“Phonetix” is Lars Lien’s first solo release on the LAWO Classics label. The driving force behind the project is Lien’s interest in exploring the saxophone’s vocal capacity, with music and texts touching on universal and existential questions. Fifteen years ago saxophonist Lars Lien and soprano Siri Torjesen began their collaboration with a performance of the work “Sister Song.” The music was composed by Hakon Berge and the text written by Paal-Helge Haugen. This first performance of the work took place in a forest setting in Olavsdalen outside of Kristiansand. In Lien’s words: “Already at that time I understood the many similarities between the saxophone and the human voice. Timbre, vibrato, dynamic tension and flexibility are all qualities shared by a singer and a saxophonist.” Soprano Berit Norbakken Solset and Lien are both enthusiastic about the music of Swedish composer Karin Rehnqvist. The unpolished, almost naked quality of her musical expression rooted in Swedish traditional music produces fascinating and distinctive results. The recording features altogether three works of Rehnqvist, together with specially written works by Mark Adderley and Lars Skoglund, and the magnificent “Contrapunctus” by Bjorn Kruse. The singers are joined by organist Anders Eidsten Dahl and percussionist Teodor Berg.

Norwegian Baroque ensemble Barokkanerne present an homage to Venice and Italian Baroque music: "Recordare Venezia". During the last 500 years of the legendary maritime republic, it became the centre of power of a completely different kind: the power of art, of play and of fable. Not only Palladio's churches, Canova's marble sculptures of Titian and Tintoretto's explosive art of painting, but, above all, music.

With this work, librettist Cecilie Loveid has taken the Danish myth of Hamlet and the Shakespeare play of the same name and virtually removed most of the men. She has also done away with many of the words. Shakespeare's deep and strongly expressive brooder has become a rather stuttering figure, with a fragility that is underscored in the music. Composer Henrik Hellstenius provides Hamlet with a wide scope of vocal articulation. The Prince's voice traverses the full range, with rapid shifts from child-like melodies through to recitatives and booming, resonant timbres.

Since their 1999 debut concert, Come Shine and their unconventional versions of standard jazz tunes have been a favorite to a wide range of Norwegian music lovers. They released three best-selling jazz albums during their first four years- including one album with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra live at Kongsberg Jazz Festival 2003. The quartet took an indefinite break in 2004. After their reunion eight years later, the Come Shine sound had become darker, groovier and influenced by several other genres than jazz. The music on this symphonic album is the result of three sources combined: some of last century’s most talented song writers, Come Shine’s many years of cultivating their band, and piano player Erlend Skromsovoll’s unique arranger skills. Known to Norwegians as “KORK,” this orchestra is cherished throughout the country. The orchestra regularly plays at important media events such as the Nobel Peace Prize Concert, at their own public concerts in the “Store Studio,” in TV shows, and live at many and diverse venues around the country. It is a flexible orchestra, playing everything from symphonic and contemporary classical music to pop, rock, folk, and jazz. The orchestra is comprised of highly talented classical instrumentalists, yet is musical philosophy has remained the same: versatility, a lighthearted approach, a curiosity for all kinds of music, and an unwillingness to pigeonhole.

Finnish clarinetist Bjorn Nyman and the Norwegian Radio Orchestra present works for clarinet and orchestra by Claude Debussy, Bernhard Henrik Crusell and Jan Erik Mikalsen. Although Premiere Rhapsodie was the first solo work he wrote for clarinet, Debussy was able to use the clarinet’s sound properties and colors in a unique way. He described the work as one of the most charming he ever wrote. Crusell’s Clarinet Concerto Op. 5 is rather lyrical despite the fact it is in the key of F minor, known as one of the more dramatic keys. As Crusell wrote this for himself, the composition paints a picture of him as both performer and composer. Mikalsen’s Clarinet Concerto (2009) was commissioned by Bjorn Nyman and the Norwegian Radio Orchestra. The work came about after Bjorn Nyman had premiered another of Mikalsen’s composition, Themes for clarinet, piano and string quartet, which in turn inspired him to order a clarinet concerto. This is the World Premiere Recording of this work.

Classical Music

Since it's inception in 1989, Cikada has established a renowned profile on the international contemporary music scene. "Parmerud" is the result of Cikada's cooperation over many years with the Swedish composer, and an embodiment of Cikada's vision: a devotion to close, long-term collaborations with composers, building composer portraits with both existing and commissioned works over time. Collaboration with Ake Parmerud has continued over several decades. "Mirage," a small piano concerto for Cikada and electronics was commissioned by Cikada in 1995. "Zeit aus Zeit" (the "Kontakte" variations) for piano and percussion was premiered by Cikada Duo in Gothenburg in 2002. The ensemble piece "Rituals" is from 2006. Cikada Duo is pianist Kenneth Karlsson and percussionist Bjorn Rabben. Together in 1988 they performed Karlheinz Stockhausen's "Kontakte," in what became the first step toward creating Cikada a year later. Cikada, since it's start, consists of flute, clarinet, piano, percussion, string quintet, and conductor Christian Eggen.

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.

Eivind Groven is a name well-known in Norwegian music history. He is perhaps recognized as the man behind the interval and identification signals that the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation's radio transmissions employed for several years. He was an authentic and eager proponent of folk music within art music, and perhaps this might be for which he is most famous and admired. Groven's songs are situated primarily within the first half of his work as a composer. Although he does not employ folk music here as much as in his other compositions, we can still sense a "Norwegian flavor" that is not always so easy to define, yet is nevertheless present. It has been exciting to explore Groven's songs: here we find both great pathos and simpler tunes. Most of the lyrics are taken from the Suttung movement's greatest poets, Kinck and Wergeland. And since Marianne Beate Kielland as a youth participated in a Suttung group for many years, this recoding has become a journey back to the lyrics of her childhood.

Classical Music

Rune Alver's new release Fedrenes Fjell features the Norwegian composer David Monrad Johansen's complete works for piano, collected here for the first time ever. Alver, who has played Johansen's piano pieces since he was a child, has a close relationship with this music. He was a pupil of Jan Henrik Kayser, one of the most important Norwegian ianists of the twentieth century, who passed away recently. Kayser, who knew Johansen personally, received invaluable insights into the music in his studies with the composer.

Classical Music

In 1778, Mozart spent half a year in Paris accompanied by his mother, Anna Maria. Tragedy struck in the middle of the summer, when she died of fever. Both works on this album were composed during the first weeks after their arrival in the city. In a letter to his father dated April 7, 1778, Mozart wrote that he had composed a sinfonia concertante for Mannheim musicians visiting Paris, scored for flute, oboe, horn, and bassoon. The work on this recording is considered to be a revised copy of the score, with the flute replaced by a clarinet.

Classical Music

Roy Henning Snyen, one of Norway's leading classical guitarists, has performed and recorded with many prominent musicians and singers. He has won a number of competitions and released the critically acclaimed recordings Koyunbaba and Outside-Inside, among others. This new CD, Preludes for Guitar, is his debut release on the LAWO label.