Unander-Scharin "Djupt Under Dagens Yta" Cappella SF 2019

Djupt under dagens yta, motet nr 5.
A choral composition by Swedish Composer Carl Unander-Scharin, here performed by Capella SF under Ragnar Bohlin. The composer writes:
The work was commissioned by Västerås Cathedral in 2007 and composed for its choirs for the occasion of the final sermon of the retiring bishop Claes-Bertil Ytterberg. Ytterberg is an expert on the Swedish poet Olov Hartman (upon whom Ytterberg´s PhD thesis was based), well known for his poetry that elaborates on ecological components within a spiritual context, all of which sums up in stunningly beautiful poems and hymns. In collaboration with Ytterberg, I chose passages from poems by Hartman and created a textual base for the forthcoming composition. My aim with the composition was to capture the mood expressed by the poet, who within a pantheistic view warns for an ecological catastrophy (“Och jorden är öde och tom”/And the earth is desolate and empty). The work ends with a chorale that expresses hope and compassion.
Carl Unander-Scharin, January 2019