Rock-solid Technique

Choral conductor and composer Knut Nystedt (1915-2014) has been one of Norway's best-kept secrets for too long. Whatever the position outside the UK, his strikingly idiomatic and imaginative writing for choirs deserves to be much better known and more frequently performed here.

Composed in 1986, his Stabat Mater is scored for unaccompanied chorus and solo cello, and at around fifteen minutes is one of the most compact settings of this text in the repertoire. The Derwent Singers, conducted by Richard Roddis, made it the climax of their concert of music for Holy Week (St Mary's Church, Derby, UK, 8 April 2017), exploring its fluctuating emotions with complete assurance...