Ståle Kleiberg: Do You Believe in Heather? Ståle Kleiberg

• String Quartet No. 3: Feat. Atle Sponberg; Anders Larsen; Ole Wuttudal; Øyvind Gimse
• 1 String Quartet No. 3: I. Scherzando 05:17
• 2 String Quartet No. 3: II. Rubato e espressivo 06:11
• 3 String Quartet No. 3: III. Animato 04:45
• Trur du på lyng? (Do You Believe in Heather?): Feat. Marianne Beate Kielland; Ole Christian Haagenrud
• 4 Trur du på lyng? (Do You Believe in Heather?): I. Fruktbar stille 05:55
• 5 Trur du på lyng? (Do You Believe in Heather?): II. Mor 03:12
• 6 Trur du på lyng? (Do You Believe in Heather?): III. Kjærleik og liding 04:16
• 7 Trur du på lyng? (Do You Believe in Heather?): IV. Livnar til 05:16
• Trio Luna: Feat. Annika Nordstrøm; Jan Petter Hilstad; Ruth Potter
• 8 Trio Luna: I. Luna serale 07:07
• 9 Trio Luna: II. Luna notturna 06:28
• 10 Trio Luna: III. Luna mattutina 04:35
• Lyssmeden (The Light Smith): Feat. Marianne Beate Kielland; Ida Kateraas; Ole Christian Haagenrud
• 11 Lyssmeden (The Light Smith): I. Eg føddes på ei slette 00:00
• 12 Lyssmeden (The Light Smith): II. Me skal elska 03:08
• 13 Lyssmeden (The Light Smith): III. Mitt ansvar 02:36
• 14 Lyssmeden (The Light Smith): IV. Kom ut 02:37
• 15 Lyssmeden (The Light Smith): V. Om du ligg heilt stille 04:47
• Total Runtime 01:06:10

Info for Ståle Kleiberg: Do You Believe in Heather?

"Some of the most beautifully played and appealing contemporary chamber and piano pieces you're likely to hear", said American Record Guide about the album Mezzotints – Chamber Music by Ståle Kleiberg. And now there is a follow-up: a new string quartet, two trio constellations and the song cycle Do You Believe in Heather?, which has given the album its title.

Ståle Kleiberg is often called a "modern romantic", and for good reason. We encounter a distinctive and highly individual alloy of modern and romantic elements in his music, whether it is characterized by a still, meditative lyricism or an energizing vitality. His String Quartet no. 3 encompasses this entire range of expression. The music speaks of summer. It is imbued with joie de vivre, and was composed with a full command of the genre and with considerable virtuosity.

The flute-viola-harp ensemble is less common, but by no means unknown. Following Debussy's Sonata, several trios have been composed for this ensemble, and Kleiberg's Trio Luna is a fine and most welcome addition. The work's three movements capture the mood of three dissimilar outer and inner landscapes, all of them bathed in moonlight, albeit at different times of day and night.

The Light Smith is also a trio; it is a song cycle for mezzo-soprano, clarinet and piano, and is chamber music on a very high level of inspiration. Both The Light Smith and Do You Believe in Heather? are settings of poetry by the distinguished Norwegian poet Helge Torvund. These poems engage with such archetypal themes as light, quietude, love, death and nature, but they treat these themes as real, everyday experiences, rather than abstract concepts. While the theme of The Light Smith centres on the beginnings, growth and culmination of life, it is autumn and winter we meet in Do You Believe in Heather?

Marianne Beate Kielland, mezzo soprano
Ole Christian Haagenrud, piano
Annika Nordstrøm, flute
Ida Kateraas, clarinet
Ruth Potter, harp
Jan Petter Hilstad, viola
Atle Sponberg, violin
Anders Larsen, violin
Ole Wuttudal, viola
Øyvind Gimse, cello

Marianne Beate Kielland
is one of Scandinavia’s foremost singers. She has built up an exceptionally broad repertoire that stretches from the early 17th-century to contemporary music. Her ability to mould her singing to suit the style of a particular period is highly valued by conductors, players and audiences. Kielland is in huge demand as a concert soloist and she appears regularly in Europe’s largest concert halls with orchestras such as the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées, the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Flemish Philharmonic Orchestra, Bach Collegium Japan, Akademie für alte Musik Berlin, Concerto Köln, the Vienna Symphony, Holland Baroque Society, Collegium Vocale Gent, Anima Eterna and Concerto Copenhagen. Among the conductors she has worked with are Philippe Herreweghe, Fabio Biondi, Jordi Savall, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Helmuth Rilling, Masaaki Suzuki, Andrew Manze, Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Bruno Weil, Ari Rasilainen, Man- fred Honeck, Iona Brown, Andreas Spering and Daniel Reuss. Her recordings, numbering over 40, include Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis (2017), E. Grieg: Garborg/Vinje/Ibsen (2014), Grammy-nominated Veslemøy Synsk by Thommessen (2011), Come away death (2010), Frank Martin: Golgotha (2009), Beethoven’s 9th Symphony (2007) and Bach’s Mass in B minor (2003). Kielland received her musiclal education at the Norwegian Academy of cademy of Music and has studied under Svein Bjørkøy, Ingrid Bjoner, Oren Brown, David Adams and Barbara Bonney; she has participated in master classes with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.

