Blu-Ray Audio

Composer: Fartein Valen (1887-1952)
Album title: Fartein Valen string quartets
Performer: Hansakvartetten; Hilde Haraldsen Sveen, soprano
Genre: Classical
Label: 2L, Lindberg Lyd
Location: Storetveit Church, Norway
Release date: January 2013
Recording date: February 2011
Original source: DXD (352.8kHz/24bit)
Quality: Blu-ray Audio
Duration: 00:55:35
Video: MPEG-4 AVC 950 kbps 1920*1080i / 29,970 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio#1: DTS-HD MA 5.1 / 192 kHz / 13934 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio#2: LPCM 2.0 / 192 kHz / 9216 kbps / 24-bit

“If Valen (1887-1952) had not been such a shy, self-effacing person, he would have won fame throughout Europe.” So said Issay Dobrowen, a prominent conductor in the inter-war period, and chief conductor from 1927 to 1931 of Oslo’s Filharmonisk Selskaps Orkester (predecessor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra). The path to fame was indeed uphill for Norway’s leading modernist. However, Valen’s diffidence was not the only reason for this – another was his chosen musical language, which grew out of the twelve-tone method of composition associated with Arnold Schönberg, Alban Berg and Anton Webern. By writing this sort of music, albeit with his own highly personal stamp, he was asking for trouble in the conservative world of Norwegian music.

The beauty and profundity of Valen’s subdued but expressive music is being discovered by more and more listeners. Valen’s reputation as one of Norway’s foremost composers and as a pioneer of new music in the 20th century is now secure. The legendary pianist Glenn Gould recognized the importance of Valen’s music, saying “For the first time in many years I have found a looming personality in the 20th century’s music”

Hansakvartetten (The Hansa Quartet) was formed in 1987 by musicians from the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. The current members of the quartet are Åsta Jørgensen and Hilary Foster (violins), Helga Steen (viola), and Walter Heim (cello). (more…)

Read more

Album title: Nodebog: Popular music in 18th century Norway
Performer: Hans Olav Gorset & friends
Genre: Classical
Label: 2L (Lindberg Lyd)
Location: Jar Church, Norway
Release date: February 2013
Recording date: February 2012
Original source: Mastering in DXD (352.8kHz/24bit)
Quality: Blu-ray Audio
Duration: 00:52:59
Video: MPEG-4 AVC 941 kbps / 1080i / 29,970 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio#1: DTS-HD MA 5.1 / 192 kHz / 12254 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio#2: LPCM 2.0 / 192 kHz / 9216 kbps / 24-bit

NODEBOG presents musical pleasures and “divertissements” from 18th century Norway. The melodies are found in hand-written music books containing both international “hits” well known throughout Europe and local favourites – Halling dances and Pols dances are featured alongside minuets, marches and English country dances. These rediscovered treasures from the past can only be recreated through living performance today, here by flautist Hans Olav Gorset and his fellow musicians. These melodies may not seem important to the music historian, but to the listener they certainly are – being international “hits” of yesterday – and, who knows, perhaps becoming the hits of today!

http://www.2l.no/pages/album/088.html (more…)

Read more

Album title: La Voie Triomphale
Performer: The Staff Band of the Norwegian Armed Forces / Ole Kristian Ruud, conductor
Genre: Classical
Label:  2L (Lindberg Lyd)
Location: Jar Church, Norway
Release date: November 2012
Recording date: November 2011
Original source: Mastering in DXD (352.8kHz/24bit)
Quality: Blu-ray Audio
Duration: 01:21:14
Video: MPEG-4 AVC 950 kbps / 1080i / 29,970 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio#1: DTS-HD MA 5.1 / 192 kHz / 12227 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio#2: LPCM 2.0 / 192 kHz / 9216 kbps / 24-bit

The years before, during and after the French Revolution were a turning-point for wind ensembles throughout the world. They developed from being small ensembles, with each instrument represented in pairs, to being something much larger. At the same time, the repertoire moved rapidly from the chamber music for wind instruments of Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven to much larger works of almost orchestral dimensions by a new generation of composers.

The Staff Band of the Norwegian Armed Forces has on this recording chosen music by composers who all made significant contributions to the evolvement of the wind orchestra and to the literature for wind orchestra that we know today. The music is an exquisite selection of French drama, romance and epic tone poems composed at times of considerable political turbulence. It could be precisely this political backdrop, combined with the wind orchestra’s hitherto unexplored potential, that goes some way towards explaining why composers like Berlioz, Bozza, Saint-Saëns, Tomasi, Dukas and Milhaud chose to write large-scale works for the wind orchestra – works that are still considered an important part of the standard wind ensemble repertoire today, a repertoire the Staff Band of the Norwegian Armed Forces performs with the elegance, virtuosity and energy the music demands; The Triumphal Way!

