Music of simplicity and subtlety

From March 20, 2015:

In the preface to his Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman says “Nothing is better than simplicity . . . . nothing can make up for excess or for the lack of definiteness.” This might be a motto for Carl Nielsen’s Songs for Choir, which, though they are not folk songs or based on folk melodies, are meant by the composer to speak to ordinary Danes as if they were. Twenty of these songs are gathered on this new Dacapo CD, sung by Ars Nova Copenhagen and directed by Michael Bojesen. Most of the songs were originally written for a single voice with piano accompaniment; Bojesen has arranged 17 for four-part a cappella choir. The remaining three were originally written by Nielsen in four parts SATB. Ars Nova Copenhagen’s 12 voices a fine match for this music, providing colour and vivacity to Nielsen’s subtleties. Dacapo provides its usual deluxe presentation.