Scottish Chamber Orchestra/ Elts at Queens Hall, Edinburgh

Sarah Urwin Jones

Karin Rehnqvist's unforgiving Requiem Aeternam was given its premiere on Saturday night by Olari Elts and an immaculate SCO. Setting Swedish poetry and Latin text for two sopranos - the excellent, fluting Helena Ek and Maria Keohane - chorus and orchestra, infused with folk hints that wouldn't sound out of place in a Beowulfian mead hall, Rehnqvist's Requiem cries out desperately for a response from a God who seems starkly, coldly unforthcoming.
Elts and the SCO and Chorus picked it all out passionately, the choral walk through the valley of the shadow of death coming on like a chorus of damned, lost souls. It is only the percussion rumblings opening the final Libera Me that seem, finally, to give some hope.
The Times, October 21, 2008

Rehnqvist's forte is vocal music and for this celebration of the living, as well as the dead, she chose a challenging mix of Swedish and Latin texts.
…These were superbly sung by the SCO Chorus and the sopranos Helena Ek and Maria Keohane, who really did sound like angels as they glided up to high notes with crystal clarity. There was a haunting folk-like quality to much of the sparsely, but eloquently set, music – some of the most moving sections were unaccompanied or simply underscored by an alto flute and harp.
The Scotsman, October 20, 2008