Norske

After several challenging years, marked by the pandemic and a harsh political climate, we fortunately have musical treasures we can unearth. This is precisely what the Norwegian Wind Ensemble has done. This spring, they present two masterful pieces of music that deserve the full attention of an interested listener.

"I had an occasional flash of understanding, but then got selfishly wrapped up again in my own problems and pleasures," is a quote from Anne Frank's diary, the book on which The Beauty That Still Remains is based. These are thoughts we must all take heed of, confronting injustice that does not strike directly at ourselves. This recording represents a deep musical engagement with such universal values as empathy and faith in the good that is in every person. Asylos deals with the contradictions of inclusion and exclusion, and points up the connection between the pilgrims of the past and the asylum seekers of our time. The Norwegian Girls Choir addresses the theme of the inviolability of human dignity. The music by Marcus Paus and Maja S.K. Ratkje frames, in contrasting ways, the power that humanity and hope carry with them even amid the most intense horror, and through testimonies of the past these works tell us how relevant these topics still are.

In this recording, we have chosen Norwegian folk songs, music from the national romantic tradition and hymns that we love to sing. Some of the songs have been specially arranged for this album, while others have been part and parcel of the choir's repertoire for a long time — in fact from before some of the choir's present members were even born. You can hear beautiful lullabies and some of the choir's favourite Grieg songs; you can hear songs full of charm and songs full of gravity, songs of love and songs of sorrow, songs of birth and songs of death.

Georg Philipp Telemann's late work is almost inexhaustible in terms of surprises. How many times have I written this and yet I am not yet embarrassed to proclaim it again. With which creative power the 80 year old opens new worlds of expression at the end of the 18th century, one can only be astonished by his last oratorios. One of the very last - from 1761 - is his Easter oratorio "Die Auferstehung" (not to be confused with the "Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu", 1760). There is no longer a rigid sequence of recitatives and arias: flexible, almost through-composed, the music follows the strong affects of the (excellent) libretto, always in search of unconventional means of expression, such as a dramatic accompaniment, accompanied only by a highly virtuosic solo violin becomes. Or the beginning of the words: "Du tiefe, tote, grauenvolle Stille" …

The music of Helge Sunde requires musicians with great technical capacity and ability to sense their position in the musical landscape. Playing the music has been described as a hike in Sundes native western Norway: Even if you know the terrain and can reed the map, you actually have to climb a few peaks, jump over icy streams and pass through steep fjord valleys - without loosing contact with the rest of the hikers. The reward is a magnificent musical view and a new understanding of what a big band can be. The band Norske Store is the ensemble of the East Norway Jazz Centre, and the musicians are personally selected to work with innovation, production and performance of new Norwegian music for large jazz ensembles…