Puksånger – Lockrop

It is with a bit of a fright and with big excitement I’ve taken on the contemporary piece “Puksånger-Lockrop” Timpanum songs – Herding calls  by the Swedish composer Karin Rehnqvist.

The piece for two voices and timpani is going to be performed during the contemporary music festival Festival Aktuelle Musik 017  NAH – FERN in Nuremberg, as a part of a concert suitably called Jenseits der Aria – Beyond the Aria. Very suitable for this piece mixing an old nordic way of singing; kulning, with classical singing and extremely low passages where the voice is hardly anything but breath. Rehnqvist also mixes Swedish, Finnish and gibberish texts.

Kulning is something I’ve heard a lot during my studies in Sweden and sometimes as a kid, but I’ve never felt predestined to produce those sounds myself. However, after talking to Rehnqvist about it, I contacted the superb Norwegian soprano Berit Norbakken-Solset (which might be the most beautiful surname I’ve ever heard) who is writing her doctorate on how to widen the concept of a classical trained voice – what we as classical singers can actually do with our voices and how we should train young singers, preparing them for a more diverse working market.
Berit gave me a few tips on how a classical voice can produce the sounds of kulning, without raising the larynx.

I’m very interested to see what working with these piece brings me in terms of the extreme hight notes of kulning but maybe even more because of the extreme low notes (H)

The concert takes place in the church St.Egidien, May 16th 19:30

Voice 1 Franziska Zwink

Voice 2 Solgerd Isalv

Percussion Felix Uttenreuther