Folk tunes have always been an important part of the repertoire of the Norwegian Girls Choir; being a vital aspect of the choir's identity and of it's active enactment of cultural tradition. In STJERNEBRU orjan Matre has taken a selection of Norwegian folk tunes as his starting point, and they are combined with improvisations and arrangements as intermezzos. The word Stjernebru (Bridge of Stars) is taken from the hymn Nedi vester soli glader (The sun is sinking in the west), and alludes to the journey to the next world: the transition, or bridge, from the earthly to the eternal. The word can also refer to the night sky itself, and Lux Aeterna - eternal light - is a theme that runs through the whole album. Det Norske Jentekor Anne Karin Sundal-Ask, conductor Gjermund Larsen, fiddle Frode Haltli, accordion orjan Matre, composer Morten Lindberg, balance engineer and recording producer Disc 1 Hybrid SACD MCH 5.0 DSD Stereo DSD RedBook PCM: MQA CD Disc 2 Pure Audio Blu-ray 2.0 LPCM 192/24 5.0 DTS HDMA 192/24 7.0.4 Auro-3D 96kHz 7.0.4 Dolby Atmos 48kHz mShuttle: MQA + FLAC + MP3 Region: ABC - worldwide

Advent and Christmas are for many people a time for light and hope and warmth. Yet the world around us is cold and turbulent. Wars are being fought. People are fleeing from their homes. Children are dying. Thousands of people lack food and medicine. Our prayers are for peace. We sing "Beautiful is our Earth! Glorious is God's heaven!" as a protest song for peace and justice, the world being unjust. During Advent many of us are fond of the familiar and much-loved Christmas carols as we remember them from our childhood, and as they have been sung for generations. There are carols in these traditional arrangements on this album, but there are others in completely new arrangements, made specially for Uranienborg Vokalensemble and for this recording. Christmas can be a festival that intensifies our feelings - what is good seems even better, and what hurts feels even more painful. Perhaps we have lost someone close to us: can we then sing "Oh, Christmas, so cheerful"? We know that there are people who look forward to Christmas but at the same time dread it, and we believe that Kjetil Bjerkestrand's arrangement brings out this element of equivocation and irony. The birth of Jesus - this is the message of Christmas! - a birth that changed the world for ever. May your Christmas be peaceful! Uranienborg Vokalensemble Elisabeth Holte, conductor Kjetil Bjerkestrand, synthesizers �ystein Moen, synthesizers Torun Torbo, flute Henriette Viktoria Eide Skagen, organ Morten Lindberg, balance engineer and recording producer Disc 1 Hybrid SACD MCH 5.1 DSD Stereo DSD RedBook PCM: MQA CD Disc 2 Pure Audio Blu-ray 2.0 LPCM 192/24 5.1 DTS HDMA 192/24 7.1.4 Auro-3D 96kHz 9.1.4 Dolby Atmos 48kHz mShuttle: MQA + FLAC + MP3 Region: ABC - worldwide

The celebration of YULE in Northern Europe harks back to a transition from ancient Pagan Germanic culture to the more formal spirituality of the newer Christian rite. On this album the two traditions sit side by side, creating a matrix where acappella voices meet improvising instruments in a synthesis of secular and sacred.

Trio Mediæval - Anna Maria Friman - Linn Andrea Fuglseth - Jorunn Lovise + Husan Sinikka Langeland, kantele; Vegar Vårdal, hardanger fiddle and violin; Arve Henriksen, trumpet and organ; Anders Jormin, double bass; Helge Norbakken, percussion.

Exclusive vinyl edition: "My main goal is to create a specific identity for each album I make. This time I chose to involve Anders Jormin and Audun Kleive, two of Scandinavia's finest jazz artists. The result is Polarity, an album based on both new and older compositions of mine, recorded in a unique acoustic setting" — Jan Gunnar Hoff 2018

Exclusive vinyl edition: HOME can be seen both as a homage to and as a statement of belonging to northern Norway, with it's naked landscape and it's Arctic location. The title can also allude to a quest for identity, both from a personal and from an artistic perspective. All these sentiments and aspirations find expression in the music on this album. Many of the pieces here are interpretations of well known themes, while others are original compositions by Hoff. Some of the pieces are completely improvisatory. In May 2021 Morten Lindberg got in touch with me and asked if I could make a solo recording in Stormen Concert Hall in Bod�. With open minds and very few pre-conceived ideas we went ahead and, broadly speaking, took things as they came - the way we felt at the time, the actual piano and the concert hall itself determining what we recorded for two days in August that year. This album does not aim to present a particular genre, with all the expectations such a commitment might carry, but rather to give each number it's own shape and style. When you interpret text-based songs instrumentally it's best to keep a sharp focus on melody, rhythm and phrasing. By freeing the phrasing of the melody from the constraints of a fixed tempo, I can put more strength and intensity into my interpretation, and broaden and embolden the melodic material. - Jan Gunnar Hoff, 2022

