This music has been specially chosen to celebrate the 200th anniversary in 2014 of the Norwegian Constitution. As well as being compelling in its own right, the works featured here serve as a musical history book, offering an insight into parts of the Norwegian saga. Several songs are clear examples of how a "national song" can be a way of marking and remembering the nation's history. In this recording we give the national anthem in its complete form, something that is seldom done, and, through many fresh arrangements of familiar melodies and a splendid "outdoor" sound, offer a new and invigorating listening experience.

With Fastlandet, Torun Eriksen breaks new ground and does most things for the first time: The lyrics are Norwegian; the format trio; the soundscape electro-acoustic; and the music improvised and through-composed side by side, layer upon layer and simultaneously.

Songs Of Love is Mezzo-Soprano Marianna Beate Kielland’s 13th album at NativeDSD Music. On it she is joined by Baritone Halvor Festervoll Melien and Pianist Nils Anders Mortensen on this album from Lawo Classics.

Amanda is now releasing her third album on the Ladybird label. Amanda once again invites the listener to her well-turned and swinging melodic jazz in Swedish, but the listener can also sense a sour self-distance in the middle of the warm and everyday considerations. Amanda Ginsburg sings about the simple in everyday life, the seemingly banal stories that make up a large part of all of our lives, and she does it with gusto.

Kari Bremnes is a Norwegian singer and songwriter from the Lofoten Islands, based in Oslo. Nordic, European, open, powerful, personal and melancholic - are the words that describe Kari's music. For "Gåte Ved Gåte", her fifth studio album, she has written all the lyrics and most of the music.

Poul Schierbeck (1888-1949) stands tall among Denmark's foremost composers of the early 20th century. His legacy, marked by a prolific career, shines particularly bright in his masterful orchestral compositions, the operatic gem "Fête Galante," and his melodic prowess showcased in songs such as the enchanting 'Du kære, blide danske bæk' ('You dear, gentle Danish stream').

Most people know Else Marie Pade as a pioneer in Danish electronic music. But under gloomy circumstances during the Second World War, Pade also wrote a number of humorous songs in swing and percussion style, which have now been reinterpreted by the duo Dybfølt and singer Kira Martini.

Like Father, Like Son is the Christiania Mannskor's fifth release on the LAWO Classics label. Christiania Mannskor, established in 2009, is Norway's professional men's choir. It is made up of 18 singers under the direction of conductor Marius Skjolaas. The ensemble has regular engagements in Oslo and countrywide and has performed at the invitation of, among others, the Norwegian government and parliament.

Here is an irresistible collection of love songs by three masters of Danish Romanticism: Weyse, Heise and Lange-Müller. Their songs with piano have made an indelible mark on a genre of Danish music and express a world of yearning and joy. The young lyric tenor Mathias Hedegaard has an outstanding feel for the style and offers masterly renderings of these beautiful Danish songs.

Warm and harmonic, this four-piece Scandinavian soul act deliver nostalgia steeped tracks with a timeless feel. Described as the bastard lovechild of Fleetwood Mac, Khruangbin, obscure Motown singles, hip-hop duo Eric B & Rakim seasoned with a bit of Stevie Wonder, Selda Bagcan, Elis Regina and Ted Gärdestad, Dina Ögon borrow across decade, country, and genre, ultimately delivering cohesive and homely retro pop from a laidback Nordic horizon. With two critically acclaimed albums under their belt and backing from the likes of Tyler The Creator, many sold out tours and and an organic growth and word of mouth build up on a global level in just two years, they are gearing up to release their third album "Orion" in February 2024.

Elisabeth Misvær has taken the initiative to revive several old joiks and to publish these in an album. These traditional joiks have been taken from several valuable sources, including sound files and transcriptions from Karl Tirén's records and documentation of joik from the years 1909-1913. In addition, she has gained access to sources that include old private recordings from Nils Lennart Ranberg from Fauske. Elisabeth is concerned with generational and tradition transmission and has brought her son Trygve along in this work. The album mainly contains Pit Sami joiks (vuolle), but also joik from Ume Sami and Lule Sami areas, two Sea Sami joiks from Måsøy in Finnmark as well as two new joik compositions.

Footprint Records are happy to announce the release of the album Transfiguration, performed by one of Sweden’s most prominent choirs: Lunds Vokalensemble. The present album features some of the Swedish choral classics, such as Gösta Nystroem’s Three Sea Visions, Sven-Erik Bäck’s Transfiguration and Sven-David Sandström’s Hear My Prayer. The choir commissions new works on a regular basis, two of which are Jacob Mühlrad’s Dreams and Linda Alexandersson’s April och tystnad (April and Silence), and both are featured on this album along with several magnificent choral pieces. The choir’s hallmark is a certain pure, transparent, and homogenous tonal quality developed in the day of Ingemar Månsson (1929–2022).

Den Sidste Olie is a ground-breaking chamber opera by Niels Rønsholdt, who, based on the tonal language of the Baroque, has created an original work that stretches between the beginning of oil extraction and the climate crisis we inevitably face today. With the Danish colonization of Greenland in 1721 as a background, Rønsholdt creates a captivating story about the relentless global pursuit of prosperity and growth.

A marvellous disc of Norwegian folk-inspired music performed with extraordinary virtuosity by Nordic Voices under Berit Opheim Versto. The 2L sound is, as usual, incredibly precise - defining each location with clarity but resolving every last nuance that is uttered from the performers lips.

The songs on this release – volume 2 – continue the chronological list from volume 1.The album begins with the remarkably special cycle Wartburg, encompassing an enormous range of singing pathos. The text by Theodor Caspari has to do with Wartburg Castle, with its sweeping history. Martin Luther sought refuge there from May 1521 to March 1522. Saint Elisabeth of Thuringia resided there from 1211 to 1228, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe visited the castle several times, and, notably, the famous "minstrel contest" at the castle was an inspiration for Wagner when he composed his opera Tannhauser. So it is not so unusual that Theodor Caspari was also inspired by the castle's history and reputation when he wrote his Wartburg texts.