The Swedish Radio Choir does not play it safe. They go all out for the rare, hard-hitting, obscure and difficult. And when a musical ensemble takes risks, it is memorable. Even a week later, my ears are still buzzing from some of the repertoire performed by The Swedish Radio Choir presented by Cal Performances at Hertz Hall on the UC Berkeley campus. It was also exciting to see Ragnar Bohlin, Chorus Director of the San Francisco Symphony as guest conductor. He has worked with the Radio Choir in the past and teamed up with them for their 2010 Spring tour.

Even though I have sung in choirs for over half of my life and have a deep love for this music, I would not consider myself a choral music specialist. However, I will usually be familiar with at least one or two selections on any given program. From this program, I only recognized the names of Gustav Mahler and Johann Sebastian Bach. It is always exciting to hear music that is completely new to the ears. The Radio Choir features Swedish compositions, rarely performed pieces of the great masters and relatively obscure composers from all over the world.

The piece that I can still hear buzzing in my ears and that I am most excited about is Anders Hillborg's "Mouyayoum," composed for 16-part-chorus without text [hear excerpts in video below]. The program described the piece as "using sliding vowels and minimalist rhythms in a way that sets both audience and performers in a state of cosmic trance." This pieces draws upon many of the same vocal techniques and sonic qualities that Karlheinz Stockhausen used in his great work "Stimmung" based on the layering of voices based of the overtone series. The sounds that came out of these Swedish voice boxes were mostly unrecognizable as human, sounding mechanical and unworldly. "Mouyayoum" was truly breathtaking.

Mahler's "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" showed off the soprano's floaty high range with control and poise in an arrangement by German conductor Clytus Gottwald. Sven-David Sandström's "Lobet den Herrn" was a gorgeous piece for double chorus filled with cluster chords galore. This piece is composed for double chorus to the same text as Bach's motet.

The Swedish Radio Choir was founded in 1925, but it was only in 1952 that the newly appointed Musical Director Eric Ericson set about molding it into the flexible choral instrument that it is today. Ericson made the choir into an ensemble capable of performing advanced choral repertoire that had since been gathering dust  — works by composers such as Richard Strauss and Max Reger.

This concert marked the end of the Swedish Radio Choir's Spring 2010 tour with Ragnar Bohlin, who will return to the San Francisco Symphony Chorus as Director.

For more information about the Swedish Radio Choir

For more information about Ragnar Bohlin

For more information on Cal Performances