Santa Barbara is very lucky to have been a regular landing spot for the stellar Danish String Quartet (DSQ), rightfully regarded as one of the world’s great practitioners in their chosen medium. They are refined and on-the-sleeve, comfortable with both classics of the repertoire and cutting-edge new work — often commissioned by them. And they know how to get folky in the best way, elevating the rich tradition of Danish and other Scandinavian folk music in the line of duty.
And for their latest trick, at The Granada Theatre, the DSQ generously shared the spotlight with the fine Danish National Girls’ Choir, an astonishingly strong choral entity, capable of tackling both complex and rootsy materials with the proper clarity and interpretive aplomb. Their versatility was proudly on parade in this program. After a cohesively interwoven tapestry of choral and string quartet music in the first half, the second half belonged to the evening’s centerpiece, the U.S. premiere of noted composer David Lang’s “in wilderness,” co-commissioned by A&L.
We’ve grown accustomed to the wonder of hearing the DSQ over many years here, including the fascinating four-year Doppelgänger series, mixing Schubert with newly commissioned works by the celebrated likes of the Danish Bent Sørensen, Finnish composer Lotta Wennäkoski, the Icelandic Anna Thorvaldsdottir, and the British Thomas Adès. But in a way, the latest local appearance trained its strongest focus on this nationally sanctioned choral group, which beautifully illustrated the grandeur and ripeness of the Scandinavian choral tradition.
(We’ve gotten hints of that world in the 805 before, when the Copenhagen Royal Chapel Choir performed hereabouts in 2012, fittingly, in the Solvang Presbyterian Church, located in the Danish-rooted town of Solvang.)
The concert’s first half provided a delicious introduction to the powers of each group, and their collective mesh, and was a meal in itself, mostly composed of Danish/Nordic ingredients. An exception, however, appeared at the top of the musical mélange, with the allemande from Caroline Shaw’s hypnotic contemporary choral piece “8 Voices,” bracingly juxtaposed against the astringent string quartet attack of Wennäkoski’s Voruber, ach joubert, from Pige. For another contrast, the DSQ slipped into the very comfortable music from Schubert’s classic “Death and the Maiden,” then slipped back out into the post-modernist wilds of Thorvaldsdottir’s Pann heilaga kross (arranged by Thomas Bryla).
Tamer winds were then in store, as the choir and quartet handled often folkloric Danish music and Swedish tunes that were just complex enough to ensnare our interest.
Lang’s “in wildness” is an inventive and altogether inviting creation for the combined forces of string quartet and choir, though which he presents new ways to savor the sonic palette of choral writing, from thrumming clusters to resonant clarity, and then to crisp rhythmic delineations. Something fresh is afoot here, in terms of contemporary choral notions.
In the eight-part work, leaning on fragmented texts by Thoreau and Hans Christian Andersen (the Danish touch), elements of Lang’s post-minimalist impulses are threaded through the score in different ways, and to different degrees. In the middle section, a bolder and more emphatic “Nowadays” section yields to the dreamy choral mesh of “Old Tree.” Tensions circle around to a tranquil finale, even while completing its mission to end on a querulous suspended note.
This may well be the choicest premiere to have alighted a Santa Barbara stage this year, and deserves a healthy post-premiere afterlife. Count the evening, over all, as special on at least a few fronts, giving the city a cosmopolitan and worldly cachet for a night, and leaving us looking back in fondness.
