We are happy to present the debut album of the duo Stian Westerhus and Maja S. K. Ratkje, two Norwegian composers and performers known to the international scene through numerous works and albums in various constellations over decades. Released 15 March 2024 Crispin Glover Records. To many of their followers’ big surprise, Stian Westerhus and […]
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For the immersive concert experience Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (Göteborgs Symfoniker) has commissioned orchestral works from five prominent composers from all Nordic countries, Daníel Bjarnason (Iceland), Miho Hazama (Denmark), Mats Larsson Gothe (Sweden), Maja S. K. Ratkje (Norway) and Outi Tarkiainen (Finland). Drawing inspiration from the Nordic nature, each commission in “Nordic – A Fragile Hope”
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«Tida veit» er den fjerde utgivelsen i antologien “Norwegian songs”, denne gang med samtidskomponister. Utvalget av sanger har foregått i dialog med komponistene, og de fleste har tilrettelagt arrangementer for stemme, klarinet og strykekvintett – med velvillig støtte fra Norsk komponistforening. INNHOLD: 1 Det finst ei stille by Ståle Kleiberg (b. 1958) / Helge Torvund
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Øra Fonogram announces the worldwide release of RÖKKUR, the joint album of Norwegian composer and performer Maja S. K. Ratkje and Icelandic ensemble Nordic Affect (Halla Steinunn Stefánsdóttir, Marie Stockmarr Becker, Hanna Loftsdóttir, Guðrún Óskarsdóttir). RÖKKUR on Bandcamp RÖKKUR on streaming other services Read the great album reviews here. What is ‘rökkur’? ‘Rökkur’ is the
Music written by Christopher Fox, Maja S. K. Ratkje, David Lang, Christian Wolff, Simon Holt, Howard Skempton and Giacinto Scelsi for solo saxophone and saxophone and electronics, performed by Carl Raven. Releases 01 May 2023 | Recorded, mixed and mastered by Carl Raven in Padfield, Derbyshire, 2022 | Artwork by Carl Raven. Released by Turquoise
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Michele Bianchini – saxophone Composers: Andrea Nicoli, Anna Clyne, Antonio Agostini, Maja S. K. Ratkje, Malin Bång, Mark Andre, Olga Neuwirth, Salvatore Sciarrino. On this album: ØX Published by Da Vinci Classics 2023
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Alpha Classics: “Forty years have passed since Gidon Kremer created a little musical oasis in the Austrian town of Lockenhaus in 1981. The violinist’s open-minded attitude has left its mark on this event, which has become a must in the concert calendar, and the cellist Nicolas Altstaedt, who took up the torch in 2012, continues
Motvind records: ’Vannstand’ (Sea Level) is a tribute to the slowly pulsating tidal shifts along the length of the Norwegian coastline. In Vannstand children are given the opportunity to reflect and respond musically to their relationship with the coast, the water and the sea. The composer, Maja S. K. Ratkje states: What could be more
Twenty piano miniatures by some of the most trendsetting composers in Norway around the year 2000 — it has been a joy to be able to be part of it! This project was initiated by Viktor Mjøen of the music publisher Blåmann Musikkforlag. The idea was that limiting the length and complexity of the pieces
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Audio documentation for Warsaw Autumn 2010. Includes a piece by Ratkje: Chopin’s Mazurka, Op. 17 No. 4, recomposed
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Echo Chamber 3.0 is a concert performance for the ear, by Maja S. K. Ratkje written for Trondheim Voices in 2020. The piece is a continuation of Ekkokammer 2.0 which is a staged performance, premiered in 2015. The album is a 2xCD with one version in English (Echo Chamber), and one in Norwegian (Ekkokammer). The
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Pictures From a Sinking City was commissioned by the Trondheim Soloists, and had its world premiere in Trondheim on 30 January, 2020. Tale of Lead and Frozen Light exists in two versions: one for a string quartet, Tale of Lead and Light, written for the Engegård Quartet, and one for a string ensemble, commissioned by
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First album in Frode Haltli’s tripple solo release on Svartskog Music Production (SMP) Three very different works for solo accordion: Edison Denisov’s masterpiece ‘Des ténèbres à la lumière’ (1995), and two first recordings: James Dillon’s ‘Two Studies’ (2002) and Maja S.K. Ratkje’s ‘Dismantled Pipes’ (2020). Recorded by Frode Haltli 2020. Relased on Bandcamp Sept. 2020.
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Cellist Marianne Baudouin Lie’s solo album on Particular Recordings. Atlantis, Utopia and Ulvedrømmer is a project where cellist Marianne Baudouin Lie plays works for solo cello and her own voice. These works explore speech and the singing voice as an extension of the instrument’s sound world and expression. The cello is the instrument that may
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“I had an occasional flash of understanding, but then got selfishly wrapped up again in my own problems and pleasures,” is a quote from Anne Frank’s diary, the book on which The Beauty That Still Remains is based. These are thoughts we must all take heed of, confronting injustice that does not strike directly at
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Maja S. K. Ratkje: A Dismantled Ode To The Moral Value Of Art · Lasse Thoresen: Land of your love · Georg Friedrich Haas: Hertervig-Studien Aurora: “Sometimes you come across music that you think you have never heard before. As a performer you open the score, and you realize that this time you are dealing
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Based upon Ratkje’s music created for the ballet Sult (Hunger) by profiled director Jo Strømgren for the Norwegian National Ballet, this is a departure from records and live settings normally associated with Maja S. K. Ratkje as a solo performer, as we find her placed behind a modified, wiggly and out of tune pump organ,
The Sound of Science is a concert and album presenting eight pieces of music by seven celebrated composers. Written for amplified cello and electronics, all pieces will be performed by world–renowned cellist Jeffrey Zeigler, long time member of Kronos Quartet, cellist for John Zorn, Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, and many more. From West African storytelling
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The Norwegian Radio Orchestra with brand new Norwegian music! Alfred Janson, Knut Vaage, Maja S. K. Ratkje and Jan Erik Mikalsen have written for the orchestra, including a brand new trumpet concerto. Variations over Variations presents four Norwegian composers and their works, performed and commissioned by The Norwegian Radio Orchestra, under their Chief Conductor, the
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Booklet text (Norwegian below): Could the act of composing include my sound as a voice performer? The two works on this album are two different answers to this question. From the moment I started to compose new classical music I have carefully worked on developing my own voice as an instrument. Improvising with others has