Per Nørgård: Nuit des Hommes

Per Nørgård (Composer), Kaare Hansen (Conductor), Helene Gjerris (Performer), Helge Rønning (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Helene Gjerris, Helge Rønning
• Conductor: Kaare Hansen
• Composer: Per Nørgård
• Audio CD (November 16, 2004)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Dacapo
• ASIN: B00068CVUS
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #223,710 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #8 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Languages > Scandinavian Languages

Editorial Reviews

War as purification; war as eroticism; war as subversion – Danish composer Per Nørgärd’s Nuit des Hommes transcends the limits of opera and invites us into the feverish world of French poet Guillaume Apollinaire. In Nørgärd’s own words, Nuit des Hommes (The Night of Mankind) is "a crash into the underground – without a return ticket." Nørgärd speaks further on the subject of this opera: "What on earth was it that happened in 1914? That was when the madness broke loose - what Karl Kraus called the dress rehearsal for the end of the world. And after the end of the Cold War we are in a kind of wild tribal war with terrorism and irrational events raining down on us. It is an insane world. If we don't go back to the place where it all went wrong, we won't get any further."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the oddest but most fascinating of contemporary operas, July 25, 2006

By 

Christopher Culver - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Per Nørgård: Nuit des Hommes (Audio CD)

The war-themed "Nuit des hommes" (1995-96) is Per Norgard's fifth opera, although it really stands on the border between opera and oratio. Suggesting an oratio, the work has only two singers, the instrumentation consists only of string quartet, percussion, and electronics, and instead of a conventional libretto a body of disparate Apollinaire poems. Like an opera, however, we get a story--the poems are shanghaied into something approximating a plot--and there is a strong visual element, for the singers really do have to act. It's an extremely unconventional work in many ways, but fascinating and yet another breakthrough by this most innovative of modern composers.

World War I holds a special importance for Norgard because he sees it as the foundation of the horrors that followed throughout the 20th century, such as the Holocaust and the Cold War, and even up to today with tribalism and terrorism. Of the various poets who fought in World War I, Apollinaire was one of the most successful in communicating the insanity of the war, the ability of the fighting to strip soldiers of their humanity and leave everyone wandering in irrationality. Per Norgard and Jacob F. Schokking arranged selected poems and divided their texts between a mezzo-soprano and tenor in such a way that we have a story about husband-and-wife "Alice" and "Wilhelm". For example, the first scene of the main drama uses a poem about a meal to show tranquil home routine before the darkness of war overshadows domestic bliss. The poem "The Man God" is sung by Wilhelm, now representing all men besides being a husband to Alice, to describe the hubris and lust for power that brought Europe into the war. Once Wilhelm goes off to fight, with Apollinaire's military imagery as dialogue, Alice becomes a war correspondent stoking the flames of bellicosity. Yet, in a remarkable transformation, she also is Kali the destroyer, who gorges on the blood of the fallen soldiers with sexual pleasure.

Norgard's music seems somewhat detached from the series of theoretical developments he has explored from the 1960s. There's no consistent basis in the infinity series, or any strict application of Wolflian idyll-and-catastrophe, or the interest in multiple tempi of his piano concerto of around the same time as this opera. Instead, the music tries to faithfully reflect the action of the drama. Domestic scenes are accompanied by warm chamber music, while for the war there is a really clever application of electronic sounds (developed in collaboration with Gert Sorenson). This use of the music to focus the listener on the horrors of war might not provide as endlessly rich analysis as Norgard's pieces based on the infinity series, but the score is nonetheless powerful, often harrowing listening. The performances are excellent, with Helene Gjerris in the mezzo-soprano role, Helge Ronning as tenor, a string quartet of Danish musicians, and noted percussionist Gert Sorensen.

The CD comes with a full libretto and general comments about the work. In fact, there's more here than one would expect from a mid-price CD. One regrets, however, that there's little discussion of the music itself. We don't get a musicological analysis, or some description of the electronic gadgetry used.

If you've never are curious about Norgard's work, but have not yet heard any, try a more typical example like the Third Symphony (often considered his masterpiece) or "Terrains Vagues" first. But if you are a fan of his music, or just looking for an excellent modern opera about one of the darkest hours in history, this is worth picking up.

3.0 out of 5 stars Lesser Norgard, July 20, 2010

By 

Paul Linkletter (New York City) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Per Nørgård: Nuit des Hommes (Audio CD)

Like others who have reviewed his work, I truly love the music of this Danish Master, some would say to an obsessive degree, so I have to voice a word of warning about this piece: to me, this work is far from being one of his masterpieces. Nothing he writes is totally without interest and there are several striking moments, but an aura of pretension pervades the work and the "experimental" aspects seem more like rehashings of older works by oither composers than a new and important "period" in Norgard's development. (Parts of it often reminded me of Ligeti's's Aventures.) There is nothing to really dislike about the musicians--they certainly seem all that is needed and more. But a lifelessness about the whole recording seems the result of a less than wonderful performance. It has that feeling of the well-rehearsed, technically correct but dry run-through that too many "modern" works receive. Everyone seems to be trying their best. They perform with dynamics and are probably dotting every "i" and crossing every "t". But no one seems to be "expressing" anything much. Maybe the music isn't offering much? Perhaps a truly inspired reading would offer more pleasure to me, but this is not in the same class as Gilgamesh or Siddharta. Others may appreciate it more than I do, and anyone collecting his complete works must have it, but I find it a disppointment. Not awful by any means, just disappointing.