Maja S.K. Ratkje says of her compositional process: “The process of composition is primarily about mastering form and contextualizing elements- both the actual sounds and the formal units- musically.” She approaches all of her new works through the lens of an improvising musician. “And sing while thou on pressed flowers dost sleep,” features Ratkje’s pre-recorded voice. This is just one of the fascinating ways in which the composer winds her own performing voice through the ensemble sound of Cikada and Oslo Sinfonietta. “Ratkje brings a feral disregard for conventional form, combined with an extravagant imagination, linking it all to a fascination with the human voice and its communicative possibilities. Her works are dramatic, engaging and wildly diverse.” (Financial Times)

This recording features Norway’s three most important “national” songs for use on ceremonial occasions and international events, such as national commemoration days, state visits, sporting events and other competitions or arrangements hosted by Norway or where Norway is participating. Different versions of "Ja, vi elsker dette landet" (the national anthem) and "Gud signe vårt dyre fedreland" have been recorded, offering a choice over the number of verses and over whether a choir is included or not.

Perhaps the greatest single characteristic of Franz Schubert's Rosamunde Quartet (1823) is the elusive, longing and perhaps even tragically unconsummated atmosphere that pervades the entire work. Only in the Andante are we really allowed to relax in it's peaceful serenity. The ambiguity in the title of Maja Ratkje's Tale of Lead and Light (2011) reflects the dread which pervaded Oslo in the summer of 2011, and the life-affirming light of Beethoven's opus 59/1 which inspired Maja's work. It is a tribute to Benjamin Britten's inherent "joie de vivre" that optimism and love triumph in his Second String Quartet (1945), composed just after the 2nd World War. The quartet reaches it's emotional climax in the magnificent Chacony, a passacaglia with no less than 21 variations, inspired by Henry Purcell. Britten's 2nd string quartet received it's premiere on the 21st November 1945, 250 years to the day after Henry Purcell's death. Recording Joseph Haydn's Op. 76 No. 5 on our debut CD in 2008 inspired us to include the complete opus, arguably Haydn's greatest string quartet collection, in our repertoire as soon as possible. The heart of the Emperor Quartet, Opus 76/3 is also the most well known movement, Poco adagio. Haydn composed the psalm that he subsequently used as the theme of this movement after a prolonged stay in England. Something of a celebrity, Haydn mingled with the royals, and his admiration for the British national anthem inspired him to compose a tribute to Emperor Francis II. It was later used first as the Austrian and then as the German national anthem. Haydn used a musical cryptogram of the first line of the Anthem, "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser" to create the opening theme of the first movement, using the first letters of each word in the German text. G e f d k/c, are the exact musical notes of the main theme in the Allegro. The simplest ideas are often the best!. Hybrid SACD Pure Audio Blu-ray two-disc-box at the price of one ordinary Blu-ray 5.1 SURROUND STEREO produced in DXD (Digital eXtreme Definition 352kHz/24bit) by Lindberg Lyd, Norway The compact disc looks like a normal CD and plays on all standard players and computers.

This album presents a collection of works by the Norwegian composer Bjørn Bolstad Skjelbred (b.1970), all composed between 2001-13. The works have been written with melodic percussion as the central and dominating element – with various surrounding ensembles – performed by the recognized Norwegian percussionist Eirik Raude. The music is quiet, and it is exactly this quietness that gives the music its character and originality. Rather than authoritatively grabbing the listener, it encourages them to actively advance and follow the finely chiseled processes under the surface.

Jan Gunnar Hoff - Stories - Stories is Jan Gunnar Hoff's third solo piano album on the 2L label and is a sequel to his critically acclaimed album LIVING from 2013. On the new release Hoff stretches his creative abilities, presenting contrasting compositions and improvisations, in a distinctly personal mixture. Some of the pieces are meditative and expressive, while others have a strong rhythmic vibe. Stories also displays Hoff as an arranger, presenting versions of classics like "God Only Knows" and the traditional Swedish folk song "V�rmlandsvisan". SACD and Blu-ray Audio

Possible Cities/Essential Landscapes is a cycle of chamber music and ensemble works written between 2005 and 2009 commissioned by CIKADA and Ensemble Intercontemporain. Composer Eivind Buene (b. Oslo 1973) studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music from 1992 to 1998. In addition to music Buene has written critique essays and novels.

World premiere recording in the DXD resolution! With this recording, 2L presents a fresh version of the most elegant violin concertos in the history of music. While respecting the origin and tradition of this music, we have sought a new and dynamic musical experience rooted in our present time.

Uranienborg Vokalensemble are renowned for their vigorous performances of music from different genres and periods. In their latest album SONG they embrace the whole spectrum, from the softly delicate to the massively unsettling. In words and music each track has a story to tell about man and his relationship with nature, his fellow man and to God. The listener is rewarded with an almost visceral experience of the unaccompanied human voice - breathing and pulsing, direct and unfiltered.

Blu-ray AUDIO + HYBRID SACD.

This music celebrates the 2014 bicentenary of the Norwegian Constitution. The works serve as a compelling musical history book, offering insight into parts of the Norwegian saga. Several songs are clear examples of how a "national song" can be a way of marking and remembering history. We’ve given the national anthem in its complete form, something seldom done, and, through many fresh arrangements of familiar melodies and a splendid "outdoor" sound, offer a new and invigorating listening experience.