Hi, Dan!
This exchange is only marginally on-topic but I hope
no-one minds our discussing Sequentia a bit more.
> I doubt this CD was recorded with the
> intent of making it into an academic exercise on reconstructing a sung
> version of the Edda as it was performed in mediaeval Iceland.
I'm sure it is nowhere explicitly stated but that's
the impression many people seem to be getting.
> It is a modern artistic expression
> of an old text, not more no less.
Certainly. But why would they do all this research
if their goal wasn't, at least partially, to reconstruct
something?
> To criticize it under this aspect does not do the craftsmanship and
> effort justice that was put into it.
The aspect we were asked (by more than one person)
to criticize was the accuracy of the pronunciation.
As I said two years ago:
"Obviously the members of Sequentia are musicians
(not linguists) and they will have to be judged for the quality
of their music. I don't know much of anything about music so
you shouldn't take my comments about it very seriously."
As for accuracy of pronunciation we found it mostly absent.
> And how would you know how the Edda was performed in the first place?
> Were you there? Even darwing conclusions from modern Icelandic, Faeroes,
> and Norwegian traditional folk music doesnt really help, because
> performace and musical styles develop and change over time at least as
> much as language does.
Even so, later Icelandic and Faroese folk songs would surely
be a better approximation than, say, traditional Japanese music
or modern opera. And this criticism was founded on their own
claims. They said they'd listened to a whole lot of traditional
Nordic music - yet I hardly heard a trace of that in their
performance. Neither did Óskar.
But it so happens that now we do have someone on this list
who is much better qualified to judge Sequentia's music.
Konrad, what do you think?
By all means, don't let me ruin your enjoyment of the music.
I keep giving the impression that I hated this CD but that's
not the case at all. I enjoyed some of the melodies. I'd even
like to own it but I'd rather prefer not to pay for it ;-)
Kveðja,
Haukur