seim's soprano and Arve's trumpet weave contrapuntal lines that enhance the voices of Langeland and Trio Mediaeval.
The leader herself commands attention with both voice and kantele, and her composition 'Puun Loitsu' , based on a rune song text from Finnskogen, that opens the album and indicates the delights to follow. The folksy timbre of the leader's voice and kantele work well with the voices of Trio Mediaeval, and also by turns switch roles to colour the quintet as they bring a hard edged contemporary rhythmic feel to bear allowing the trumpet and saxophone to break out in declamatory statements before once again taking on more submissive role.
It is this apparent contrast between old and the new that lifts this wonderful music, and the relationship between trio and quintet. Henriksen and Seim stand out as major voices on their respective instruments, and with the trumpeter being confined to all acoustic sound world, sans electronics, the true beauty of his tone and lyrical phrasing can be appreciated. Another suerb release from Langeland that defies being slotted into a pigeonhole, but repays careful and patient listening.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
ECM 477 6831
Sinikka Langeland (kantele, vocals); Arve Henriksen (trumpet); Trygve Seim (tenor & soprano saxophones); Anders Jormin (double bass); Markku Ounaskari (percussion)
Trio Mediaeval: Anna Maria Friman, Berit Opheim, Lin Andrea Fuglseth (vocals)
Recorded February 2015
In re-uniting her Norwegian-Finnish-Swedish quintet, aka the Starflowers quintet, kantele player and vocalist Sinikka Langeland once again utilises sung poetry with her jazz quintet furthering the work done on Starflowers (recorded 2006) and The Land Is Not from 2010 with a set of original songs that draw their influence from Finnskogen, the western part of a cultural belt that runs eastward through Finland, Russia and Siberia and as far as Japan and all sharing songs and hunting rituals (as depicted in 'Kamui' describing the ritual of a sacrificial bear cub). To the quintet, Langeland adds the additional voices of Trio Mediaeval that brings an additional richness to the arrangements, and it this unusual blend that gives the album such a wide tonal palette that leads itself to to the reading of Sinikka's verses.
It is therefore interesting to hear how Langeland integrates, and at times segregates, the trio and quintet to create contrast, or in turn have the horns support the voices with their unison lines to thicken up the already rich harmonies and heighten the meaning of the gently unfolding text. In doing so, Arve Henriksen and Trygve Seim have developed and almost telepathic rapport with their sounds blending to become one as can be heard on the exquisite 'Pilllar to Heaven' where Seim's soprano and Arve's trumpet weave contrapuntal lines that enhance the voices of Langeland and Trio Mediaeval.
The leader herself commands attention with both voice and kantele, and her composition 'Puun Loitsu' , based on a rune song text from Finnskogen, that opens the album and indicates the delights to follow. The folksy timbre of the leader's voice and kantele work well with the voices of Trio Mediaeval, and also by turns switch roles to colour the quintet as they bring a hard edged contemporary rhythmic feel to bear allowing the trumpet and saxophone to break out in declamatory statements before once again taking on more submissive role.
It is this apparent contrast between old and the new that lifts this wonderful music, and the relationship between trio and quintet. Henriksen and Seim stand out as major voices on their respective instruments, and with the trumpeter being confined to all acoustic sound world, sans electronics, the true beauty of his tone and lyrical phrasing can be appreciated. Another suerb release from Langeland that defies being slotted into a pigeonhole, but repays careful and patient listening.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
