LUX AETERNA

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.

" "Lux Aeterna" was commisioned by the Molde Jazz Festival to celebrate the magnificent organ newly installed in the Molde church...". This was recorded live at that festival and is much more Classical sounding than Jazz. In fact the BERGEN CHAMBER ENSEMBLE is very prominant throughout with solos coming from Terje (guitar), Palle (trumpet), Iver (organ) and Ashild (soprano vocals). This is tough to digest for my tastes. I like atmosphere and melancholy but not so much in this style. And I am a big fan of Terje's unique guitar work and compositions.

There are five movements to this recording. First up is "Luminous Galaxy" which is melancholic with strings standing out early on. Trumpet 4 minutes in.Organ after 9 minutes takes over and dominates. Strings are back late. "Fjelldapen" is atmospheric as the guitar makes some noise. It stops before 4 minutes as it turns more melancholic. The guitar is back. It's eerie (strings) around 8 minutes. "Escalator" is mellow and orchestral sounding. The fact it's raining as I write this couldn't be more appropriate.

"Toccata" opens with that church organ and it over- powers everything else in earshot. A calm before 2 1/2 minutes before we get an outburst of organ once again before 6 1/2 minutes. More of that to come as it ends much like it began. "Lux Aeterna" features the female soprano vocals along with lots of strings. Trumpet before 3 minutes. No melody here at all. Vocals are back. Guitar after 5 1/2 minutes then more vocals before 8 minutes. Another calm.Vocals and strings before 10 minutes with trumpet a minute later.

Do you like avant-garde Classical music ? Then check this out. Others proceed with caution.

Very interesting and unusual live album: recorded during celebration opening new church organ installation ( in Norwegian town of Molde). Besides Terje Rypdal on guitar, there participate excellent jazz trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg , Iver Kleive on church organ, Ashild Stubo Gundersen ( soprano) and Bergen Chamber Ensemble.

Composition played is originally classical piece, so you can easily expect music there is mostly contemporary classic. Electric Terje guitar gave some jazz fusion feeling as well as Palle's jazzy trumpet. But Chamber Ensemble is main sound on recording, with some fantastic ,very powerful organ passages. I like big church organ's sound still from my very teens, when I listened JS Bach played in Catholic Cathedral. Very impressionable feeling, and there on this recording this sound is such great!

Music ,as often with Norwegian jazz musicians, is clear, a bit cool, airy and very well balanced emotionally. And nice, catching you, and energizing with light energy at the same time.

Hardly the album for jazz-rock lovers or jazz/jazz fusion purists. But very attractive work for modern classic listeners ( with open ears).