Classical Music

The term Harmoniemusik is of a somewhat unclear origin, but it is usually attributed to a chamber ensemble consisting of wind players from a Viennese classical era orchestra, and it was precisely at this time that the clarinet found its place in the orchestras of Vienna. The ensemble, consisting of two oboes, two clarinets, two horns, two bassoons, and a double bass made art music even more accessible than before. In a way, Harmoniemusik was a kind of classical portable stereo system! Everything suggests that Mozart embraced these new possibilities, including the works on this release. Oslo Kammerakademi performs chamber music for winds with the historical Harmoniemusik instrumentation as a foundation. Founded by artistic director and oboist David Friedemann Strunck, the ensemble has established itself as a leader in Europe, with critically acclaimed recordings and invitations to prestigious festivals. The ensemble utilizes historical brass instruments in repertoire from the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods. This contributes to the ensemble’s authentic sound and historically-oriented performances.

Do the best classical works have anything to gain from transcription to the organ? What new dimensions can be explored? Nils Henrik Asheim attempts to answer these questions and more by transferring both Edvard Grieg's "Ballade" and Geirr Tveitt's "Hundrad Hardintonar" to the concert organ's color palette. This project has become one that should garner considerable interest! The "Ballade" is Grieg's greatest work for solo piano. Through a magnificent, epic range of variations over a Norwegian folk song, he wrote away his grief over the loss of his parents, his marital problems, and his artistic stagnation. Asheim's organ edition closely follows these restless mood changes, from the lyrical to the triumphant. Geir Tveitt hit a gold mine when he combined folk tunes from Hardanger with his unique sense of harmony and orchestration. Asheim took inspiration from the lush spectrum of colors of the Hundrad Hardingtonar version for orchestra and pulled out the organ's entire stock of creative sound combinations for the task. This selection counts 18 tunes, from the poignant "Velkomne med Aera" to the hypnotic "Hardingol" to the mystical "Folgafodne fortel ingjenting." After five years, Asheim believes that the instrument of the house is ripe for it's first release. The 65-stop concert organ from Ryde and Berg in Fredrikstad has been praised for it's organic, warm sound, and is frequently used by performers from home and abroad.

This recording sets Mozart's perennial Oboe Quartet alongside two important concertos written in Norway, 74 years apart: the unjustly neglected Concerto, Op. 12 by Harald Sæverud and Oboe Concerto of 2012 by Ketil Hvoslef. The oboe is the quintessential pastoral instrument. Capable of both incisive bite and mellifluous sweetness, it has inspired many composers to write some of their most memorable melodies.

Marianne Beate Kielland challenged three composers toe ach write his "Lied", a piece of music for voice and piano, and she received three remarkably different results. Two hundred years ago, the format was predictable but today, boundaries have dissolved and composers turn out whatever their heart desires. These pieces range from artful and thoughtful to playful and humorous. The texts have musical gems hiding in each verse deserving of attention and performance.

Norwegian saxophone is the first classical album from versatile artist Ola Asdahl Rokkones, containing three world premiere recordings. Recorded in the legendary LENDOK Studios in Saint Petersburg, together with conductor Fabio Mastrangelo and The St. Petersburg Northern Sinfonia, this is a unique release of new Norwegian music for saxophone and orchestra. Following a long and twisted path, this recording is the result of a process that has taken many years- for Rokkones' part almost half a lifetime, as he commissioned the first work in 2001 at the age of 18. Ola Asdahl Rokkones lives in Tromso in the north of Norway and is one of few saxophonists working both within classical music and jazz. As a classical musician, he has appeared as a soloist with several renowned orchestras in Norway, Russia, Germany, and France, among them the Mariinsky Symphonic Orchestra. He has commissioned and premiered music by numerous composers. As a jazz and ensemble musician he is highly profiled through several groups. In 2010 he was selected as the Norwegian representative to the prestigious European Jazz Orchestra. He has contributed on six album releases.