Ole Christian Haagenrud
is one of the leading Norwegian pianists of his generation. He has performed in many of Europe’s most prestigious venues, such as the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Brahms Saal in Vienna’s Musikverein, the Stephaniensaal in Graz, the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Hall in Vilnius, the Slovenian Philharmonic Hall in Bratislava and Casa da Musica in Porto. Haagenrud has received several awards and distinctions, including the Robert Levin Prize at the Bergen International Festival in 2014. In 2008 he won the Norwegian Music Competition for Youth, receiving the accolade of Musician of the Year. He has performed as soloist with professional orchestras such as the Bergen Philharmonic and the Norwegian Radio Orchestra. He gives concerts regularly at music festivals in and outside Norway, and frequently plays alongside Norway’s foremost musicians. He studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music under Professors Jens Harald Bratlie and Håvard Gimse.

Idas Kateraas
is currently completing her Masters in clarinet performance at the Norwegian Academy of Music, studying under Björn Nyman and Fredrik Fors. She has earlier studied under Ronald van Spaendonck, Nathalie Lefèvre and Jean Marc Fessard at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels. Parallel with her studies she performs as a freelance musician, frequently playing in Norway’s military bands as stand-in. She has had a one-year stand-in engagement with the Royal Norwegian Air Force Band in Trondheim. Kateraas is also a passionate chamber musician, and is a member of the wind ensembles Quatuor Flexible and Woods of Norway.

Trio Luna
has existed for five years, with a broad repertoire that ranges from classical to folk music. The trio’s members are Annika Nordstrøm, Jan Petter Hilstad and Ruth Potter.

Annika Nordstrøm
doubles as principal flautist in the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, and is an active chamber musician. She has earlier worked as a freelance musician, play ing as stand-in both in the Oslo Philharmonic and in the National Opera Orchestra in Oslo, as well as in other ensembles. She has also taught in the Department of Music at NTNU. She studied at Østlandet’s Music Conservatory.

Jan Petter Hilstad
is principal viola-player in the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and a veteran member of the TrondheimSolistene. He is also director and artistic leader of the Strinda string orchestra, and he has composed many string arrangements for younger players. He studied at the Trøndelag Music Conservatory and at the Prague Conservatory.

Ruth Potter
is solo harpist in the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra. She has played with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra and the National Opera Orchestra in Oslo, and has given recitals in London’s Purcell Room and Wigmore Hall. She studied at the Royal Academy in London.

Atle Sponberg
is one of the most interesting Norwegian violinists currently making a mark on the music scene. He has performed as soloist, chamber musician and orchestral leader all over Norway, and his name often appears on festival programmes throughout Europe, in the USA and in Australia. He has performed as soloist with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Tromsø Cham- ber Orchestra and Pori Sinfonietta in Finland, and he has played with conductors such as Rolf Gupta, Ari Rasilainen, Walter Weller and Andrew Manze. Sponberg is artistic director of the professional orchestra Gjøvik Sinfonietta and concertmaster in the Norwegian Radio Orchestra; in addition he plays tango music in a number of ensembles – for example with bandoneonists Marcello Nisinmann, Andreas Rokkseth and Per Arne Glorvigen.

Anders Larsen
is a joint member of the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and Trondheim-Solistene. He has performed as soloist with both these orchestras and also with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra. He is active within several genres. He often collaborates with Henning Sommerro – their album Vebjo, which features Christmas music from the Nordmøre district of Norway, was released in 2015. Larsen also plays in Famntak, the folk music group from Nordmøre. He studied at Trondheim Music Conservatory with Bjarne Fiskum and Ian Hedley, and at the Barratt Due Institute of Music with Stephan Barratt-Due.

Ole Wuttudal
is principal viola player in the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, and in addition teaches viola at the Department of Music, NTNU. He also plays regularly with other orchestras both in and outside Norway. He is in much demand as a chamber musician, and participated in the recording of Ståle Kleiberg’s String Quartet no. 2, which is featured on 2L’s album Mezzotints: Chamber Music by Ståle Kleiberg. Wuttudal studied at the Department of Music, NTNU, and at the Norwegian Academy of Music.

Øyvind Gimse
is a dynamic, versatile musician – much sought-after as chamber musician and strings teacher. He has played at all of Norway’s main chamber music festivals with musicians such as Leif Ove Andsnes, Nobuko Imai, Leonidas Kavakos, Natalia Prischepenko, Andrew Manze, Richard Egarr and Catherine Bott. Gimse is particularly interested in bringing together modes of artistic expression that are usually kept separate, and he has forged his own performances where different art forms are combined. As a teacher Gimse is not only a professor at the Department of Music at NTNU, but also active in developing musical talent in a wider international perspective. From 2002 to 2017 he was artistic director of the TrondheimSolistene, and together they toured worldwide. His work with TrondheimSolistene and 2L has resulted in no fewer than seven Grammy nominations. Other recordings include, in partnership with his pianist brother Håvard, T.Tellefsen – Chopin (2001), and, in collaboration with Anne-Sophie Mutter, Vivaldi: Four Seasons (1999). He has also played in the contemporary music groups Canzonettas and Ter Jung Sextet, with whom he collaborated on the album Hexa (2000). In 2013, Gimse received Trondheim municipality’s culture award for his contribution to Trondheim’s cultural life.