Angels and demons
I am the prostitute and the venerable.
I am the woman and the virgin.
I am the mother and the daughter.
In HERMETIKA IX ‘Vox Angeli II’, Bernhard Lang places the woman at the centre. She derives her sung words from the Nag Hammadi scriptures, a collection of apocryphal biblical texts found in 1945 in an ancient cemetery near the Egyptian village of Nag Hammadi. Striking in such early Christian writings is the duality between the divine and the earthly – a field of tension that has long intrigued Lang. Under the title ‘HERMETIKA’, he hung a series of compositions on it, initially for choirs (Hermetika I-III) and later for voice with instruments (Hermetika IV-IX). That the human voice plays such an important role in the series should come as no surprise. It is not for nothing that liturgical texts are often sung. In spiritual-philosophical beliefs, the voice is often seen as a gateway to the soul, and singing enhances the spiritual and contemplative experience.
In HERMETIKA IX ‘Vox Angeli II’, Lang reflects on religion and (female) sexuality in four parts. For each part, we find ourselves in a different space and setting. The first movement and second part Osculetur / Nigra sum immediately set the tone. Between the playing of the flute, violin and cello, the voice shimmers with snatches from the Song of Songs, considered the most sensual text in the Bible. Reminiscences of the music of Renaissance composer Palestrina mingle shamelessly with samples from porn movies. Centuries old resonate in Lang’s contemporary setting, often coloured and manipulated by electronic techniques such as sampling (recorded audio fragments), granular synthesis (new sounds created from shredding and rearranging samples) and loops (multiple repetitions of a sample). Lang’s musical style is a multitude of styles and genres, incorporating elements from classical music, jazz and rock, among others. Lang effortlessly lets them fade in and out, contrast and merge. The best way to feel the music as a listener is to let yourself be taken in tow by the unbridled energy that erupts from the music, peaking in the third movement Le Tonnerre.
The mezzo-soprano, here Els Mondelaers, embodies both the angels and demons that drive the text. However exuberant the music becomes, the more poignant is the contrast with the contemplative atmosphere that Lang evokes at the end of this movement with choral samples, a subtle nod to the earlier works in the Hermetika series. In the final movement, The Angel’s Song, the mezzo-soprano sings a meditative duet with the electric guitar as if it were a lute. Once again, two extremes in sound merge: one sweet, the other deliberately distorted. Thus, the tension Bernhard Lang loves so much remains intact until the last note.
Melissa Portaels
