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...

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.”