Classical Music

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.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Ensemble Ylajali's new CD Mary's Song presents a selection of contemporary Norwegian a cappella settings of Marian texts. Mary is without a doubt the most influential female figure in sacred music, a fact that inspired the ensemble's decision to make a recording of music devoted to her. Mary has secured the place of women in an otherwise male-dominated part of history; recent research and political currents have revealed further sides of Mary as a historical figure, both in the arts and in academia, making her a fascinating figure for women today.

Classical Music

A number of recordings in recent years bear witness to a revival of interest in the music of Catharinus Elling, a composer who lived around the same time as Grieg. Now, critically acclaimed and Grammy�-nominated mezzo-soprano Marianne Beate Kielland and pianist Nils Anders Mortensen have added to the Elling discography with their recording of songs by the young Elling, written while he was still living in Germany.

Classical Music

This new release features contemporary Norwegian works for soli, choir, and orchestra. Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen writes of his piece Ars Vivendi (2014): “In 1999, Norwegian poet Georg Johannesen wrote the collection of poems Ars Vivendi- eller de syv levemater (eng: Ars Vivendi- or the seven virtues of life). The structure of this collection is organized into weeks, one week for each of the seven virtues. I have chosen one weekday to correspond to each of the virtues, a total of seven poems which became seven movements. This work is dedicated to my wife, Hege.” Knut Vaage writes of his piece Hogsongen (2009): “A few years ago I was pleased to have a new piece of work commissioned for Collegium Musicum. From the outset it was clear that I would use the text from Solomon’s Song of Songs, especially in light of the fact that I had the opportunity to realize a major work using the church as the performing arena…I interpret the central message of Solomon’s Song of Songs as a coherent, extravagant celebration of love… The piece owes its extravagance and any sense of inventiveness to Solomon’s original writings, with the performers further enhancing this mood.”

Two young composers from what today is Austria are featured on this recording. The works, separated in time by 120 years, are contrasting in many respects- in form, mood, and artistic aim. In music history we speak of several Viennese “schools,” and here the differences between them are obvious. They are similar only in wealth of imagination and quality. Ensemble Allegria is an up-and-coming chamber orchestra at top level internationally. The orchestra has attracted attention for its playful performance style and spirited virtuosity. Since 2008, artistic director Maria Angelika Carlsen and her 22 fellow musicians have challenged one another to improve and become a force to be reckoned with in Norwegian musical life. Ensemble Allegria regularly performs at festivals, among them, the Bergen International Festival, the Hardanger Music Festival, the Oslo Chamber Music Festival, Fjord Classics, and the Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival. In 2012, Ensemble Allegria was the first ensemble ever to be awarded the Statoil Talent Award for Classical Music.

Over a few short years of the 1790's, Beethoven devoted special attention to a genre to which he would not return later in his life: the string trio. Five large-scale compositions would be the result. The first two, which are the subject of this recording, had likely been committed to paper by the time Beethoven travelled to Vienna to study with haydn. Their formal aspects alone seem to link them to the suite form of the Baroque more closely than the last three, in which Beethoven cultivated the classical sonata form, albeit somewhat removed from the essentially entertaining ''serenade style'' refined by Mozart.

Classical Music

The Oslo Philharmonic and Vasily Petrenko present the first of a new series of recordings of Richard Strauss' orchestral music. This first release features the great tone poems "Also Sprach Zarathustra" and "Ein Heldenleben," both works the Oslo Philharmonic has a long history of performing at home and abroad. Vasily Petrenko, chief conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic since 2013, exploits the special intensity of the orchestra's string sound and it's magnificent wind and brass sections to full effect in this thrillingly virtuosic music. Vasily Petrenko is one of the most significant and galvanizing musicians alive, and has won numerous accolades for his recordings of Russian repertoire, including two Gramophone awards. With the Oslo Philharmonic, he has recorded works by Shostakovich, Szymanowski, Strauss and Prokofiev, as well as a major cycle of orchestral works by Alexander Scriabin. The Oslo Philharmonic was born in 1919 and over the next half-century, the orchestra's reputation grew steadily. In 1979, it changed forever with the arrival of a young Latvian arriving in Norway, Mariss Jansons, who transformed it to rival the great Philharmonics of Vienna, Berlin and New York.

Classical Music

Classical Music