Facebook PHOTO ALBUM from the recording sessions (more…)

Read more

Artist: Ola Gjeilo
Title: PIANO IMPROVISATIONS – Evocative, lyrical music for 1, 2 & 3 pianos
Genre: modern classical, instrumental, piano improvisations
Label:  2L (Lindberg Lyd)
Release date: May 2012
Recording date: August 2011
Location: Sofienberg Church, Norway
Quality: Blu-ray Audio
Original source: DXD (352.8kHz/24bit)
Duration: 01:09:02
Video: MPEG-4 AVC 3000 kbps / 1080i / 29,970 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio#1: DTS-HD MA 5.1 / 192 kHz / 11691 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio#2: LPCM 2.0 / 192 kHz / 9216 kbps / 24-bit

While my first piano album on the 2L record label, Stone Rose (2007), was all pre-composed or outlined, I wanted this 2012 sequel to be completely spontaneous.

Although many of the pieces on this album are free improvisations recorded in one take, the first three tracks are fantasies around three of my own choral works; Ubi Caritas, Tota Pulchra Es and Prelude. Recordings of the original choral versions can be found on Phoenix Chorale’s 2012 album, Northern Lights (Chandos Records).

Producer Morten Lindberg suggested recording a few tracks where I would play layers of two or three pianos, which I thought was a great way to really exploit the surround sound potential on a solo album. We moved the piano between each take, eventually constituting a triangle, and the listener is sitting in the middle in a surround system setup.

As a pianist, improvisation is where my heart is. With this recording I wanted to express and share my passion for that art form.

– Ola Gjeilo, 2012

Facebook PHOTO ALBUM from the recording sessions

Ola Gjeilo (pronounced Yay-lo) was born in Norway in 1978, and moved to America in 2001 to begin his composition studies at the Juilliard School in New York City. Presently a full-time composer and pianist based in the US, his published concert works are performed all over the world. Ola is also very interested in film, and his music draws a lot of inspiration from movies and cinematic music. (more…)

Read more

ZOFO Duet – Zoforbit: A Space Odyssey (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192kHz | Time – 01:09:24 minutes | 1,89 GB | Genre: Classical
Official Digital Download – Source: Blu-Ray Audio Disc |  @ Sono Luminus LLC DSL-92178
Recorded at Sono Luminus Studios, Boyce Virginia, September 4-6, 2013

In this third album from GRAMMY® nominated ensemble ZOFO, the critically acclaimed piano duo takes the listener on a metaphorical exploration of the galaxy with mesmerizing, outer space-themed duet works by four noted composers of the 20th and 21st centuries – Gustav Holst, George Crumb, David Lang and Urmas Sisask preformed on one piano – four hands.

Since joining forces as a professional duo in 2009, Eva-Maria Zimmermann and Keisuke Nakagoshi – ZOFO – have electrified audiences from Carnegie Hall to Osaka, Japan with their dazzling artistry and outside-the-box thematic programming for piano-four-hands. This prize winning Steinway Artist ensemble – one of only a handful of duos worldwide devoted exclusively to piano duets – is blazing a bold new path for piano-four-hands groups by focusing on 20th and 21st century repertoire and by commissioning new works from noted composers each year.

(more…)

Read more

Album title: KIND
Performer: Ensemble 96; Kjetil Almenning, conductor; Nidaros String Quartet
Genre: Classical, folk
Label: 2L (Lindberg Lyd)
Location: Uranienborg Church, Norway
Release date:  November 2010
Recording date: January 2010
Original source: Mastering in DXD (352.8kHz/24bit)
Quality: Blu-ray Audio
Duration: 00:44:46
Video: MPEG-4 AVC 4000 kbps / 1080i / 29,970 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio#1: DTS-HD MA 5.0 / 192 kHz / 12285 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio#2: LPCM 2.0 / 192 kHz / 9216 kbps / 24-bit

A collection of traditional and modern choral pieces from Norway performed by Grammy nominated Ensemble 96. (more…)

