Michaela Antanová feat. OKJOS — nethuns: music for 14-piece ensemble (Dugnad, 2020)
The 39-minute standalone piece “nethuns” opens minimally: members of chamber orchestra OJKOS playing independent long tones, spread at intervals to create cross-current patterns like steady ocean waves. Group improvisation and some “soloing” show up occasionally but at a restrained level, never upsetting the surface tension. Each major phase of the piece lingers in a slow simmer.
The temperature does rise eventually. Shortly after the 20-minute mark, the percussion has formed a beat, and a few instruments are improvising against that backdrop of ocean swells, with saxophonist Signe K. Emmeluth taking the lead and driving toward a dynamic, free-jazzy crescendo. (Here’s a sample of the calmer, introductory phase of that improvisation.)
Nethuns is indeed based on the ocean, as the name comes from the Etruscan god of waters. On her website, composer/drummer Michaela Antanová describes the structure as “long and percussive shapes that gradually merge and overlap, creating polyphonic layers throughout its narrative.” Musicians were given only their own parts, not the score for the surrounding piece, and conductor Magnus Murphy Joelson controlled the overall form. In that sense, it’s an exercise for the musicians in listening, and the overlapping tones do have an “In C” feeling of loose, independent parts combining to form a structure.
The album is a concert recording. I’m especially drawn to the flute (Henriette Eilertsen) in those early segments. It’s played and miked in a way where the breath and tone combine percussively, adding an organic touch. This piece could be orchestrated to resemble smooth-as-glass orchestra, a glossy landscape stretched to the horizon — and maybe, given a large budget, it would be what Antanová intends. But I like nethuns the way it is. It sounds organic and makes me harken back to the days of attending concerts like this one.
Memory Select: Journeys in Creative Music 