Nordic Voices & Berit Opheim Versto - Lasse Thoresen: Himmelkvad (2012) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

The Nordic Council Music Prize 2010 was awarded to the Norwegian composer Lasse Thoresen. His "Opus 42" represents a true renewal of Nordic vocal music. This strikingly beautiful piece reveals the common denominators in ancient and ultra-modern sounds, drawing our attention to the similarities between Scandinavian folk traditions and the music we might find in, say, the Middle East or India. Lasse Thoresen not only uses folk sounds to spice up art music, he also integrates its finely tuned microtonality, spectral overtones, harmonies and rhythms into the contemporary, modernist project in a truly pioneering manner. A project like this depends upon close collaboration with skilled musicians who are willing to take risks. Thoresen found them in the vocal ensemble Nordic Voices and folk singer Berit Opheim Versto.

Berit Opheim Versto is one of Norway’s foremost female vocalists today. She has particularly worked with Norwegian folk music, chiefly from the west of Norway and her native district of Voss. She has classical training from the Grieg Academy in Bergen and from the Norwegian Academy of Music. Berit Opheim Versto has been a key performer in the realm of folk music, as a mediator of the tradition but also as an innovator, putting traditional music into new contexts both in Norway and abroad. She has collaborated with a number of musicians and composers, ranging from Per H. Indrehus, Nils
Økland and Karl Seglem to Lasse Thoresen and Ragnhild Berstad. She has been involved in a variety of recordings and is a sought-after teacher, not least at the Ole Bull Academy at Voss. Berit is a member of several ensembles and is often used as a soloist in the felds of folk, jazz and contemporary music. Throughout her career, she has been awarded numerous awards and scholarships

Artistic creativity, versatility and technical precision are the main elements that make up NORDIC VOICES. The six-voice a cappella group was formed in 1996 and comprises graduates from the Norwegian Academy of Music and the Norwegian Academy of Opera, who, in addition to their singing backgrounds, have a broad range of experience from choral conducting to teacher training and composition. It is perhaps this range of interests that leads them to explore a wider than usual spectrum of musical expression, from plainchant to new works commissioned from leading Norwegian composers; from the most sacred of religious texts to the definitely profane. Nordic Voices are an unusual blend of sophisticated music-making and stylish performance, more often than not with more than a dash of humour.