TERJE RYPDAL — Lux Aeterna (review)

TERJE RYPDAL — Lux Aeterna album cover Live album · 2002 · Fusion Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
Slartibartfast
The original Lux Aeterna was a classical piece for 16 solo voices composed in 1966 by Ligeti, who Rypdal claims as an influence. Rypdal's was a piece commissioned by the Molde Jazz Festival. Unlike Vossabrygg, this one is more of a classical/jazz fusion rather than jazz/rock, with heavy emphasis on the classical, maybe a smattering of rock if you take the electric guitar into account.

The commission was to celebrate the installation of a new organ at the Molde church in Norway. I looked it up on the web, it's a huge pipe organ. In addition to the organ in this music there is of course, Terje on electric guitar, trumpet, and a soprano playing the role of soloists with a chamber ensemble of 18 musicians (violins, violas, cellos, double-bass, percussion, and piano).

I think most fans of classical music will appreciate these compositions, very haunting, dreamy, and like most Rypdal, has that feeling of a cold Norwegian winter. The music in first movement, Luminous Galaxy, certainly fits the title in mood and atmosphere. The second movement, Fjelldåpen (baptized by the mountains) was inspired by a climb to the top of one of the smaller mountains in the area where he grew up when he was a kid. The third movement, Escalator, features, the strings and trumpet with some beautiful tuned percussion at the end. The fourth movement, Toccata, is solo organ, so you get to hear just what that monster is capable of. The concluding movement, Lux Aeterna, features the soprano and chamber ensemble with all the other soloists contributing bits here and there.
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