Read more

Album title: Himmelkvad
Composer: Lasse Thoresen (b.1949)
Performer: Nordic Voices, Berit Opheim Versto
Genre: Classical, Choral
Label: 2L (Lindberg Lyd)
Location: Sofienberg Church, Norway
Release date: February 2012
Recording date: June and October 2010
Original source: Mastering in DXD (352.8kHz/24bit)
Quality: Blu-ray Audio
Duration: 01:12:49
Video: MPEG-4 AVC 3000 kbps / 1080i / 29,970 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio#1: Norwegian DTS-HD MA 5.0 / 192 kHz / 11597 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio#2: Norwegian LPCM 2.0 / 192 kHz / 9216 kbps / 24-bit

The Nordic Council Music Prize 2010 was awarded to the Norwegian composer Lasse Thoresen. His “Opus 42” represents a true renewal of Nordic vocal music. This strikingly beautiful piece reveals the common denominators in ancient and ultra-modern sounds, drawing our attention to the similarities between Scandinavian folk traditions and the music we might find in, say, the Middle East or India. Lasse Thoresen not only uses folk sounds to spice up art music, he also integrates its finely tuned microtonality, spectral overtones, harmonies and rhythms into the contemporary, modernist project in a truly pioneering manner. A project like this depends upon close collaboration with skilled musicians who are willing to take risks. Thoresen found them in the vocal ensemble Nordic Voices and folk singer Berit Opheim Versto.

Artistic creativity, versatility and technical precision are the main elements that make up NORDIC VOICES. The six-voice a cappella group was formed in 1996 and comprises graduates from the Norwegian Academy of Music and the Norwegian Academy of Opera, who, in addition to their singing backgrounds, have a broad range of experience from choral conducting to teacher training and composition. It is perhaps this range of interests that leads them to explore a wider than usual spectrum of musical expression, from plainchant to new works commissioned from leading Norwegian composers; from the most sacred of religious texts to the definitely profane. Nordic Voices  are an unusual blend of sophisticated music-making and stylish performance, more often than not with more than a dash of humour. (more…)

Read more

Album title: TrondheimSolistene – In Folk Style
Composer: Edvard Grieg (1843-1907), Emilia Amper (1981-), Gjermund Larsen (1981-)
Performer: TrondheimSolistene; Emilia Amper, nyckelharpa;  Gjermund Larsen, fiddle; Øyvind Gimse, artistic director; Geir Inge Lotsberg, leader
Genre: Classical
Label: 2L (Lindberg Lyd)
Location: Selbu Church, Norway
Release date: May 2010
Recording date: September 2009
Original source: Mastering in DXD (352.8kHz/24bit)
Quality: Blu-ray Audio
Duration: 00:58:02
Video: MPEG-4 AVC 1000 kbps / 1080i / 29,970 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio#1: DTS-HD MA 7.1 / 96 kHz / 9015 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1-ES / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio#2: DTS-HD MA 5.1 / 192 kHz / 13344 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 6.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio#3: LPCM 2.0 / 192 kHz / 9216 kbps / 24-bit

In Nordic Melodies we find Grieg in passionate play with folk songs. The work sparkles with harmonies and expression, developing a whole story from just a few short stanzas. The Holberg Suite, loved for its beauty and feared for its challenges, is a fusion of European musical tradition and a genuine Norwegian sound palette. The Trondheim Soloists follow up with two brilliant soloists, Emilia Amper on nyckelharpa and Gjermund Larsen on fiddle, in newly commissioned music characterized by the same energy and tenderness. Wild nature and Nordic light are essential elements of the folk style. This lies at the core of the Trondheim Soloist’s soul, a meeting between the musical playfulness and passion. (more…)

Read more

Album title:  Edvard Grieg – Piano Concerto
Composer: Edvard Grieg (1843 – 1907)
Performer: Percy Grainger, piano; Kristiansand Symfoniorkester; Rolf Gupta, conductor; Edvard Grieg, piano; Øyvind Bjorå, violin; Rex Lawson, pianolist
Genre: Classical
Label: 2L (Lindberg Lyd)
Location: Kristiansand Cathedral, Norway
Release date: August 2009
Recording date: February 2009
Original source: Mastering in DXD (352.8kHz/24bit)
Quality: Blu-ray Audio
Duration: 01:07:00
Video: MPEG-4 AVC 84 kbps / 1080p / 24 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio#1: DTS-HD MA 7.1 / 96 kHz / 8238 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio#2: DTS-HD MA 5.1 / 192 kHz / 12076 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio#3: LPCM 2.0 / 192 kHz / 9216 kbps / 24-bit

The magic of a “time machine” brings Percy Grainger’s original performance back to life in this modern surround-sound recording with the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra conducted by Rolf Gupta. Edvard Grieg himself bears witness to the validity and authenticity of Grainger’s interpretation through his own enthusiastic endorsement: “I had to become sixty-four years old to hear Norwegian piano music interpreted so understandingly and brilliantly. He breaks new ground for himself, for me, and for Norway. And then this enchanting, profound, serious, and childlike naturalness! What a joy to gain a young friend with such qualities!”

