Purcor

Trygve Seim, Andreas Utnem

CD from the "Touchstones" Series.
 
Modestly subtitled “Songs for saxophone and piano”, this recording quietly covers a lot of ground, with repertoire including new musical settings of parts of the Mass, folk songs, theatre music, improvisations, and a new version of Seim’s softly-breathing tune “Bhavana” (first heard on “Different Rivers”). “Purcor” is the first recorded documentation of a duo that already has a 14 year history. In the mid 1990s pianist-composer Andreas Utnem, working with Norway’s Church City Mission foundation, invited saxophonist Seim to join him for selected church services, improvising around variations on the psalms and playing some of his compositions and Trygve’s. In time, this developed into an informal regular ‘gig’ and in 2008 the players decided it was time to record the special music they had shaped along the way. “Purcor” was recorded at Tøyen Kirke, a church in the older part of Oslo. The album is a thoughtful and reflective album, of great charm.
Featured Artists Recorded

May 2008, Tøyen Kirke, Oslo

Original Release Date

05.11.2010

  • 1Kyrie
    (Andreas Utnem)
    04:24
  • 2Nu Seglar Vi Inn
    (Andreas Utnem)
    04:34
  • 3Praeludium, Improvisation
    (Andreas Utnem, Trygve Seim)
    02:50
  • 4Purcor
    (Andreas Utnem)
    03:00
  • 5Responsorium
    (Trygve Seim)
    04:08
  • 6Credo
    (Andreas Utnem)
    03:34
  • 7Pater Noster
    (Traditional)
    03:50
  • 8Bhavana
    (Trygve Seim)
    04:00
  • 9Gloria, Improvisation
    (Andreas Utnem, Trygve Seim)
    01:51
  • 10Solrenning
    (Traditional)
    03:18
  • 11312
    (Traditional)
    03:47
  • 12Agnus Dei
    (Andreas Utnem)
    03:13
  • 13Postludium, Improvisation
    (Andreas Utnem, Trygve Seim)
    05:00
  • 14Når Mitt Øye Trett Av Møye
    (Traditional)
    02:57

Recorded at Tøyen Kirke, a church in the older part of Oslo, this intensely melodic album provides overdue documentation of a duo that already has a 13-year history. Subtitled simply “Songs for saxophone and piano”, it quietly covers a lot of territory. Andreas Utnem speaks of “improvised church music” – with repertoire including new musical settings of parts of the Mass – as a central focus, and we also find here folk songs, theatre music, freely-created pieces, and a new version of Seim’s softly-breathing meditation “Bhavana” (first heard on “Different Rivers”).

Around 1997, liturgical composer Utnem, then working with Norway’s Church City Mission foundation, invited saxophonist Seim to join him for selected services, and the two musicians improvised around variations on the psalms. “We also played some of Andreas’s compositions and some of mine as well,” Seim recalls. These early meetings soon led to an informal semi-regular ‘gig’ and in 2008 the players decided to record some of the music they had shaped along the way.

“Andreas’s background is quite different from my own,” Seim notes, “but there is something about his composing that brings out a ‘focusing’ quality in my playing. Over time we’ve arrived at a special simplicity and clarity in the music which pleases me very much.”

YEAR DATE VENUE LOCATION
2025 February 14 Christuskirche Mannheim, Germany