Following their first two albums, the Naoko Sakata Trio is one of the most popular and interesting improvisation groups in Sweden. The trio plays lyrical improvisation with attitude as well as musical maturity on this new release. The moods on this self-composed album vary from beautiful and wild to contemplative and still.

Maria Magdalena Chamber Choir comprises 35 musically ambitious singers. In 2009 Mats Nilsson took over the leadership of the choir from Ragnar Bohlin. It was also at this point the choir was renamed. The choir is funded by Maria Magdalena Church in Stockholm and takes part in services throughout the year as well as giving both a cappella concerts and performances with some of Sweden’s most accomplished professional orchestral players and soloists. Favourite choral works include Bach’s passions and B Minor Mass as well as Mozart’s Requiem and C Minor Mass.This 18 track release features sacred works from composers such as Vaclovas Augustinas, Ola Gjeilo, Charles V. Stanford, Benjamin Britten, Eric Whitacre, and more.

Footprint Records is proud to present the album Ave Maris Stella, featuring Schola Gothia from Gothenburg, Sweden.

This marks the group's fifth album, the first released under the Footprint label, showcasing music from the time of Saint Bridget in the 14th century and from the collection Cantus sororum, the song of the sisters in the Bridgettine order at Vadstena Abbey.

Schola Gothia is a professional vocal quartet from Sweden with a distinctive performance practice of music from the early medieval period.

Led by Ulrike Heider, who received her education in the Netherlands, including a program in medieval ensemble singing, the group also comprises Helene Stensgård Larsson, Sabina Nilsson, and Yvonne Carlsson, all educated at the Academy of Music and Drama at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.

In their musicianship, Schola Gothia aims to revive music found in monastic manuscripts from the 10th to the 15th century. Their repertoire includes Gregorian chant as well as early polyphonic music, with a preference for using original notation whenever possible.

Formed in 1999, the quartet has performed numerous concerts, both locally in and around Gothenburg, and in other parts of Sweden. They have also toured internationally, visiting several European countries, as well as Japan and Guatemala, and have collaborated with many distinguished musicians and ensembles.

The album is mixed in Dolby Atmos.

Footprint Records are happy to announce the release of the album Transfiguration, performed by one of Sweden’s most prominent choirs: Lunds Vokalensemble. The present album features some of the Swedish choral classics, such as Gösta Nystroem’s Three Sea Visions, Sven-Erik Bäck’s Transfiguration and Sven-David Sandström’s Hear My Prayer. The choir commissions new works on a regular basis, two of which are Jacob Mühlrad’s Dreams and Linda Alexandersson’s April och tystnad (April and Silence), and both are featured on this album along with several magnificent choral pieces. The choir’s hallmark is a certain pure, transparent, and homogenous tonal quality developed in the day of Ingemar Månsson (1929–2022).

And now, with Martin Arpåker at the helm since 2017, their palette of expression and dynamic skills are ever-evolving. This recording truly reflects the richness of their repertoire in recent years. This album is also available in high resolution and Dolby Atmos.

This year, we are celebrating the memory of the Swedish writer and poet Erik Johan Stagnelius, who died 200 years ago (1823). The present opera by Swedish composer Thomas Jennefelt is based on Stagnelius’ play Albert and Julia and was commissioned by the Swedish Radio in 1985. This magnificent project featured some of the best Swedish opera singers at the time; Lena Hoel, Mikael Samuelsson, Thomas Sunnegårdh and Erik Saedén, the vocal ensemble Lamentabile Consort, the Swedish Radio Orchestra and Choir, conducted by Göran Rydberg. The recording took place at the Swedish Radio in 1987.

This album is a recording of selected works from Swedish 20th century organ music. The recording is made in St. Andreas Church in Malmö, Sweden and the organ is played by Jesper Glans. For a majority of these works, this is the first public recording. Jesper Glans (b. 1994) graduated from the Musikhögskolan in Malmö and has both a master's degree in church music and a master's degree in organ with Anders Johnsson. In 2018, he was admitted to the soloist class at the Royal Danish Academy of Music with professor Hans Fagius. In 2019, Jesper Glans received a scholarship from the Royal Academy of Music. During his time as a student, he has participated in several masterclasses with, among others, Leo van Doeselaar, Oliver Latry and Ludger Lohmann. From 2016, Jesper Glans has been employed as organist in St. Andreas Church in Malmö.

