LAWO Classics to Release Himmelskygge in May 2026
LAWO Classics will release Himmelskygge in May 2026, a new recording led by Norwegian mezzo-soprano Hege Høisæter. The album focuses on contemporary Norwegian song and brings together music that ranges from dramatic vocal writing to lyrical poetry settings and electronic soundscapes.
Høisæter is accompanied by pianist Jorunn Marie Bratlie and joined by Kari Telstad Sundet, who appears as both composer and electronic musician. The jazz ensemble Tov a Vot also contributes to the album, broadening its musical palette and supporting its exploration of different traditions and textures.
At the centre of the recording is Sundet’s The Drift, a song cycle using poems by Emily Dickinson. The work combines the intimacy of song with the spatial and atmospheric possibilities of electronics. This blend of voice, acoustic instruments, and electronic sound design reflects the album’s wider interest in crossing boundaries between genres.
The release also presents music by several important Norwegian composers. Olav Anton Thommessen’s Cosima minnes opens the album with force and drama, while works by Carl Gustav Sparre Olsen offer lyricism rooted in Norwegian poetry. Theis Jakob’s Two Dystopian Songs introduces a more contemporary perspective, and Gisle Kverndokk’s Ave Verum closes the album with a luminous sense of stillness.
Rather than presenting contemporary music as a single style, Himmelskygge shows it as a broad and evolving field. Through Høisæter’s performance and the contributions of her collaborators, the album offers a vivid account of the voices shaping Norwegian art music today.