Blu-ray Audio

Schola Cantorum, Tone Bianca Sparre Dahl – Hymn to the Virgin (2013) [Blu-ray Audio / BDMV / 12.3 GB / 2L-095]

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Album title: Hymn to the Virgin
Performer: Schola Cantorum, Tone Bianca Sparre Dahl
Genre: Classical
Label: 2L, Lindberg Lyd
Location: Gamle Aker Church, Norway
Release date: June 2013
Recording date: January, March and October 2011
Original source: DXD (352.8kHz/24bit)
Quality: Blu-ray Audio
Duration: 01:02:20
Video: MPEG-4 AVC 17991 kbps 1920*1080i / 29,970 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio#1: DTS-HD MA 5.1 / 192 kHz / 12160 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio#2: LPCM 2.0 / 192 kHz / 9216 kbps / 24-bit

Thomas Aquinas writes in the Summa Theologica: “Music is the exaltation of the mind derived from things eternal, bursting forth in sound.” The quotation most aptly describes the repertoire on the Norwegian chamber choir Schola Cantorum’s recording of hymns to Mary, the Mother of God, in which tranquillity, eternity and ‘bursting forth into sound’ are encountered in many different guises.

The composers represented here have often chosen to allow their music to evolve in stable structures and remain within static harmonic spaces even when the music becomes expressive and dramatic: Benjamin Britten, Francis Poulenc, Maurice Duruflé, Eric Whitacre, Morten Lauridsen, Martin Ødegaard, Kjell Mørk Karlsen, Anton Bruckner, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Arvo Pärt, Ola Gjeilo, Andrew Smith and Trond Kverno.

Throughout its existence the chamber choir Schola Cantorum has had high ambitions. The choir has built up an international reputation and has made it a trademark to include newly written music in its programmes. This is thanks to the work of Knut Nystedt (1915–), organist, composer and conductor, who returned to Norway in 1964 after studying in the USA and started a choir at the music department of the University of Oslo. The choir continues to recruit members from the department of music, as well as from the Norwegian Academy of Music in more recent years.

Tone Bianca Sparre Dahl trained as a singer and pianist and specialized in the Kodaly method in Hungary before taking her diploma exam in choral conducting at the Norwegian Academy of Music. She has directed Schola Cantorum since 2002.

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Blu-ray Audio

Dena Piano Duo – Hommage a Grieg: Vol. III (2013) [Blu-ray Audio / BDMV / 9.69 GB / 2L-094]

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Album title: Hommage à Grieg
Performer: Dena Piano Duo
Genre: Classical
Label: 2L, Lindberg Lyd
Location: Sofienberg Church, Norway
Release date: March 2013
Recording date: September 2011
Original source: DXD (352.8kHz/24bit)
Quality: Blu-ray Audio
Duration: 00:55:26
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 / 12153 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio#2: LPCM Audio / 2.0 / 192 kHz / 9216 kbps / 24-bit

There is a recurrent theme running through the program presented by the Dena Piano Duo in this production; all four composers and works have a particular relationship to Edvard Grieg. Both Johannes Brahms and Camille Saint-Saëns were friends of Grieg, and in several of his works the inspiration Grieg gained from his colleagues in Vienna and Paris is easy to hear. In between the works of Brahms and Saint-Saëns the Dena Piano Duo play two Norwegian works they have commissioned from the composers Wolfgang Plagge and Terje Bjørklund with this recording in mind.

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Blu-ray Audio

Oslo String Quartet – The Schubert Connection (2003) [Blu-ray Audio / BDMV / 12.7 GB / 2L-093]

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Composer: Franz Schubert (1797-1828), Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
Artist: Oslo String Quartet
Title: The Schubert Connection
Genre: Art Music, Classical, 20th & 21th Century
Label: ? 2L, Lindberg Lyd
Release date: January 2013
Recording date: June 2012
Location: Sofienberg Church, Norway
Quality: Blu-ray Audio
Original source: DXD (352.8kHz/24bit)
Duration: 01’09’47
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 / 13111 kbps / 24-bit
Audio#2: LPCM 2.0 / 192 kHz / 9216 kbps / 24-bit

The Schubert Connection
– Grieg’s String Quartet meets Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden”

The String Quartet in G minor by Edvard Grieg is quite unlike other string quartets. Indeed, its originality is so marked that it is easy to imagine it has no predecessor in the string quartet repertoire. However, since no quartet is written in isolation from what has gone before, it must be assumed that some work, or works, in the string quartet tradition served as a model for Grieg. It is strange that no effort has been made by musicologists or others to enquire into this. Until now, that is. By placing side by side two works that at first sight seem fairly different, this recording aims to bring into the open, for the first time, the fascinating details that link them.

