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無伴奏合唱作品集 馬修.惠特爾: (世界樹)
尼爾斯.薛肯迪克 指揮
赫爾辛基室內合唱團
A vocal exploration of humanity’s relationship with nature
Canadian-Finnish composer Matthew Whittall’s music fuses diverse influences — Old and New World, Western and non-Western, sacred and secular, classical, folk and popular — into a single, rich and varied expressive language. ForThe World Tree, a work for a cappella choir, Whittall collaborated with Robert Macfarlane, an author internationally renowned for his writing on nature, people and place.
The creative impulse behind the work was the illegal felling of the iconic Sycamore Gap tree in northern England in 2023. The result is an hour-long piece in ten movements exploring humanity’s relationship with nature. The title refers to Norse mythology, in which the tree Yggdrasil is seen as connecting the visible world to both heaven and the underworld. As well as being a requiem for the Sycamore Gap tree, the work expresses the hope that a forest will be planted in its place.
The World Treeis performed by the Helsinki Chamber Choir under its artistic director, Nils Schweckendiek — a collaboration that has produced numerous critically acclaimed recordings for BIS, notably the albumReconnaissance(BIS-2662), devoted to works by Kaija Saariaho, which won a Grammy Award in 2024.
WHITTALL, Matthew (b. 1975)
The World Tree (2025) (Fennica Gehrman)
Text: Robert Macfarlane (b. 1976)
1 I. Glacial Maximum 7'49
2 II. Wildwood 13'30
3 III. Pollen Polyphony 4'55
4 IV. Song of the Axe 5'07
5 V. Lament of the Legionary’s Wife 5'57
Emma Suszko alto solo
6 VI. Night of the Big Wind 5'44
7 VII. Axis Mundi 8'38
8 VIII. Heartwood 5'28
9 IX. Requiem 6'56
10 X. The Word for World is Forest 6'57
TT: 71'36
Helsinki Chamber Choir
Nils Schweckendiek conductor |
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