Reykjavík Grapevine


Reykjavík Grapevine - 20.04.2018, Blaðsíða 14

Reykjavík Grapevine - 20.04.2018, Blaðsíða 14
Viking Choir Of War Icelandic choir scores soundtrack for legendary video game Words: Phil Uwe Widiger Photo: GOLLI Schola Cantorum, the chamber choir of Reykjavík‘s prominent Hallgrímskirkja, will be featured on the soundtrack by Bear McCreary for Sony‘s upcoming video game “God Of War”, which is set for release on April 20th. It is the newest offspring of the award- winning action-adventure series of the same name. As Billboard reports, the soundtrack features an orchestra with 50 strings, 17 brass and six low woodwinds, in addition to the Icelandic 22-singer choir and another 48-singer choir from Prague. Linguistic advantage It all started a year and a half ago when L.A.-based film score composer Veigar Margeirsson recommended Schola Cantorum to the “God of War” game-crew. “The main reason why they asked us to do this was because the lyrics are in old Norse, which is very close to the language of the Icelan- dic Sagas,” explains choirmaster Hörður Áskelsson. “Icelanders are able to pronounce the words and sounds. One of the members of the choir, Björn Thorarensen, helped them to translate the lyrics.” Roaring basses After a trial session, the music producers decided to go with the Icelandic choir all the way. The actual recording sessions lasted one day and required maximum effort. “We had very little time to prepare,” Hörður recounts. “We got the scores very late, almost the same day that we were record- ing. We could not really rehearse much before and Björn was partly translating during the ongo- ing recording sessions. Also, the basses of the choir had to sing very, very low. It was a completely new experience. This was the first recording where the technicians were sitting live in the studio in L.A. while we were recording the music in the studio in Reykjavík, side-reading the scores”. In a Youtube video released by PlayStation, lead music producer Peter Scaturro explains that they “recorded the Icelandic choir first because we wanted to have the authenticity of the pronunciation of the lyrics”. Afterwards, another choir in London, specialised in the low bass notes, was recorded on top of the “sonic blueprint” created by Schola Cantorum. A well-kept secret After the recording sessions ended, the choir was told to keep quiet and did so for a whole year until news finally broke in early April. The God of War series is consid- ered to be one of the best action games for the PlayStation console and has sold more than 21 million copies worldwide. Seven games of the franchise have already been released across multiple plat- forms. Composer Bear McCreary is renowned for his scores for the popular TV-series The Walking Dead and Metalocalypse, amongst others. “The composer himself was with us during the record- ing sessions. He was very pleased working with Schola Cantorum. If this game will be a success it means that we will likely have to sing more music when the game needs more material,” Hörður figures. It seems that in the close future, Iceland will not only be well-known for puffins and smiting England in the UEFA Euro 2016, but also for scoring on a celebrated video game. Keep it coming, Icelanders, keep it coming. 14 The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 06 — 2018 Schola Cantorum, Hallgrímskirkja’s chamber choir A choir practice, or a scene from the video game? YOU DECIDE.

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