Tonight I was at Saint James Cathedral in Seattle to hear Cappella Romana sing a fantastic program of 20th-century music by Nordic composers. I chose the more expensive seats so we could sit near the front, which really paid off: I could home in on individual voices while still experiencing the hall ambience, then for the encore the group spread out in a semicircle all around us, which was especially intense. Nothing on the program was dull, and some of the pieces were at the more challenging end of the spectrum, both technically and musically. Of those I especially liked "Flos ut rosa floruit" by Per Nørgård (which reminded me of his organ music), "O Domine" by Thomas Jennefelt. The pieces by Kreek on the other hand were less modern, but all were harmonically distinctive and just plain gorgeous. The encore was something having to do with roses blooming by the Swedish composer Jan Sandström.