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D. 810

Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 27

Oslo String Quartet is widely recognized as one of the most versatile string quartets of our day. Since it was founded in 1991 it has established a reputation as an ensemble that unites high artistic standards with a degree of playfulness and an absolute integrity. The quartet’s concerts and recordings have consistently received acclaim, both by the public and by critics. The Oslo String Quartet plays on instruments loaned by Dextra Musica and the ensemble is supported by Arts Council Norway. The current members of the quartet are Geir Inge Lotsberg and Liv Hilde Klokk (violins), Are Sandbakken (viola) and Øystein Sonstad (cello).

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Blu-ray Audio

Jan Gunnar Hoff – LIVING (2013) [Blu-ray Audio / BDMV / 12.4 GB / 2L-092]

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Album title: Living
Performer: Jan Gunnar Hoff, piano
Genre: Jazz, Piano
Label: 2L, Lindberg Lyd
Location: Sofienberg Church, Norway
Release date: April 2013
Recording date: August 2012
Original source: DXD (352.8kHz/24bit)
Quality: Blu-ray Audio
Duration: 0:59:58 + 0:06:09 (bonus music video)
Video: MPEG-4 AVC 942 kbps 1920*1080i / 29,970 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio#1: DTS-HD MA 5.1 / 192 kHz / 12178 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio#2: LPCM 2.0 / 192 kHz / 9216 kbps / 24-bit

LIVING is Jan Gunnar Hoff’s first solo piano album. His personal blend of different styles and influences is presented in its purest form – simply music. Some of Hoff’s pieces are meditative and expressive, while others have a strong rhythmic nerve, creating contrast and variation in the programme.

Jan Gunnar Hoff has worked extensively as a bandleader and jazz artist since 1992, developing a distinctive musical style. His band with a.o. Audun Kleive and Bjørn Kjellemyr had its breakthrough at Vossa Jazz 1995 and later played at the London Jazzfestival, Molde Int. Jazzfestival and several major festivals and venues in Scandinavia.

Hoff’s jazzcompositions have been performed in collaborations with Mike Stern, Pat Metheny, Alex Acuña, Maria João, Mathias Eick and many others. He has made a number of albums in his own name and has composed 180 works for different ensembles. Hoff is also teaching as a professor at the Universities of Tromsø and Kristiansand.

As a sideman Hoff has contributed to numerous recordings in different genres. He was the arranger and ensemble leader of Quiet Winter Night, Grammy-nominated for Best Surround Sound in 2013, an album where he successfully merges elements of jazz, folk and popular music.

Hoff’s collaboration with 2L and Morten Lindberg is continued on LIVING. This is a solo piano journey that carries Hoff’s artistic identity further into his own musical terrain, enhanced by the crystal clear recording from Sofienberg Church in Oslo.

“Hoff’s writing and playing possesses an almost pop-like clarity and concision, but with a far richer vernacular.” John Kelman, AllAboutJazz.com (more…)

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Blu-ray Audio

TrondheimSolistene – SOUVENIR (2012) [Blu-ray Audio / BDMV / 24.3 GB / 2L-090]

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Composer: Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Carl Nielsen
Album title: SOUVENIR
Performer: TrondheimSolistene; Øyvind Gimse, artistic director; Geir Inge Lotsberg, leader
Genre: Classical
Label: 2L (Lindberg Lyd)
Location: Selbu Church, Norway
Release date: February, May and August 2012
Recording date: May and October 2011
Original Quality: Mastering in DXD (352.8kHz/24bit)
Quality: Blu-ray Audio
Duration: 01:25:16
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 950 kbps / 1080i / 29,970 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio#1: Auro-3D 9.1 / 96 kHz / 24-bit (Track 01-05 Only)
Audio#2: DTS-HD MA 5.1 / 192 kHz / 13251 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio#3: DTS-HD MA 7.1 / 96 kHz / 9493 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio#4: LPCM Audio / 2.0 / 192 kHz / 9216 kbps / 24-bit

How do we listen to music? Indeed, how do we listen to anything? What we as listeners encounter here is sheer auditory bliss. TrondheimSolistene take a new step towards bridging the gap between themselves and their audience. It is not the gap between the live performance and the recording which they attempt to close. It is the gap between the recording and the living, ever open human ear.

“Through its dynamic co-operation TrondheimSolistene (the Trondheim Soloists) and 2L has always sort to stretch the boundaries of what is possible to convey to the listener, aiming for the ultimate recorded listening experience. With the Serenade the team has taken things one step further with the TrondheimSolistene truly justifying their name. By placing each individual next to someone from a different voice rather than sitting in conventional sections we are working at the very outer limits of what is possible and creating chamber music at the highest level” – Øyvind Gimse, 2012.

