Jóhann Jóhannsson: Drone Mass American Contemporary Music Ensemble, Theatre of Voices & Paul Hillier

• Jóhann Jóhannsson (1969 - 2018):
• 1Jóhannsson: One is True03:24
• 2Jóhannsson: Two is Apocryphal04:09
• 3Jóhannsson: Triptych in Mass05:46
• 4Jóhannsson: To Fold & Remain Dormant04:27
• 5Jóhannsson: The Last Foul Wind I Ever Knew04:44
• 6Jóhannsson: Divine Objects (Pt. 1)02:47
• 7Jóhannsson: Divine Objects (Pt. 2)04:16
• 8Jóhannsson: The Low Drone of Circulating Blood, Diminishes with Time03:53
• 9Jóhannsson: Moral Vacuums05:07
• 10Jóhannsson: Take the Night Air04:09
• 11Jóhannsson: The Mountain View, the Majesty of the Snow-Clad Peaks, from a Place of Contemplation and Reflection08:49
• Total Runtime51:31

Info for Jóhann Jóhannsson: Drone Mass

A Minimalist Masterpiece: The previously unrecorded Drone Mass was described by its composer, the late Jóhann Jóhannsson, as “a contemporary oratorio”. Written for voices, string quartet and electronics, it was commissioned and premiered by the American Contemporary Music Ensemble, aka ACME, who toured and recorded with Jóhannsson for almost ten years. Now they have made the world premiere recording of this richly atmospheric work, in collaboration with Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble Theatre of Voices, conducted by Paul Hillier, also a multiple Grammy Award-winner. The members of both ACME and Theatre of Voices worked closely with the composer many times, both in the studio and in multiple live performances and tours, before his untimely death.

Drone Mass is an extraordinary, mysterious accomplishment which at times bears comparison with the meditative minimalism of composers such as Arvo Pärt or Henryk Górecki. Beginning with strings and voices, but slowly integrating Jóhannsson’s electronic techniques into its landscape, the work represents what the Icelandic composer called “a distillation of a lot of influences and obsessions”.

As the title suggests, those obsessions include his fascination with the musical device of the drone. This was something Jóhannsson felt as a visceral presence, “a fundamental vibration that anchors music and gives you a foundation”. He often used both acoustic and electronic drones – sometimes gently underpinning the music, sometimes drowning out everything else. The new meaning the word has acquired in modern times gave it additional layers of resonance for him. Here, his drones have a motivic-like role, shifting and shimmering with hypnotic effect, conjuring different moods, from unsettling to uplifting, as the work progresses.

Adding to that mesmerising effect are the vocal lines, at times redolent of Renaissance polyphony, particularly in “Two is Apocryphal” and “Moral Vacuums”. Having long been interested in writing a large-scale vocal work, Jóhannsson found his source material in the so-called “Coptic Gospel of the Egyptians”, part of the Nag Hammadi library discovered in 1945. Among other texts, he uses a hymn described as consisting of “a seemingly meaningless series of vowels”. Both the enigmatic nature of these Gnostic writings and the sheer beauty of the vocalise-style writing add to the spiritual quality of the work as a whole.

Given the origins of the Drone Mass texts, it is particularly appropriate that the work’s 2015 premiere took place in the spectacular setting of the Egyptian Temple of Dendur at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Jóhannsson’s music filled this majestic space, captivating all present. Alongside the ACME players were Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth, with the composer himself controlling the waves of electronic sound.

The album was recorded during May 2019 at the Garnisonskirken in Copenhagen. It was produced by Francesco Donadello, another friend and regular associate of Jóhannsson’s. ACME were joined by internationally renowned Danish vocal group Theatre of Voices and their Artistic Director Paul Hillier. They too have a very close connection with Drone Mass, having performed it twice in the US, and in Krákow, with Jóhannsson and ACME. Most recently, ACME and Theatre of Voices gave a further performance in Athens, just four months after the composer’s death. Theatre of Voices also appear on other recordings of Jóhannsson’s work, including Orphée, Englabörn & Variations, Arrival and Last and First Men. The composer was known for his organic and inclusive manner of writing and performing, along with his collaborative spirit, which is at the heart of this recording.

By the time Drone Mass was first unveiled, Jóhannsson was already enjoying considerable mainstream success, thanks in part to his score for Denis Villeneuve’s Sicario (2015), which followed his work on the Canadian director’s Prisoners (2013). He won a Golden Globe in 2015 for his score to James Marsh’s The Theory of Everything, and a year later his contributions to Villeneuve’s celebrated Arrival earned him an Academy Award nomination. In addition, 2016 saw the release of Orphée, his acclaimed debut album for Deutsche Grammophon. Jóhannsson died in Berlin on 9 February, 2018, aged 48.