Karlsson Barock is possibly the most prominent string ensemble for Baroque music in Northern Europe. On this album, Two Orchestral Suites & Three Arias, the orchestra is expanded with three woodwind play-ers from another important Swedish ensemble: The Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble. The first piece on this album is the orchestral suite by Georg Philipp Telemann, Ouverture-Suite in C Major, TWV 55:C6. Telemann’s Orchestral Suites – also known as ‘Ouvertures’ like Bach’s – were viewed as the pinnacle of the composer’s synthesis of Italian and French styles into something quintessentially German. As an interlude before Bach’s orchestral suite, we hear three arias from two tremendously popular operas at the time: Alcina by Georg Friedrich Händel and Farnaceby Antonio Vivaldi. To our great joy, the soprano part is performed by Helena Ek, a much-appreciated soloist for early music in Europe. Ms. Ek has an impressively extensive repertoire that spans from early music to con-temporary and she has teamed up with Göran Karlssonin several early music productions. Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C Major, BWV 1066, concludes this wonderful album. Bach’s Four Orchestral Suites have helped challenge, alter and reshape what we understand about the composer. Mostly because we don’t often associate Bach, the sober Lutheran organist, with exuberant and joyful dance music. But these are works of considerable maturity and sophistication that deserve their place alongside the great scores of Bach’s last decades. From Footprint Records, we wish you an enjoyable listening.

The Johan Niclas Cahman instrument at Lövstabruk Church, 130 km north of Stockholm, is one of the organ world’s best-kept secrets. Footprint is proud to release this recording from the multi prize-winning organist Christina García Banegas, who plays works by Johann Sebastian Bach on this magnificent instrument organ built in 1728, just as the composer reached the peak of his powers. Banega’s album presents a fulsome and revealing snapshot of Bach the organist-composer, from the gravitas of his Prelude and Fugue in F Minor BWV 534 with its stern five-voice fugue, to the touching simplicity of his strophic variations on Lutheran chorale tunes BWV 776. We also hear the fourth of Bach’s Trio Sonatas- works of which the composer’s first biographer Forkel claimed ‘it is impossible to say enough of their beauty,’- and unfathomably inventive Ricercar a 3 BWV 1079/2, from which the album takes its name.

Simultan Krippenspiel – Christmas according to DADA – is an amazing version of the Gospel of Luke by the Swedish composer Pär Olofsson for 12 voices, an instrumental ensemble and pre-recorded sound effects. This piece is based on a manuscript by Hugo Ball, prepared for his Grand Soirée in the early summer of 1916 and held at the Cabaret Voltaire. Astonishingly, one of the acts was a Nativity play: “Simultan Krippenspiel - Concert Bruitiste”. The script consisted of one page of the traditional story of the birth of Christ from the Gospel of Luke, while the following page had lines for the familiar characters of Joseph, Mary, the Angel, the Shepherds, and so on – in gibberish. Sound and light effects were spelled out onomatopoetically and were performed by the actors with their voices or by using props.

The present album Familia is based on the scenic music production “Familia” from 2018. The show is a creation by Stråf Vocal Strings and choreographer Maud Karlsson. It explores the concept of “family” in its broadest sense and emerged from creative workshops with groups of children of different ages in Gothenburg. “Familia” tells the story about our need for context and togetherness. It deals with feelings of yearning, loneliness and many different aspects concerning the family. Scope, size and pets are dealt with and even the raindrops, the ocean and the stars are included.

This album is a collection of recently recorded Chamber music by the Swedish composer Maria Lithell Flyg. There's a saxophone quartet, a duo with piano and cello, an oboe quartet, a duo with soprano saxophone and percussion, a duo for two violins and finally a piece for barython, piano, violin and a vocal ensemble. Maria Lithell Flyg has always been driven by curiosity, a hunger for learning, and a desire to express herself. The path to becoming a composer had its twists and turns, even though she began crafting lyrics and tunes at a very tender age. Though Maria had her formal training relatively late in life, she has already composed a significant number of pieces for some of Sweden’s finest musicians, such as the Stockholm Saxophone Quartet, Cecilia Zillacus, Olle Persson, Musica Vitae, and others.