In 2007, conductor Rolf Gupta gave the first Norwegian performance of Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor with the legendary Australian pianist Percy Grainger (1882-1961) as the posthumous soloist. On this recording, the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra accompanies Grainger’s original and controversial interpretation of the concerto. In addition, the violinist Øyvind Bjorå and pianolist Rex Lawson perform Grieg’s Violin Sonata in C minor. The recording also includes a handful of Grieg’s Lyric Pieces, performed by the composer himself. Astonishingly, these performances have not been available to the public until now.

Two different instruments have facilitated Grainger’s and Grieg’s encounters with the KSO/Gupta in modern times. Grainger plays on a form of musical time machine, the Duo-Art reproducing piano, which is something like an analogue predecessor of the computer, powered by an electric suction pump, and controlled automatically by perforated rolls of paper. Grieg, on the other hand, has been restored to life by means of a foot-pedalled pianola, played by Rex Lawson. For this recording, both instruments were fitted in front of a Steinway concert grand piano and re-performed the playing of Grainger in 1921 and Grieg in 1906. (more…)

Read more

Album title: FLUTE MYSTERY
Composer: Fred Jonny Berg (1973 -)
Performer: Emily Beynon, flute; Catherine Beynon, harp; PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA; Vladimir Ashkenazy, conductor
Genre: Classical
Label: 2L (Lindberg Lyd)
Location: Watford Colosseum, London, UK
Release date: May 2009
Recording date: January 2008
Original source: PCM 96kHz/24bit
Quality: Blu-ray Audio
Duration: 00:57:58
Video: MPEG-4 AVC 21928 kbps / 1080i / 29,970 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio#1: DTS-HD MA 5.1 / 96 kHz / 6075 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio#2: LPCM 2.0 / 96 kHz / 4608 kbps / 24-bit

Only the full symphony orchestra can impose the true emotional dynamics of the arctic nature. FLUTE MYSTERY is a collection of five orchestral works by Norwegian composer Fred Jonny Berg. In this distinctive and dynamic surround sound recording, the Philharmonia Orchestra with Emily & Catherine Beynon as soloists on flute & harp are conducted by the legendary Vladimir Ashkenazy.
Vladimir Ashkenazy: I am very fond of Scandinavian mentality, the way people express themselves and their spiritual world. It has always been a very special treat for me to conduct and play Scandinavian music and it is a particular pleasure to introduce to the world a very talented Norwegian composer Fred Jonny Berg whose music in its own way is a genuine reflection of his world.
Berg’s music is often described as melodious, accessible and dramatic, yet with a highly original quality. Berg himself tries to explain: It is really as simple as it is complicated – I breathe in what life has to offer, and breathe out what I have to offer life. I have given up trying to grasp what actually happens in the process from impression to expression. In his music Fred Jonny Berg reveals himself as a person who has experienced that life consists of light and dark, but unlike the majority of us he approaches both with a similar undaunted decisiveness; it adds an extra quality to his music: the conviction of an eyewitness. (more…)

Read more

Album title: MOZART/GRIEG vol II
Performer: dena piano duo
Catalogue: #2L-057-SABD

http://www.2l.no/pages/album/057.html
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Mozart-and-Grieg-Works-for-Two-Pianos-Vol-II-Blu-ray/5250/

Pure Audio Blu-ray
DTS HD MA 192kHz/24 bit 5.1
LPCM 192kHz/24 bit STEREO

Release date: March 2009
Recording date: August 2008
Location: Sofienberg Church, Oslo, Norway
Original source: DXD (352.8kHz/24bit)

Enjoy this wonderful music for two pianos from two of history’s greatest composers. Mozart was without a doubt one of Grieg’s first and foremost musical inspirations. What is special about Grieg’s adaptation of the Mozart Fantasia in C minor is that he has not reworked it in the traditional manner. Grieg’s unusual achievement lies in the fact that he has retained Mozart’s text unchanged, adding an entirely new part which is to be performed together with the original. When both parts are played, they interweave and become something entirely new.