This eagerly awaited recording of Drone Mass marks the belated arrival of one of the composer’s defining works. It is also a moving and personal tribute from some of those who knew him best.

Clarice Jensen, artistic director, cello
Ben Russell, violin
Laura Lutzke, violin
Caleb Burhans, viola
Theatre of Voices:
Else Torp, soprano
Kate Macoboy, soprano
Signe Asmussen, mezzo-soprano
Iris Oja, alto
Paul Bentley-Angell, tenor
Jakob Skjoldborg, tenor
Jakob Bloch Jespersen, bass-baritone
Steffen Bruun, bass
Paul Hillier, conductor

Paul Hillier
specialises in vocal groups. In 1973 he founded and directed the the Hilliard Ensemble, taking this male-voice quartet to the peak of international recognition. In 1990 he moved to California and created the Theatre of Voices, to explore a greater range of musical styles using a more flexible cast of singers and instrumentalists. While teaching at the University of California, Davis, he presented an annual Festival of Voices and began to tour the USA with his new ensemble. At the same time he began a long and fruitful association with Harmonia Mundi USA, often recording among the vinyards of George Lucas’s Skywalker Ranch. He remains grateful to U.C. Davis for the opportunities it gave him including, among many other things, the time to write a book about Arvo Pärt (for Oxford University Press).

From 1996-2003 Hillier was Director of the Early Music Institute at Indiana University, a distinguished school of music with vast opportunities, but after seven years he felt himself too far removed from performance life. So in 2001, when he was offered the position of Principal Conductor of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, he accepted it - and this initiated his return to Europe. In 2003 he moved to Denmark and became, and remains, Chief Conductor of Ars Nova Copenhagen. Busy with both orchestra and choral conducting around the world, he still found time to edit the collected writings of Steve Reich (again for OUP).

In 2006 he was awarded an OBE for services to choral music. In 2007 he received the Order of the White Star of Estonia, and was awarded a Grammy for Best Choral Recording (”Da Pacem” – Arvo Pärt). He received another Grammy Award for the David Lang CD ’The Little Match Girl Passion’. In 2008 he became Chief Conductor of the National Chamber Choir of Ireland and was appointed artistic director of the Coro Casa da Música in Porto. That same year he created his own music publishing company - Theatre of Voices Edition (TOVE: distributed by Edition-S and by Peters Edition in the USA).

During 2009/10 he was artist in residence at Yale University’s Institute for Sacred Music, and performed in New York at the Bang-on-a-Can Marathon and at Lincoln Centre, also at the Royal Opera in Copenhagen, the Barbican Centre in London, and the Perth International Arts Festival in Australia. In the 2012 Grammy Awards show Paul Hiller was competing for the seventh time in nine years – nominated with Ars Nova Copenhagen and music by Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen. In 2013 he was awarded the Order of Dannebrog - the Danish knighthood - by Her Majesty, Queen Margaret of Denmark.

Theatre of Voices
is an internationally recognized Danish vocal group which has close to 40 releases and several awards, including a Grammy and P2 awards. Theatre of Voices’ repertoire covers a wide range of genres and stretches from the earliest notated music to modern sound art installations and contemporary opera. The ensemble’s distinct, clear sound and undivided devotion to the musical material has led to many collaborations with composers such as Arvo Pärt, Steve Reich, Stockhausen, John Adams, Kaija Saariaho, Liu Sola, Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, Helena Tulve, Sunleif Rasmussen, Galina Grigorjeva, Michael Gordon, David Lang, John Luther Adams, Line Tjørnhøj, Nigel Osborne, Arnannguaq Gerstrøm, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Hildur Gu∂nadóttir and many more. Theatre of Vocies has added voices to film music such as as Oscar-winning La Grande Bellezza (Paolo Sorrentino), Arrival (Denis Villeneuve) and most recently with ‘horror sound’ in the Danish film The Suicide Tourist (Jonas Alexander Arnby) with Nikolaj Coster Waldau in the lead role.

The group was founded in London in 1990 by the british conductor, singer and writer Paul Hillier and is considered one of the world's leading vocal ensembles. After some years in the USA, Hillier moved back to Europe in 2004 to settle in Denmark, where the ensemble is now based. In 2013, the group was nominated for the Nordic Council Music Prize. This inspired commissioning of even more Nordic repertoire and resulted in a North Atlantic Tour in 2019 that included works from Greenland, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Denmark and Estonia featured on both concerts and local workshops.

