Edvard Grieg's vocal output is rich, wide-ranging - and heterogeneous. He seems to have felt equally at home in any kind of writing technique, his oeuvre consisting of anything from small children's songs and burlesque folkloristic compositions on anonymous texts to grand-scale religious works and dramatic song cycles based on poetry by internationally outstanding Norwegian poets.

What really fascinates in this polychromatic world of songs and choral settings is the total lack of formal consistency between works within the same opus number - Grieg obviously didn't mind at all putting together songs of the most opposite aesthetic contents. One might even suspect that he fancied this kind of formal pluralism, or that he in some cases just organized his songs in categories more based on score settings than on chronology and texture.

Planning a comprehensive CD recording of Edvard Grieg's choral music therefore calls for a great deal of programmatic consideration: should one perform the songs in their original order of appearance or present them assorted to genre? This recording does the latter, thus generating a dynamic vocal image of Grieg's compositional genius.

There is a time span of 44 years between Grieg's first and last choral compositions. In 1862, a student at the Leipzig Conservatory of Music, he wrote "Dona nobis pacem" for mixed choir a cappella, and in 1906 he completed his swan song, Four Psalms op. 74, for mixed choir and baritone solo. In the intermediate decades, he composed about fifty other choral pieces, most of which were written for male chorus a cappella. A number of them are rather short, composed for special occasions such as song festivals and choir jubilees, and Grieg did not include them in his opus list.

Grex Vocalis - The Singing Flock – was formed in 1971 by conductor Carl Høgset. The choir's repertoire ranges from renaissance and baroque music to Cuban rhythms, Norwegian folk songs and contemporary works. Over the years Grex Vocalis has commissioned and premiered works by many Norwegian composers; of particular note is the group's close collaboration with Arne Nordheim.

Grex Vocalis has given concerts in most European countries and in Japan. Participation in national and international choral competitions has resulted in several first prizes; in Arezzo in 1999 the choir was also awarded "Il Gran Premio Città di Arezzo" as overall best choir. Grex Vocalis has been awarded the Norwegian "Grammy" for three of its fourteen albums.

Grex Vocalis is renowned for its smooth, even sound - a combination of well-balanced timbre and shining overtones. The conductor works systematically at tuning each chord, and to create a unified shaping of each vowel. This process brings together all the individual voices to form an ensemble sound in which the vocal quality is greater than the sum of its parts.

Carl Høgset (born 1941) holds degrees in languages and music from the University of Oslo and in singing and choral conducting from the Norwegian Academy of Music. He made his debut as a countertenor in 1977, and is a member of the vocal quartet Quattro Stagioni. Høgset regularly coaches singers and conductors in Norway and abroad, and he is frequently asked to judge at international choir competitions. He has published a book on singing technique, with complementary CD and video, which has been translated into ten languages.

Høgset's expertise in languages and singing is reflected in his music-making. Through his genuinely musical approach he leads his instrument - the choir - to moments of indefinable magic. He treats professionals and amateurs with equal respect, and approaches all music with equal commitment: the music must move, and we must be moved by the music.

The young Norwegian tenor Magnus Staveland was born in Stavanger in 1979. He studied at the State Academy of Music in Oslo and at the Royal Opera Academy in Copenhagen. Opera engagements have included Gluck's one act operas "Aristeo" and "Bauci e Filemone" at Opéra Garnier Paris, Opéra du Rhin Strasbourg, Palais des Beaux-Arts Brussels, Opéra Garnier Monaco and Le Corum Montpellier, Enea in Cavalli's "La Didone" at Teatro La Fenice di Venezia and at Teatro Regio di Torino, and Tamino in "Die Zauberflöte" at the Norwegian National Opera. He has worked with conductors such as René Jacobs, Fabio Biondi, Christophe Rousset and Andrew Parrot. His large concert repertoire includes Bach's "St. John Passion", "St. Matthew Passion", "Christmas Oratorio", Händel's "Messiah" and "La Resurezzione", and Mozart's "Requiem".

Magnus Staveland is the soloist on Grex Vocalis' CD "Magnum Mysterium" (2L26SACD) from 2004, and in the same year he sang one of the solo tenor parts in the choir's production of Monteverdi's "Marienvespers". At Christmas 2006 he was the tenor soloist in Handel's "Messiah" in Oslo with Grex Vocalis and Carl Høgset.

Read the article about Lindberg Lyd in RESOLUTION MAGAZINE