After collaborating on the operas Trådgården and Hemligheter, composer and librettist Jonas Forssell and Magnus Florin are reunited in Skuggorna och Ljusen (‘Shadows and Light’) – a remarkable work for five vocalists, trombone and percussion expressing both grief and outrage at the Utøya killings of 2011 and searching for peace among the wreckage of human tragedy.

Forssell’s score takes its inspiration from the declamatory madrigal operas of Gesualdo and Monteverdi, but also from the most solemn tradition found in Christian worship: the ‘tenebrae’ devotions recited during Holy Week. The juxtaposition of Forssell’s ‘contemporary and profane’ modern madrigals with original tenebrae responsories by Lassus, Gesualdo and Victoria reflects the anguish and confusion that can overwhelm humans facing death. Meanwhile, Florin’s ‘soaring yet spare’ poetry inspires some of Forssell’s most radiant, mournful and propulsively angry music. All four composers are united by the highly original way in which they respond to the texts they set, whether in the sixteenth century or the twenty-first.

Fredrik Malmberg’s technically outstanding ensemble Vokalharmonin is joined by the virtuosic trombone-percussion Axelsson & Nilsson Duo for Forssell’s revised version of his original score from 2012. Forssell and Florin’s reflection on Norway’s Friday of suffering treads a moving line between emotional outpouring and devotional reflection. It receives an impeccable and intense performance on this new recording of a landmark score whose resonance will be felt in across the Nordic region and far beyond.