Search - Ernst Reijseger, Mola Sylla :: Requiem for a Dying Planet

Beyond category.

Michael Stack | North Chelmsford, MA USA | 11/16/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Recently, a local movie theater held a festival of films by director Werner Herzog. A favorite of mine, I checked out as many of the films as I could, with a particular eye towards films I hadn't seen, on that list was "The Wild Blue Yonder". As intriguing as that movie is, what really caught me about it was the score-- largely cello accompanying an unusual voice choir. Similar to things I heard but not quite anything in my experience.



I did a little digging and discovered Dutch cellist Ernst Reijseger was primarily responsible for the score and picked up a number of albums by him as the score was unavailable. Having enjoyed all of them thoroughly, you could imagine my excitement when I found out this score was coming-- "Requiem for a Dying Planet" combines the scores for "The Wild Blue Yonder" and "The white Diamond" (also by Herzog, though I haven't seen it). Arranged by Reijseger, the scores feature vocalist Senegalese singer Molla Sylla (who also performed with Reijseger on the superb album "Janna") and Sardinian voice choir Tenore e Cuncordu de Orosei (who collaborated with Reijseger on "Colla Voche"). This grouping leads to some rather stunning music-- Reijseger's cemented deep in a number of traditions-- classical, jazz, avant-garde and improv, and features a stunning technique and range of sounds-- playing above and below the bridge, arco and pizzicato. Sylla's vocals are deeply passionate and resonant and feature a remarkable ability to communicate-- singing in languages I'm unfamiliar with, I find when Sylla sings, I can understand his meaning. The Tenore e Cuncordu de Orosei is unusual for unfamiliar ears-- canto a tenore features a five part polyphonic vocalization-- meaning at least some of the singers produce multiple tones at once. It can be unusual on first listen, but has a delicate beauty all of its own.



The best description I can give for the album is the comment by David Jenkins of the Sunday Telegraph, the score "is mesmerizing and beyond categorization." Reijseger arranged a number of traditional religious pieces ("A Una Rosa", "Libere Me, Domine", "Kyrie", among others) and blended them with several originals to produce a spiritual sound-- delicate chants, powerful calls and responses and superb depths of emotion combine to form something at times otherworldly and at times sticking close to its roots. What's constant is that the music is superb throughout and completely beyond categorization. If you're here, you'll probably love this. Highly recommended."

Beautiful and otherworldly

A Reviewer | Eugene, OR | 10/19/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Wonderful otherworldly music. You literally won't find anything like it anywhere else. If you've seen "The White Diamond" or "The Wild Blue Yonder," you already know what this is like. There's also a YouTube video of Herzog directing the Wolof singer Mola Sylla as he improvises this music -- Herzog explains at length and Sylla, not speaking much English, just says, "Tristesse." This is strange, gorgeous, sad music."

Mesmerizing

William P. Ashton | Houston, TX United States | 12/01/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is an incredible soundtrack. I watched the movie, "Wild Blue Yonder" on DVD and fell in love with the music score."