Oslo Domkor - Livet vant - Life victorious

With a grand and formidable approach, Terje Kvam has highlighted the brilliance of powerful Easter and Whitsun hymns. This release bears his special characteristic style, where each word sung by the Oslo Cathedral Choir can be heard without any loss of the exuberance, dynamics and flow of the music. For 32 years, from 1982 to 2014, Terje Kvam was the Cathedral Organist in Oslo.  This was a time when he and Oslo Cathedral Choir set a high standard for interpreting and performing hymns. As we moved into the new millennium KKV released three CDs featuring many of these hymns. Two additional CDs were recorded in 2005, but they were placed on hold due to a lack of funding. Now these beautiful examples of a brilliant era in Oslo Cathedral will be released as a double CD with hymns for Easter, Ascension and Whitsun. These are the fourth and fifth recordings Oslo Cathedral Choir has made of the core repertoire for the Liturgical Year, using both traditional and more modern material. The music repertoire stretches from unison Gregorian chants, folk songs and ballads, classical Lutheran hymns, grand Anglican hymns and modern compositions. The composer and church musician Trond H. F. Kverno, a key contributor in the production of this CD, is responsible for a number of the more recent melodies, and most of the organ and choir movements on this release. There are many familiar hymns here, such as "Påskemorgen slukker sorgen" [Easter Morn Extinguishes Grief], "Den Herre Krist i dødens bånd" [The Lord Christ in Death's Bands], "Den signede dag" [The Blessed Day] and "Apostlene satt i Jerusalem" [The Apostles Abided in Jerusalem], but also rarer ones, such as Børre Knudsen's "Farao nådde oss like ved stranden" [Pharaoh found us by the beach] and Henrik Ibsen's "Velsignede morgen" [Oh, Blessed Morning] from Peer Gynt. The three first CDs in this series presented hymns from the Passiontide ("Det hellige kors" [The Holy Cross] 2000), All Saints' Day ("Blant alle englers sang" [Among the Song of Angels] 2001) and Christmas ("Det kimer nu til julefest" [The Bells of Christmas Chime] 2003). With the new double CD release "Livet vant" [Life Victorious], hymns for Easter, Ascension Day and Whitsun have also found their place. We hope in the future to be able to supplement the series with hymns for the entire Liturgical Year.