Instrumentation: chorus (SSC) – organ 
Duration: approx. 11 minutes

The almost folksy-harmless title "Erntelied" is not only specified by the subtitle "seven hymn-like aphorisms for upper chorus and organ", but at the same time intellectually counteracted. To a certain extent, this principle is also reflected in the composition itself, be it in the striking contrast between the seven parts or in the largely complex processing of supposedly simple basic materials. Seven of the nine stanzas of the text by Gottfried Tollmann from the late Baroque period are used as the text.

In the formal structure, polyphonic tutti movements and purely vocal, predominantly homophonic cantional movements alternate with each other, those with the cantus firmus in another of their parts. Especially the seventh and last part of the composition can be seen as a kind of homage to Johann Sebastian Bach with its contrapuntal chromatic passages and its sighing motives.

The motivic-thematic material of the vocal part is largely recruited from set pieces of the organ accompaniment; here Ridil goes compositionally the opposite way, so to speak, from the usual one. Particularly striking in the purely vocal parts are some interfaces that act like musical turning points, where a tendency towards polar harmony and enharmonic modulation, similar to Bartók, for example, can be observed.

In terms of sound, the crystalline character of the pure upper chorus is broken again and again by partly harsh, rhythmically sharply accentuated organ interludes or vertically sometimes extremely tense interludes, but also reflected in itself beforehand and afterward.

The composition places high demands on both the choir and the organist, both musically and in terms of singing and playing technique, and is in every respect a worthwhile and valuable contribution to contemporary choral music.

Martin Schmeck

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