HVOSLEF Piano Trio. VALEN Piano Trio. EGGE Piano Trio • Valen Tr • LAWO 1037 (67:55)


The Valen Trio’s CD covers the music of three generations of Norwegian composers, two of whom wrote in the 20th century: Fartein Valen (1887–1952) and Klaus Egge (1906–1979). The third, Ketil Hvoslef (b. 1939), not only composed in the past century, but also continues his work today. Although their works are not in date order on the disc, at some point, you might want to listen to them that way in order to get a better understanding of the progression.


Born in Stavanger, Fartein Valen studied organ before moving to Berlin in the hope of studying with Max Bruch. There, he worked on tonal and atonal counterpoint that involved dissonance. His music eventually bore similarities to the works of Bach and Schoenberg. Glenn Gould, who admired Valen’s compositions, found them distinctive and said, “For the first time in many years I have found a looming personality in the 20th century’s music.” For those of us listening in 2014, Valen is an interesting way station on the musical timeline. The Valen Trio—composed of Ricardo Odriozola, violin; John Ehde, cello; and Einar Røttingen, piano—play his rhythmic, energetic music with love and great attention to detail. Their excellent rendition of the composer’s work transports us back to the first part of the previous century when his kind of writing was revolutionary. Egge, who wrote in the middle of the century, was first inspired by folk music and wrote in a tonal language for some years before he began to explore atonalism. Having become a student of Valen, he was present at the premiere of the latter’s Trio. His works show the progress of Norwegian music at this time and they are of both musical and historical importance. The Valen Trio plays his op. 14 Trio with the stylistic knowledge that comes from a serious study of the composer and knowledge of the culture in which he worked.


The most modern composer whose music is recorded on this disc is Ketil Hvoslef. His Trio was first heard in 2011. Like Valen, Hvoslef first studied organ in Norway. Later, he moved to Stockholm and then to London to study composition. His compositional style has often varied with the makeup of the group for which he was writing. Beginning as a neo-Classicist, he has developed a personal musical language that shows his rhythmic ingenuity. The Trio begins with sustained string tones and rhythmic incursions by the piano. It continues with a dialogue between the strings and the piano followed by a languid slow section. For the Finale, Hvoslef returns to rhythm and music that makes the listener want to dance. The sound on this recording is well balanced among the three instruments. The ambience will make the listener feel that he or she is sitting in an appropriately sized hall for chamber music while hearing the Valen Trio play this music. Since this CD takes the listener on a historic tour of Norwegian chamber music, it will probably be of greatest interest to lovers of trios and the music of Scandinavia.


FANFARE: Maria Nockin

Sverre Indris Joner writes of this new release: “Orchestrating Argentine tango does present its challenges. One possible solution is to try to make the orchestra sound as much like a tango ensemble, an “orquesta tipica,” as possible. Another option is to cut a few corners and translate it into an easier language for the more conventional orchestra to ecipher. A third is to invent new, unfamiliar solutions. I’ve done a bit of all three here… I have certainly run the gamut of styles as a composer- everything from tango & salsa to waltz & pols (Norwegian folk dance), from electronica and hip hop to music for films, theatre and dance. With this orchestral album you’ll get an insight into my musical universe “with a certain hint of tango.”

The Norwegian Wind Ensemble
Mark Bennett - conductor
Nordic Voices
Arrangements by Stian Aareskjold

The point of departure for the Norwegian Wind Ensemble’s new CD is the meeting of serious European music and indigenous traditional music of the 17th and 18th centuries. The result is a vibrant mixture of lovely music, spirited dance rhythms, and Latin American temperament. The Norwegian Wind Ensemble is a professional orchestra based in Halden. With its 280-year history, it is Norway’s oldest orchestra.