Mozart: Sonata in D Major for two claviers
Mozart/Grieg: Fantasie in C minor
Grieg: Old Norwegian Romance with Variations for two pianos Op. 51

Dena Piano Duo
DXD recording, Blu-ray audio only disc + Hybrid SACD.

For more about Mozart / Grieg: Works for Two Pianos, Vol. II and the Mozart / Grieg: Works for Two Pianos, Vol. II Blu-ray release, see Mozart / Grieg: Works for Two Pianos, Vol. II Blu-ray Review published by Greg Maltz on April 20, 2009 where this Blu-ray release scored 5.0 out of 5.

(more…)

Read more

Album title: SONaR
Composer: Magnar Åm (1952 -)
Performer: Ellen Sejersted Bødtker , Oslo Kammersolister , Hildegunn Riise , Grex Vocalis / Carl Høgset
Genre: Classical
Label: 2L (Lindberg Lyd)
Location: Ris Church, Norway
Release date: January 2009
Recording date: January and August 2007
Original source: PCM 96kHz/24bit
Quality: Blu-ray Audio
Duration: 0:58:10
Video: MPEG-4 AVC 84 kbps / 1080p / 24 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio#1: LPCM 5.0 / 96 kHz / 11520 kbps / 24-bit
Audio#2: DTS-HD MA 5.0 / 96 kHz / 5931 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio#3: LPCM 2.0 / 96 kHz / 4608 kbps / 24-bit

SONaR – A celestial sonic world of harps, strings and angels. Composed and performed specially for the surround sound format.

vere meininga – concerto for harp and strings
det var mjukt – for soprano and harp
dette blanke no – concerto for harp and angels

“SONaR is a sound signal sent out to create an echo from whatever it may encounter and thus reveal the unknown. I think we all send our symbolic sonars into physical and spiritual space, in a constant search for meaning. At least I do. And my life and music represent both this child’s sonars and the universe’s ever-unfolding answer.” – Magnar Åm
“The music is insistent, powerful and existential, bringing out the dramatic qualities of the instrument. In the cadenza the electric harp with all its effects carries on a dialogue with its acoustic counterpart, as if the new and the ancient world were melting together; a Mongolian shepherd’s song winds its way between the strings.” – Ellen Sejersted Bødtker

(more…)

Read more

Album title: DIVERTIMENTI
Сomposer: Benjamin Britten (1913-1976); Grazyna Bacewicz (1909-1969); Bela Bartok (1881-1945); Terje Bjorklund (1945 -)
Performer: TrondheimSolistene; Øyvind Gimse, conductor
Genre: Classical
Label: 2L (Lindberg Lyd)
Location: Selbu Church, Norway
Release date: May 2008
Recording date: November 2007
Original source: Mastering in DXD (352.8kHz/24bit)
Quality: Blu-ray Audio
Duration: 1:08:58
Video: MPEG-2 9000 kbps / 1080p / 24 fps / 16:9
Audio#1: LPCM 5.1 / 192 kHz / 27648 kbps / 24-bit
Audio#2: LPCM 2.0 / 192 kHz / 9216 kbps / 24-bit
Audio#3: DTS-HD MA 5.1 / 192 kHz / 12990 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio#4: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 / 192 kHz / 13122 kbps / 16-bit (AC3 Embedded: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps)
Audio#5: Dolby Digital 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps
Size: 42.3 GB

Following on from the award winning recording of MOZART’s violin concertos with Marianne Thorsen, TrondheimSolistene team up once again with the recording company 2L for their new production. This album features a selection of some of the finest and most technically challenging repertoire for string orchestra, and includes repertoire by Benjamin Britten, the Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz, the Norwegian composer Terje Bjørklund as well as Bela Bartok’s seminal work for string orchestra the Divertimento. DIVERTIMENTI is the first music-only recording to be made available commercially in the ground breaking format of Blu-ray. A true world premiere!

The divertimento as a musical genre dates back to the nineteenth century. Divertimenti were composed for various social occasions and were intended to be light, uncomplicated and cheerful. Such pieces were often scored for small string ensemble. Over the years this effortless, elegant form has appeared in many different musical styles and, to a large extent, set the standard for the virtuosic chamber music we know today. A number of the most prominent composers of our age have engaged with this most fascinating musical style and have contributed to its further refinement as a chamber-symphonic showpiece.

http://www.2l.no/pages/album/050.html (more…)

Read more