Henrik Ødegaard

Ancient ancestral voices, preserved in the form of sacred plainchant and secular folksong, stand among the most potent influences on the music of Henrik Ødegaard. The prolific Norwegian composer, born in Oslo in 1955, also draws inspiration from the dramatic landscapes of his homeland to create music charged with a mystical atmosphere. His timeless language often carries the style of Gregorian chant into the present to cultivate a distinctive blend of old and new, which resonates throughout the exquisite Meditations Over St Mary Magdalen’s Feast in Nidaros and Jesus, dulcis memoria. Ødegaard’s fertile melodic imagination, informed by his long experience as a church musician, flows through shimmering settings of William Blake’s The Lamb and Christina Rosetti’s In the Bleak Midwinter for solo voice and piano, We Will All Be Changed for organ and brass ensemble, and the strikingly original sounds of Såmannen og skapningane for a cappella vocal sextet.