Det blåser upp (The Winds are Changing) is a collection of traditional Haitian songs with poetic and evocative Swedish lyrics created by Sanna Kallman. The music is performed by Sten and Sanna Kallman along with the children’s choirs Spektrum, from Botkyrka, and Prisma, from Knivsta, Sweden, and additional backing by Michael Andersson, Henrik Cederblom, Klas Nilsson and Ale Moller. Sten and Sanna Kallman – leading figures on Sweden’s world music scene – are long-time ambassadors for Haitian roots music, a descendant of the African voodoo of Benin. Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world, yet it is rich in culture. Its music pairs melancholy with playful rhythms. Lush in imagery, the lyrics are multidimensional and memorable. Together, Sten Kallman’s (Simbi, Den Fule, Trio Samara) arrangements for children’s choir and instruments and Sanna Kallman’s (Markatta, Makadam, Tetra, Stråf, Amanda) Swedish lyrics take children and adults alike on a tour of a vibrant culture that very few have a personal relationship to. Most of these arrangements are available through publisher Bo Ejeby forlag.

Footprint Records is proud to present our new album Traces of Oblivion, featuring classical guitarist Stefan Östersjö and free-form electronic wizard Jakob Riis. The music borders between improvisation and composition, created in a collaboration between composer Ole Lützow-Holm and Stefan Östersjö. Originally written for Östersjö’s 11-stringed alto guitar, this piece of music has been expanded and developed like a Pandora’s box, with twists and turns over the course of several years. Traces of Oblivion is not a traditional composition with a beginning and end, but rather an archive of sketches and score pages with electronic and acoustic sound recordings. Östersjö and Riis have created a truly singular album based on these raw materials. With careful processing of the guitar’s acoustic sound, strands and traces are woven in twirling arabesques, interrupted by explosive disruptions and ethereal reflections.

On this new recording, Stefan Parkman and his specialist ensembles present some of the most spectacular and serene music heard at St Mary’s. It features music by the two composers who held the post of Organist there from 1641-1707 – Franz Tunder and Dietrich Buxtehude – alongside works by German and Italian composers that were acquired by the church. All the music is held in collections compiled by chapel master to the Swedish Royal Court, Gustav Düben, or at St Mary’s Church itself. This album contains three World Premiere Recordings: Salve Regina and Magnificat by Simone Vesi, and Jesu ex penetralia cordis by Paolo Quagliati. The splendor of the music is matched by performances both pristine and hearty. Stefan Parkman is Director Cantorum at the University of Uppsala and Chief Conductor of the WDR Radio Choir in Cologne. He assembled singers from both institutions for his recording, together with the period-instruments of the Uppsala Consort. The result is a total immersion in the spatial resonance of this splendid yet relatively unknown Baroque music, presented in full DXD super high resolution – and available in surround.

The latest release from Footprint Records – Wooden Bodies – is a snapshot of a decade of contemporary creativity within the string quartet genre and celebrates the Malva String Quartet’s appetite for the new and unusual – for novel ways in which the ‘wooden bodies’ of the ensemble, both human and instrumental, might converse, argue, interact and celebrate. The Malva Quartet is definitely one the most exciting string quartets in Sweden and their driving force is curiosity. ‘We play music that we are passionate about and we want to provide high quality and intensely communicative musical experiences. When we set our programs we try to push the boundaries, experimenting with sounds and expectations. We love to collaborate with other artists and we have a playful approach to music making and concert creation.’ Karin Rehnqvist’s The Riddle is a single-movement work that threads a typically simple, folk-like melody on a journey through the quartet’s varied expressive capabilities. ‘I try to find ideas that are simple but have complexity inside, so that you can make more out of it,’ the composer has said. Tebogo Monnakgotla was nominated for the 2018 Nordic Council Music Prize. Her score Wooden Bodies from 2018 was commissioned by the Malva Quartet. It is a piece both elusive and tangible, presenting a theatrical interplay between the four ‘wooden bodies’ of the string quartet which appear to long for unification. My Desert, My Rose by Aleksandra Vrebalov is based on the idea of individuality in a string quartet: ‘what one brings to the group, what one gives to the others and what one gets from them.’ Lo Kristenson has focused on music in circular, twisting forms that explore the minute details of resistance, energy, pressure and slow growth. Her score vridna, vågsång explores the idea of resistance in the instruments, adding vocal sounds too.