Marches are a large and significant part of the Norwegian military band tradition. Here we have collected marches that differ in origin, character, and importance. They are marches that we like to play and hear, and, we hope, that you the listener will appreciate. (Leif Arne Pedersen, conductor) Humans are the only animal species capable of moving as one body in time to dance or march music. When the Ottomans conquered parts of southern Europe in the fourteenth century, they had elite soldiers marching in the lead and playing on shawms and numerous percussion instruments. Known as Janissaries in Turkish, they were the first to call attention to march music. The march was to gradually develop into a piece of music in set form featuring easily recognizable melodies and countermelodies and based on eight and sixteen-measure periods. Many marches came to be regarded as military marches used both in war and peacetime. John Philip Sousa declared that he "would rather be the composer of an inspired march than of a manufactured symphony." Scarcely another form of music depicts all sides of human life as does the march.

Frodge Thorsen writes of this new release: "Telemann's many sonatas for recorder and basso continuo, including those in conjunction with other instruments, can be found on many recordings and are probably known to many listeners with an interest in the Telemann oeuvre. This is why in this "recital" recording, we have gone a bit off the beaten track and taken some liberties. In "Carillion" and "Sonata B major" the bass recorder is used, though it is not actually an instrument associated with solo work. It is, however, a variety of woodwind that Telemann was not unfamiliar with, as he used it in "Trauer Actus" and hints at it in the title "Bassoun o Flaut 4," loosely translated as "bassoon flute," playing an octave over the bassoon... We have also allowed Johann Friedrich Fasch, who had a deep admiration for Telemann, to join the party, With a reverent nod to his role model, he has provided us with a bassoon sonata. Finally, I have taken the liberty to incorporate 2 pieces by Frenchman Jean Daniel Braun into one of Telemann's flute fantasies, the result being an approximation of a classic suite in five movements."

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Five different works of five different composers, each piece with it's own approach to form. The sound of the harp is used in different ways to construct the universe of these pieces. Together they make up a variation of postures. Different angles of vision on concepts of time, (life) energy, development standstill, longing, departure. Some of the pieces have intense, uninhibited energy, some look inward and are standing still, while others flow off in a kind of blissful, lyrical mood- carefree and harmonious. Sunniva Rodland is a classically trained Norwegian harpist. She is creative and innovative, with a broad repertoire. Rodland has to date premiered sixteen solo works, and she has had long-term collaborations with a number of composers, often as a co-creator in the composition process.

The songs on this release — volume 2 — continue the chronological list from volume 1. The album begins with the remarkably special cycle Wartburg, encompassing an enormous range of singing pathos. The text by Theodor Caspari has to do with Wartburg Castle, with its sweeping history. Martin Luther sought refuge there from May 1521 to March 1522. Saint Elisabeth of Thuringia resided there from 1211 to 1228, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe visited the castle several times, and, notably, the famous “minstrel contest” at the castle was an inspiration for Wagner when he composed his opera Tannhäuser. So it is not so unusual that Theodor Caspari was also inspired by the castle’s history and reputation when he wrote his Wartburg texts. After Wartburg come the last of Sigurd Lie’s published texts: Sange Sub Rosa, Sol-Laug and Sidste Sange. They are followed by songs found as manuscripts and later published in the book Sanger (Songs) from 1999. Here it is interesting to see that Sigurd Lie also tried his hand at Haugtussa songs, and we find them in a National Romantic vein that is seldom seen elsewhere. The remaining unpublished songs we have recorded are much the same as Lie’s other compositions. The album closes with two strophic songs: Staren and Det er et gammelt Kvæde.

Ewa Jacobsson is a composer and visual artist. She has been sound collecting since the early 80s. She also collects visual castaway elements from actual sites, and uses materials such as marzipan, oil, steel, wire, photographs, drawings. Her work includes site-specific installations with visuals, sound and preparation of spaces, pure sound composition, collaborations with musicians, physical sounding objects and live performance at exhibitions, museums, concert spaces and in other contexts, including works for public spaces or participatory works. Advanced techniques and materials combined with the lowtech is a reflection of her interest in the transmission of importance and meaning, existentially or politically, through different media, ignoring the hierarchies commonly used. On this recording we're presented with two works: Jarring Sounds for piano and electronics, performed by Jacobsson and pianist Kenneth Karlsson and recorded live, and Hearbaricum Fields (electronics/samples), performed by Jacobsson.