Maria's Song

Sinikka Langeland, Lars Anders Tomter, Kåre Nordstoga

Featured Artists Recorded

February 2008, Nidaros Cathedral, Trondheim

Original Release Date

02.11.2009

  • 1Lova lova Lina
    (Traditional)
    00:50
  • 2Meine Seele erhebet den Herren, BWV 648
    (Johann Sebastian Bach)
    02:32
  • 3Ave Maria
    (Olea Pedersdatter Jølstad, Traditional)
    05:00
  • Suite No. 1 in G major, BWV 1007
    (Johann Sebastian Bach)
  • 4Prélude02:17
  • 5The angel Gabriel greets Mary
    (Olea Pedersdatter Jølstad, Traditional)
    01:20
  • Suite No. 1 in G major, BWV 1007
    (Johann Sebastian Bach)
  • 6Allemande03:34
  • 7But the angel said to her
    (Olea Pedersdatter Jølstad, Traditional)
    01:01
  • Suite No. 1 in G major, BWV 1007
    (Johann Sebastian Bach)
  • 8Courante02:32
  • 9He will be great
    (Sinikka Langeland, Traditional)
    01:07
  • Suite No. 1 in G major, BWV 1007
    (Johann Sebastian Bach)
  • 10Sarabande02:35
  • 11Mary asked the angel
    (P. C. Astrup, Traditional)
    01:28
  • Suite No. 1 in G major, BWV 1007
    (Johann Sebastian Bach)
  • 12Menuet I & II03:01
  • 13Even Elizabeth
    (Sinikka Langeland, Traditional)
    00:58
  • Suite No. 1 in G major, BWV 1007
    (Johann Sebastian Bach)
  • 14Gigue01:27
  • 15Vom Himmel kam der Engel Schar, BWV 607 / I am the Lord's servant
    (Johann Sebastian Bach, Traditional)
    01:17
  • 16Lova lova Lina
    (Traditional, Gunhild Larsdatter Vaale)
    03:38
  • 17Fuga sopra il Magnificat, BWV 733
    (Johann Sebastian Bach)
    05:10
  • 18Mary visits Elizabeth
    (Traditional)
    00:54
  • 19Kantele
    (Public Domain)
    00:58
  • Concerto in d minor, BWV 596
  • 20I. (without tempo indication) / She was filled with the Holy Spirit
    (Johann Sebastian Bach, Traditional)
    01:00
  • 21Blessed is she who has believed
    (Sinikka Langeland, Traditional)
    00:22
  • Concerto in d minor, BWV 596
  • 22II. Fuga
    (Johann Sebastian Bach)
    04:07
  • 23Song of Mary
    (Traditional)
    02:19
  • 24Kantele
    (Public Domain)
    00:53
  • Concerto in d minor, BWV 596
  • 25III. Largo e spiccato / His mercy extends to those who fear him
    (Johann Sebastian Bach, Traditional)
    02:58
  • 26IV. (without tempo indication)
    (Johann Sebastian Bach)
    03:31
  • 27Kyrie
    (Traditional)
    02:05
  • Partita No. 2 in d minor, BWV 1004
    (Johann Sebastian Bach, Traditional)
  • 28Chaconne / Ave Maria13:04
Folk music is the centre of Sinikka Langeland’s work, but the Norwegian singer and kantele player takes the freedom to redefine “folk” with each of her successive projects. A distinctly non-traditional traditionalist, her ECM debut, “Starflowers” (2007), featured settings of the verse of lumberjack poet Hans Børli powerfully embellished by the in-the-moment arrangements of a cast of jazz improvisers including Trygve Seim, Arve Henriksen and Anders Jormin.

“Maria’s Song” finds Langeland in the company of two distinguished classical musicians, and on a mission to restore Marian texts to sacred music, weaving folk melodies in between the timeless strains of Johann Sebastian Bach, and drawing on the Gospel of St Luke for her images of the Holy Mother.

As Sinikka says in the liner notes: “Religious folk songs are among the most distinctive elements of Norwegian folk music, but the Virgin Mary is only represented with a few variants of the hymn ‘Maria hun er Jomfru ren’ (Mary is a virgin pure). The reason for this is obvious: she was ‘reformed’ away in 1537 along with a large number of beautiful church paintings and sculptures, and anyone who persisted in worshipping her risked harsh punishment. But the myth of the virgin Mary lives on in the Norwegian folk tradition in the form of nicknames for flowers and in the legends that are recounted in folksongs and sagas.”

On earlier recordings, “Stjerneklang” (Grappa, 2002), “Påsketona” (Nordic Sound, 2004), and “Kyriekoral” (Nordic Sound, 2005), Sinikka presented Christmas, Easter and Pentecostal hymns in Norwegian folk music settings, alongside Johann Sebastian Bach’s organ variations of the same hymns. “The idea of improvising on the shared melody in the Bach pieces, first arose when I was working on the Christmas hymns. Kåre Nordstoga partnered her on “Påsketona” and “Kyriekoral”, which like the present disc were recorded in Trondheim’s Nidaros cathedral, world-famed for its rare Baroque organ, built by Johann Joachim Wagner in 1738.

Lars Anders Tomter brings another beautiful instrument into play, his Gasparo de Salò viola from 1590. Between viola and organ, Sinikkka’s kantele, the 15 string Finnish table harp, instrument of the Northern bards, finds its space. “When we played our way through time”, says Sinnika, “the Nidaros Cathedral reflected the spiritual currents of a thousand years.”
YEAR DATE VENUE LOCATION
2024 November 08 Internasjonale Orgelfestival Bodo, Norway
2024 November 17 Vinger kirke Kongsvinger, Norway
2024 December 21 Domkirke Oslo, Norway