Encouraged by the late soprano Anne-Lise Berntsen, Norwegian saxophonist and composer
Trygve Seim has been composing songs based on texts by Sufi mystic poet Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi since 2003 and experimenting with form and instrumentation. This date features his new quartet with mezzo-soprano
Tora Augestad, accordionist
Frode Haltli, and cellist
Svante Henryson. Using formal art song, avant-garde composition, Egyptian classical music, and several other sources as guideposts, this cycle is a stellar achievement for the composer. The texts use the award-winning English translations by
Coleman Barks. ("Seeing Double" was translated by Kabir and Camille Helminski with Lida Saedian.) While the pacing here is somewhat linear and the instrumentation sparse, the variety in
Seim's charts -- alternately strictly annotated or sketched as lead sheets -- creates striking atmospherics and complex melodies and countermelodies for this chamber quartet. Musical surprise is everywhere.
Augestad is an excellent focal point; her articulation reveals the mystery, humor, and ecstasy -- spiritual and carnal -- in Rumi's writings. When
Seim's horn is on the front line, it expresses itself as smoky, soulful, wispy, and speculative, but the balance among the instruments is remarkable. "Seeing Double" uses tango, traces of French chanson, and folk-jazz.
Henryson's cello offers a pizzicato bassline and a lilting lyric solo as
Haltli provides quick fills and sprightly chords and
Seim creates a second melody line that touches on folk music. "When I See Your Face" walks a tightrope between Egyptian and Indian modalism and nuevo tango.
Seim delivers contrast by making use of
Ben Webster's soulful ballad style as
Haltli and
Henryson engage in a canny dialogue under
Augestad's vocal. It's followed by "Like Every Other Day," an elegant, purposefully drawn-out ballad that connects Brecht-
Weill,
Jerome Kern, and Norwegian folk music. The outlier here is the brief but startling instrumental "Whirling Rhythms," which showcases the spectrum of dialogic experience between
Haltli and
Seim -- whose musical relationship goes back decades. The quartet is at its best on the closer, "There Is Some Kiss We Want."
Augestad expresses Rumi's observations on the deepest of the heart's longings with affirmation and generosity as the instrumentalists weave a joyful backdrop somehow simultaneously filled with yearning.
Rumi Songs won't necessarily appeal to everyone, but that doesn't lessen the impact of
Seim's achievement. His discipline, intuition, and imagination in writing for this group make Rumi's already accessible writings absolutely compelling as song. ~ Thom Jurek