We allocated two weeks in 2011 to record this new album. Artistic director Øyvind Gimse and his associate Geir Inge Lotsberg initially chose two pieces that represent, in their estimation, “the most beautiful music ever composer for the string orchestra”: Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence and his Serenade for Strings. Aiming for a 90 minutes program left 30 more minutes to record. So the orchestra and 2L logged on to Facebook and asked the listeners worldwide what they’d like to hear. And the audience responded: Nielsen’s Suite Opus 1. A little gem that would exploit the Trondheim Soloists’ singular way with Nordic repertoire.

Inspired by Morten Lindberg’s extensive work with choral music, the Tchaikovsky’s SERENADE was recorded with the ensemble placed in mixed voices, meaning no one is sitting beside anyone playing the same part, creating a totally new soundscape to the music. Carl Nielsen’s SUITE opus 1 is recorded in a more “traditional” way in these sessions.

What we recorded in May 2011 was published exclusively as high resolution audio files, by streaming and on vinyl. Then our recordings from October will add up to a full release on Pure Audio Blu-ray in August 2012.

TrondheimSolistene (The Trondheim Soloists) are regarded as one of the top chamber orchestras in the world. Their DIVERTIMENTI and FOLK STYLE were both nominated for a total of five American GRAMMY Awards in categories “Best Small Ensemble”, “Best Engineered Album” and “Best Surround Sound Album”.

The music captured by 2L features Norwegian composers and performers, and an international repertoire reflected in the Nordic atmosphere. The surround sound recordings of Lindberg Lyd not only transforms the entire listening experience, more radically, these innovative recordings overturn some very basic concepts regarding how music is played and even composed. 2L emphasizes surround sound with Pure Audio Blu-ray and HiRes file distribution, and have garnered no less than 12 American GRAMMY nominations over the past six years.

ormed 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).

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Blu-ray Audio

Hansakvartetten – Fartein Valen string quartets (2013) [Blu-ray Audio / BDMV / 10.4 GB / 2L-089]

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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).

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Blu-ray Audio

Gorset & friends – NODEBOG (2013) [Blu-ray Audio / BDMV / 9.3 GB / 2L-088]

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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!

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Blu-ray Audio

Hoff Ensemble – Quiet Winter Night: An Acoustic Jazz Project (2011) [Blu-ray Audio / BDMV / 9.48 GB / 2L-087]

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Album title: Quiet Winter Night – An Acoustic Jazz Project
Performer: Hoff Ensemble
Genre: jazz fusion
Label: 2L (Lindberg Lyd)
Location: Sofienberg Church, Norway
Release date: February 2012
Recording date: August 2011
Original source: Mastering in DXD (352.8kHz/24bit)
Quality: Blu-ray Audio
Duration: 0:48:08
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 / 13346 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio#2: LPCM 2.0 / 192 kHz / 9216 kbps / 24-bit

HOFF ENSEMBLE consists of some of Norway’s finest jazz and session musicians, fronted by trumpeter Mathias Eick, of ECM renown, who plays a leading role in several of the compositions. The ensemble’s basic quartet features legendary veteran bassist Arild Andersen and arranger Jan Gunnar Hoff on piano. Hoff has performed with his own group since 1993, collaborating with such artists as Mike Stern, Pat Metheny, Maria Joao and Alex Acuna. This time in this great Norwegian band he mixes flavours in a “cross-over” setting. Eick, with whom Hoff has worked on earlier projects, was the obvious first choice for QUIET WINTER NIGHT, along with Andersen and the rest of the band, complemented by Rune Arnesen (ex N.P.Molvær) on percussion and Børge Petersen-Øverleir, Norway’s leading session guitarist.

Brilliant fiddle player Annbjørg Lien is an exciting addition to the HOFF ENSEMBLE, giving QUIET WINTER NIGHT a sound that is definitely Nordic with elements of jazz, folk and beyond, making this an interesting and original journey. On some of the instrumental tracks, like “Blågutten”, Eick and Petersen-Øverleir create an overall jazz/fusion sound, while the trio setting of “Redd Mamma” is reminiscent of the work of Sweden’s Jan Johansson. “Hva skal hende nå” bears comparison with Metheny’s ballad form, yet with a more rock-influenced guitar sound. This tune also includes a great bass solo by Andersen.

The music is created by film composers Geir Bøhren and Bent Åserud and among the vocalists are some of Norway’s top names (and Universal artists) in popular music: Helene Bøksle, Åsne Valland Nordli, Sondre Bratland, Unni Wilhelmsen, Tomine Harket, Bjørn Johan Muri, Cecilia Vennersten and Bjørn Eidsvåg.

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Blu-ray Audio

La Voie Triomphale – The Staff Band of the Norwegian Armed Forces (2012) [Blu-ray Audio / BDMV / 14.2 GB / 2L-086]

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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!

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Blu-ray Audio

Ola Gjeilo – PIANO IMPROVISATIONS (2012) [Blu-ray Audio / BDMV / 12.9 GB / 2L-082]

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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

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