Cassidy Diaz
News Editor
Soprano Anne Harley was accompanied by harpist Alison Bjorkedal and percussionist Yuri Inoo performing Richard Cornell’s “Voluspa Verses” Christine Southworth’s “Ann Lee Songs” Sept. 4 in the Balch Auditorium at Scripps College.
About 50 people attended the concert, part of the Claremont College’s free Friday noon concert series.
Harley performed the four “Ann Lee Songs” in a song cycle composed by Southworth.
“Ann Lee Songs” are based on the texts and accounts of Mother Ann Lee, the founding leader of the Shakers religious group. Shakers, formerly known as the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, believe that God holds both the masculine and feminine attributes. Shakers believe in ecstatic worship through shouting, shaking and movement, along with celibacy and confession of oral sin to spiritual elders.
Harley performed in a contemporary soaring tone, based on texts and historical hymns by the Shakers. It is deeply rooted in worship through music, enthusiastic movement and rhythm.
Harley also performed “Voluspa Verses” alongside Bjorkedal and Inoo, which is a part of her project called “Voices of the Pearl.”
“‘Voices of the Pearl’ is dedicated to commissioning new works and setting texts by and about female mystics from all world traditions,” Harley said.
In her performance, she used original texts and English translations of the “Voluspa Old Norse,” translated by Benjamin Thorpe in 1906, while also including electronics, harp and percussion.
“Electronics are actually pretty desirable for a small commissioning series like ‘Voices of the Pearl,’ because usually after the initial investment in creating the backing tracks you find that they’re quite portable,” Harley said. “I can independently perform those pieces with the backing tracks.”
“Voluspa Verses” is a piece based on the Poetic Edda, which is a collection of Old Norse poems. Voluspa, an ancient seer, is called by Odin to tell him stories of the beginning and make a prophecy of the future.
The trio performed six different verses of “Voluspa Verses.” Led by Harley, Bjorkedal and Inoo were approached to work on this piece together, having previously worked together.
“When you’re in a small group like this you really have the chance to work off of each other,” Bjorkedal said. “So if you hear somebody doing something or maybe starting to go a little faster you are responsible to respond and make music out of that.”
In an orchestra there is a central person known as the conductor, but in chamber music it is a more collaborative and intimate flow of music.
Bjorkedal explained that in chamber music and in this performance there’s nobody who is holding everything together. Everyone is bringing their own responsibility to communicate with each other and stay with each other, which is one of the things she enjoys the most about the uniqueness of chamber music.
This is the fourth noon concert Bjorkedal has played. She expressed that these concerts provide an opportunity to attend, to take a moment to reset your brain or try something new.
“You also don’t know what everybody is coming in with, so I hope that everyone leaves with what they need for the day,” Bjorkedal said. “Whether that’s a space to sit quietly or a space to hear something new and be logically interested in the music or emotionally interested.”
Anna Jean Lower, a freshman undecided major at Scripps College attended the concert with her mother, Claire Lower.
“I loved that the second half was in a different language that I’m not familiar with,” Claire Lower said. “I thought it was really cool to look at the translations as Professor Harley was singing and I was just blown away by her voice. It was incredible.”
The pair came together to support Harley, as Anna Jean Lower is a student in Harley’s class of Sound, Music and Power this semester.
“Professor Harley is really amazing and I’m excited that she’s teaching at my school,” Anna Jean Lower said. “It also was interesting, especially the second piece thinking about mystic women and their role in society. It kind of made me feel like the music has its own power.”
The next Concert in the series will be held at noon on Sept. 18 in Lyman Hall on the Pomona College campus in Claremont.
For more information, visit pomona.edu/academics/departments/music/concert-calendar/friday-noon-concert-series.
Cassidy Diaz can be reached at cassidy.diazgomez@laverne.edu.
Cassidy Diaz is a senior journalism major with a concentration in print and online journalism. She is also news editor for the Campus Times, and previously served as an assistant editor and a staff writer.
