Cantus: Yggdrasil Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		0.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Cantus: Yggdrasil Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 21, 2023

Fans of either Richard Wagner's immense adaptation of Der Ring des Nibelungen or any of the source myths that gave birth to it will probably already be familiar with Yggrasil, the so-called "world tree", but for those wanting a perhaps slightly more contemporary sound in lieu of Wagner's overwhelming approach, this fascinating audio Blu-ray release should suffice more than handily enough. 2L offers a bit of explanation about the project on its website, to whit:

The Yggdrasil is the world tree in Norse mythology, and our Yggdrasil musical project started as the idea of reaching out to composers from near and far, as if travelling along the branches of the tree, and it embraced the concept of gathering around the tree as a common theme. We envisioned the richness and complexity of Yggdrasil as giving these composers the freedom to fill their compositions with ideas, reflections, stories and references connected to "world trees" – however they might interpret this – from their own lives. We hoped this would generate wide diversity in musical expression and content. We spread this process over several years. That way, it would constantly provide us with new musical challenges and new inspiration, and give us new timbres, sounds and chords – we then had the task of figuring out how to make them our own. We were also fortunate to meet and collaborate with most of the composers along the way, receiving a greater understanding of their music and the stories behind it.

Music by Henning Sommerro, Anders Edenroth, Marianne Reidarsdatter Eriksen, Ellrun Ystad, Idunn Vindspoll, Christine Donkin, Eric William Barnum, Ragnar Rasmussen, Trygve Brøske, Ko Matsushita and Mia Makaroff. Illustrations by Siril Stette Uhlen.

Cantus, the choral group performing this assortment of often interesting work, seems to be comprised solely of treble voices, and their sound on this project struck me as somewhat similar to groups like Mediæval Bæbes, though the compositions tend to be a bit less "medieval" sounding, at least in terms of typical repeated open fifth voicings and the like. Instead, there's a really appealing mix of rather consonant, even generally traditional triadic, approaches, mixed with decidedly more "modern" moments that are passingly reminiscent of composers like Ligeti.

Cantus: Yggdrasil Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

While there is an AVC 1080 video component to this release, it's really just a standard menu (see screenshot 3). A few "moving parts" are included, with the track titles changing and a complete tracklist also available, along with a credits pop up informational screen. You can control which audio codec you prefer via the colored buttons on your remote and so really don't need to have a monitor employed to enjoy this release.

Cantus: Yggdrasil Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Cantus: Yggdrasil features a fantastic array of audio options, and in fact I think this may be the first Blu-ray disc (audio or otherwise) that I've reviewed that has an Auro 3D (96 kHz) option. Also included are Dolby Atmos (48 kHz), DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (24/192) and LPCM 2.0 (24/192). 2L further details that the actual recording was DXD 24 bit / 352.8 kHz. The result is certainly reference quality audio no matter which codec is chosen, though I found myself tending to prefer the Atmos and Auro 3D iterations, both of which are almost resplendently immersive with some really gorgeous hall ambience. Clarity is first rate (to the point I think I made out someone perhaps dropping something or turning a page of score in a couple of places), with really beautiful fluidity throughout the pieces. Some pieces have percussion, as in a rather expressive drum in Track 1, and a couple of pieces have recited moments, which frankly kind of left me cold (no Nordic pun intended), and which can be a bit buried in the mix in the surround versions in particular.

Cantus: Yggdrasil Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

While there is no on disc bonus content other than mShuttle availability, 2L also includes a CD and a really nicely appointed insert booklet with complete texts and more information on the songs.

Cantus: Yggdrasil Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

To paraphrase a famous quote from the inimitable Mark Twain, the reports of the death of audio Blu-ray may have been just slightly exaggerated, as this really interesting and worthwhile release demonstrates. The music here tends to be rather varied, but can generally be summed up as appealing, contemporarily inflected a cappella choral music with occasional percussion accompaniment. Audio quality is absolutely top notch, and for adventurous listeners, Cantus: Yggdrasil comes Recommended.