Ssens Trio (pronounced "Essence") was established in 2014 by three musicians with a wealth of experience in the international music scene. The trio has appeared in concert with Geir Inge Lotsberg, Elvind Ringstad, Havard Gimse and Leif Ove Andsnes, among others. Their first album, "Beethoven: String Trio Op. 3 & Serenade Op. 8" received Pizzicato Magazine's "Supersonic Award" and a prestigious ICMA Awards nomination in 2018. Fanfare Magazine wrote: "With absolutely no hesitation I will say that it goes right to the top of my Beethoven String Trios list." (Jerry Dubins). And the following from a review in Pizzicato Magazine under the heading 'Beethoven With A Communicative Joy of Music Making:' "Their performance is brimming with the joy of playing together. An outstanding 'trialogue,' with each performer fully sensing the other. Through this interactive music-making, which in the Adagio and Minuet movements invokes a remarkably intimate mood, Beethoven's works gain in depth and sensuousness. And when one combines the sensitive playing with a wonderfully eloquent virtuosity, the way is clear for pure listening pleasure." (Alain Steffen)

Voices of Women is the second CD release by the duo of mezzo-soprano Bettina Smith and pianist Einar R�ttingen. The recording highlights women's voices in world literature: Goethe's female characters "Mignon" and "Suleika," Shakespeare's "Ophelia," and the gospel according to Mary Magdalene. The musicians have placed their focus on contemporary Norwegian music composed for voice and piano, and two of the works were written especially for them.

Classical Music

The Norwegian early music ensemble Barokkanerne offers a new CD on the LAWO Classics label devoted to the music of Georg Philipp Telemann, one of music history's most productive composers! Leading the ensemble is Kati Debretzeni (concertmaster of Sir John Elliot Gardiner's English Baroque Soloists).

Classical Music

With but a handful of songs, a few piano pieces and some incidental music, Ricard Nordraak, at the age of twenty-three, succeeded in achieving mythical status in Norwegian cultural life. He lived at a time when an early death had led to such a status, from Goethe's ''Sorrows of Young Werther'' via Mozart, Schubert and Mendelssohn, to our own Henrik Wergeland. There is so much that remains unexpressed and unrealized in the figure of Rikard Nordraak, so much that has to do with what he could have accomplished. Would he have composed the lofty Norwegian opera of which Bjornson had dreamed? Might he have written the great Norwegian Romantic Symphony? Or, owing to his rather easy-going disposition, might he have slipped steadily into obscurity?

Classical Music

Classical Music

On their first release for LAWO Classics, vocal ensemble Consortium Vocale Oslo presents a rarely heard cultural treasure from medieval Norway. The “Historia Sancti Olavi” consists of around 30 pieces that for more than 300 years were sung on the feast day of St. Olaf, July 29. The present release is the most comprehensive recording of this material to date. “Historia Sancti Olavi” is unique in its status as a monumental music work from medieval Norway. This release represents an important contribution to our understanding of this era in Norwegian cultural history. Consortium Vocale Oslo is a male ensemble based at Oslo Cathedral. The group specializes in Gregorian chant under the leadership of Alexander M. Schweitzer, president of AISCGre, the International Association for Studies of Gregorian Chant. Consortium Vocale Oslo is one of three ensembles to have been chosen to record key parts of the Gregorian repertoire as published in the “Graduale novum.” For this recording of the “Historia Sancti Olavi” Consortium Vocale has collaborated with the ensemble Graces & Voices. The recording is part of the EU programme Lifelong Learning/Leonardo da Vinci, whose aim is to study the practice of Gregorian chant at a national level. The music was edited and prepared by professor Roman Hankeln.

Classical Music

The Engegard Quartet, born under the midnight sun in Lofoten in 2006 and now one ofScandinavia's most sought-after chamber music ensembles, is very excited to launch a recording partnership with the ambitious and visionary recording label Lawo Classics. It is a huge honor and responsibility to record Mozart's string quartets, but it feels right to take one of our most cherished concert programmes into the recording studio. We have been working on Mozart's string quartets since our first notes together. Our shared love for Mozart's music, and particularly our primarius, Arvid Engegard's passion for Mozart reflected in his choice of repertoire both as a conductor and violinist throughout the last three decades, make recording Mozart's string quartets a timely project indeed. In this album we present the three final quartets Mozart ever wrote, known as the ''Prussian'' quartets, because of their dedication to teh King of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm II. They are intricately constructed and give a prominent role to all voices, but particularly to the cello. If all goes according to plan, this will be the first of several albums of Mozart's string quartets recorded by Engegard Quartet for Lawo Classics.