Theatre of Voices performs at prominent international festivals, concert halls and opera houses such as the Teatro Real (Madrid), Palais Garnier (Paris), Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall (NY), Barbican Center (London), Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg), and Sydney Opera House. Season 2020 - where the Theatre of Voices celebrated its 30th anniversary - started with a huge celebration at Kings Place in London and in spite of Covid-19 restrictions continued with virtual and live activities in Germany, England, Italy, Greenland, recordings as holograms for 16 performances in Hong Kong, and ended with an online Christmas concert in collaboration with the National Bank of Colombia. The year had a special focus on environmental issues and sustainability.

In 2021, Theatre of Voices is booked for both CD recordings and festivals in Denmark, Finland and Italy (two concerts in the opening weekend of La Biennale di Venezia), and concerts in Germany (premiere by Bernd Franke) and the UK (Cambridge Music Festival and Kings Place) - with continued focus on female composers (premiere by Arnannguaq Gerstrøm), environment/sustainability (premiere by John Luther Adams and also refugee flows (premiere by Nigel Osborne). Collaboration with Rihab Azar (oud) and Naomi Sato (sho). Theatre of Voices is supported by the Danish Arts Council, Holbæk Municipality and the Augustinus Foundation.

American Contemporary Music Ensemble
Over the past fifteen years, led by cellist and artistic director Clarice Jensen, the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) has risen to the highest ranks of American new music through a mix of meticulous musicianship, artistic vision, engaging collaborations, and unwavering standards in every regard. The membership of the amorphous collective includes some of the brightest young stars in the field. NPR calls them “contemporary music dynamos,” and Strings reports, “ACME’s absorbing playing pulsed with warm energy. . . Shared glances and inhales triggered transitions in a flow so seamless it seemed learned in a Jedi temple.” ACME was honored by ASCAP during its 10th anniversary season in 2015 for the “virtuosity, passion, and commitment with which it performs and champions American composers.”

The ensemble has performed at leading international venues including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, BAM, The Kennedy Center, Washington Performing Arts, UCLA's Royce Hall, Stanford Live, Chicago’s Millennium Park, Duke Performances, The Satellite in Los Angeles, Triple Door in Seattle, Melbourne Recital Hall and Sydney Opera House in Australia, and at festivals including the Sacrum Profanum Festival in Poland, All Tomorrow's Parties in England,Auckland Arts Festival in New Zealand, Summer Nostos Festival in Greece, Boston Calling, and Big Ears in Knoxville, TN.

World premieres given by ACME include Ingram Marshall’s Psalmbook, Jóhann Jóhannsson’s Drone Mass (commissioned by ACME in 2015; recorded for Deutsche Grammophon in 2019), Caroline Shaw's Ritornello, Phil Kline's Out Cold, William Brittelle's Loving the Chambered Nautilus, Timo Andres’ Senior and Thrive on Routine, Caleb Burhans’ Jahrzeit, and many more. In 2016 at The Kitchen, ACME premiered Clarice Jensen’s transcription of Julius Eastman’s The Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc for ten cellos, the score of which had been lost since the premiere in 1981. Jensen transcribed a recording of the work to recreate the score.

ACME’s collaborators have included The Richard Alston Dance Company, Wayne McGregor’s Random Dance, Gibney Dance, Satellite Ballet, Meredith Monk, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Max Richter, actress Barbara Sukowa, filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, Blonde Redhead, Grizzly Bear, Low, Matmos, Micachu & The Shapes, Jeff Mangum, A Winged Victory for the Sullen, Roomful of Teeth, Lionheart, and Theo Bleckmann.

In 2017, ACME released its first portrait album on Sono Luminus, featuring music by members Caroline Shaw,Timo Andres, and Caleb Burhans, plus John Luther Adams.The release was featured as Album of the Week on Q2 Music and Gramophone praised it, reporting, “The ACME players capture the aura of tranquility to hypnotic effect[in the Adams], the repeated patterns in the keyboard instruments contrasted beautifully with the lyrical strings.” The Strad raved, “Warmth and care are fully evident in the ensemble’s immaculate, considered performances–the four composers could hardly wish for more committed, convincing accounts of their music.”

ACME's discography also includes Jóhann Jóhannsson’s Orphée and Max Richter’s eight-hour piece, Sleep (which the ensemble regularly performs live), both on Deutsche Grammophon; Fantasias with thereminist Carolina Eyck on Butterscotch Records; Joseph Byrd: NYC 1960-63, the first commercial recording of the music of rediscovered American Fluxus composer Joseph Byrd, on New World Records; William Brittelle’s electro-acoustic chamber work Loving the Chambered Nautilus, and Jefferson Friedman's On In Love with vocalist Craig Wedren, both on New Amsterdam Records.

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