Nato's Secret Armies

Storyteller is the first new studio album in over five years from Norwegian/Irish duo Secret Garden.
On the day of release (26 April 2019), Fionnuala Sherry and Rolf Løvland have this to say in their newsletter:
“Even though we had great success and response to our “Just the Two of US” album (one of our favourites ), “Live at Kilden” and “You Raise Me Up: The Collection”; “Storyteller” is very special and means so much to us both. From the initial concept of the album to the final mix, its been a truly wonderful journey of writing, arranging, recording, producing and working with some of the most wonderful incredible artists including the incredible Czech National Symphony Orchestra. We have traveled between Norway, Ireland, the UK and the Czech Republic to produce “Storyteller”…

According to pianist Rolf Løvland, Irish-Norwegian neo-classical duo Secret Garden's seventh studio album, Winter Poem, was inspired by the "darkness that surrounds the Scandinavian winter." While there's a genuine sense of melancholy laced throughout its largely instrumental 11 tracks, fans of their luscious new age sound needn't fear a new gothic reinvention, as there's very little here likely to find its way onto a horror movie soundtrack. Indeed, the stately piano chords and sweeping string arrangements (courtesy of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra) of opener "Make a Wish" feel more suited to a Downton Abbey-esque costume drama, while elsewhere the lilting "Anticipation" recalls the emotive ivory-tinkling of Ludovico Einaudi's understated scores, the more uptempo "Fionnuala's Cookie Jar" is a highly percussive Irish jig packed with Celtic fiddles and tin whistles…