Has Eyvind Alnaes' hour as an orchestral composer finally arrived? In his lifetime he wa sknown mostly as a composer of romances, as organist and choir director in Kristiania and for his indefatigable work for the benefit of composers. Today he is primarily remembered for a few of his songs, and as one of the last old-school romantic composers in the Norwegian tradition. But Alnaes also showed himself to be a skilled orchestral writer, who would undoubtedly have developed an even more characteristic style if he had focused his attentions to the medium. Still, what he did write deserves to be heard. That is why teh Oslo Philharmonic, with conductor Eivind Aadland and pianist Havard Gimse, decided to record two of his orchestral works: Piano Concerto in D major, Op. 27 and Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 7. It is finally time for Alnaes the orchestral composer to shine.

The Norwegian opera literature is a well concealed and all too little known gem in our national cultural heritage. There is general agreement that it begins with the Waldemar Thrane/Henrik Bjerregaard Singspiel The Mountain Story from 1824. And throughout the nineteenth century there were a number of Norwegian composers who wrote operas, most of them now long forgotten. With this release we wish to make the music accessible to listeners in the hope of generating new interest in and discussion about why this part of our cultural heritage has been left to lie untouched.

Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953) composed his Symphony No 6 in E flat minor, Opus 111 between 1945 and February 1947, though his sketches date from 1944 - before his completion of the Fifth Symphony. The scoring is for large orchestra including piccolo, cor anglais, E flat clarinet, contrabassoon, harp, piano, celesta and an array of percussion. Although the key of E flat minor is extremely rare in the symphonic literature, Myaskovsky also wrote a sixth symphony in that key. On this release, Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 6 is paired with Myaskovsky’s Symphony No. 27 in C minor. The works are performed by the Oslo Philharmonic.

Flutist, composer, and teacher Paul Taffanel (1844-1908) was to have a decisive influence on the development of chamber music for winds in France. In 1879 he founded the Société de musique de chambre pour instruments à vent (Society of Chamber Music for Wind Instruments). The organization’s objective was to expand and promote chamber music repertoire for winds. On this recording, the Oslo Kammerakademi performs chamber works for winds by composers Charles Gounod, Charles Koechlin, Florent Schmitt, Théodore Gouvy, and Vincent d’Indy, several of which were composed for the Société de musique de chambre pour instruments à vent.

To do the songs of Mozart is indeed something of a challenge, precisely because they are so simple. Excessive pathos or outpouring of feeling is unsuitable. Emotion is to be expressed, or course, but it must be confined to the delicate and simpler limits that Mozart has established. Therefore, acclaimed vocalist Marianne Beate Kielland has chosen to title this album “Whispering Mozart,” for that is how it feels to sing this material: as though you are whispering the words and melodies to the few who have gathered in your living room to listen. Norway’s leading mezzo-soprano, Marianne Beate Kielland studied at The Norwegian Academy of Music, as well as with Oren Brown, Barbara Bonney, and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. She is one of few Scandinavian singers who has received a Grammy nomination for their vocal performances. She regularly performs with leading orchestras and choirs in Europe and has appeared with such orchestras as Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Anima Eterna, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Wiener Sinfoniker, and more.

