Eric Ericson Chamber Choir – Mother and Child

Mother and child – a relationship that has often been explored throughout music history. It can express deep tenderness and security, but also sorrow and longing. In one way or another, the music in this programme touches on this bond. We hear the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir under the direction of the English conductor Justin Doyle.

Djuro Zivkovic is Composer-in-Residence at Konserthuset, and his masterful Lyra Laudis is dedicated to his mother. Drawing on the Estonian national epic Kalevipoeg, Veljo Tormis has composed deeply moving music with an undertone of farewell – a tribute to his mother after her passing.

In Ingvar Lidholm’s Vaggvisa (Lullaby), a solo line hovers above the choir’s soft texture in a prayer for rest. We also hear a choral arrangement of Evert Taube’s beloved song Byssan lull – boil the full kettle, Rautavaara’s popular Sydämeni laulu (Song of My Heart) evokes the safety of a mother’s embrace, while Giles Swayne, inspired by African musical traditions, creates a powerful and jubilant celebration of life.

The programme is framed by tributes to the sacred mother: Mary. From the splendour of the Renaissance in Tomás Luis de Victoria and Francisco Guerrero, to Britten’s dialogue with a medieval text, and the contemporary voices of Judith Weir and Roxanna Panufnik, Mary’s role as a universal mother is reflected.