On this recording, the Engegard Quartet present three of Mozart’s six string quartets dedicated to Haydn, the so-called “Haydn” Quartets. The six “Haydn” Quartets were written between 1782 and 1785, while Mozart enjoyed great popularity in Vienna. Mozart had written a series of quartets in his youth, but it had been almost ten years since he wrote the last one. With the “Haydn” Quartets he makes quite different demands on himself, the musicians, and the audience. The structure is not so surprising- here we find fast first movements in what is today called sonata-allegro form, singable slow movements, minuets with trios, and often finale-rondos. But what he fills them with woke Haydn’s admiration and now awakens ours. Haydn’s admiration for his colleague 24 years his junior was expressed through the following words aimed at Mozart’s father Leopold: “I tell you by God as an honest man, your son is the greatest composer I know in person or by name; he has taste and furthermore the greatest compositional knowledge.” Haydn supposedly uttered this after having heard three of the quartets at a house concert at Mozart’s residence, where both Wolfgang and Leopold most likely contributed.

The six cello suites on this recording have their parallel in six sonatas for solo violin, also from Bach's time in Kothen, before he moved to Leipzig. On the title page of the violin sonatas the composer wrote Libro primo. The original manuscript of the cello suites has vanished, but both wife Anna Magdalena and others left copies. Did the composer perhaps call the cello suites Second Book? Traditional dance forms are the bones of the suites as they are in other suites by Bach and other Baroque composers. But this is not music for a palace ball. The dance tradition serves as the basis for an unrelenting elaboration and exploration of contours, sounds, and rhythms. Bjorg Lewis is one of Norway's most sought-after and admired cellists. She plays on a Gennaro Gagliano dated 1748.

When Tora Augestad releases a musical portrait together with the Oslo Philharmonic, there's nothing less than Kurt Weill, Marcus Paus, and Charles Ives on the menu. Augestad's repertoire for "Portraying Passion" takes the musical qualities of modernist, individualistic composers and places them squarely within the context of the 21st century. Paus' contemporary composition enhances Ives' visionary dissonance as well as the contrasting melodic shifts of Weill's orchestrations, yet brings something entirely new to the table, with it's startling text and cabaretesque presentation. Parker and Brecht could just as well walk arm in arm down the conceptual pathway of understated satire, counterbalanced by the ethereal, transcendental text of Ives' songs, forming a complementary whole. Add Augestad's unique approach to these works into the equation, and the listener is served with a program certain to make them re-examine any former assumptions, and delight at the outcome. And therein lies the timeless dimension of this mezzo-soprano's considerable artistry. Tora Augestad is an artist equally at home in concert halls, theater and cabaret stages, and contemporary music arenas. Through commissioning new works and through collaboration with her various ensembles, she continuously seeks new challenges and the exchange of artistic ideas. Theatrically convincing with a compelling personality, her vocal capabilities defy easy classification.

Classical Music

It is easy to imagine Dietrich Buxtehude’s enthusiasm when he received into his hands the texts to Membra Jesu Nostri, which has been ascribed to Bernard of Clairvaux. The text forms an account of the crucified limbs of Christ and its sensitive style relates strongly to sixteen and seventeenth century Pietism, the central focus of which is emotion and passionate expression. Membra Jesu Nostri has come to be known as Buxtehude’s possibly best vocal compilation, which is not surprising as it combines great intensity and fervor with his masterly ability to achieve vocal equilibrium in the most pleasing form. Solistensemblen Vox Scanienis has been active in the Malmo-Lund region for over 15 years. The ensemble was founded by Peter Wallin in connection with a television series production called Andetag (Breath) which was broadcast on Swedish television in 2002 and 2003. From the start the ensemble’s repertoire was comprised primarily by music from the Renaissance and Baroque periods, but with time it has extended to include both Gregorian chants and contemporary musical pieces by Arvo Part, Johan Magnus Sjoberg, Olivier Messiaen and others.

These works for wind octet - by Klein, Kvandal, and Yun - are regarded as cornerstones of the recent literature. Oslo Chamber Academy is a new ensemble featuring some of Scandinavia's leading wind soloists. Oslo Philharmonic's solo oboist, David Friedemann Strunck, is the founder and artistic director of the ensemble.