Credits:

Various Artists

Description:

Sofia Vokalensemle was founded in 1995 by Bengt Ullén (1950-) in Sofia parish, Stockholm. The group performs concerts in the parish and in Sweden, tours abroad, and participates in festivals and competitions in many countries, including the Grieg International Choral Festival in Bergen, Norway in 2009, where it won the Grand Prix. She has also made recordings, including "The Darkness Is No Darkness" (2009) (FRCD047), a collection of British and American works, "A Spotless Rose" (2011) (FRCD060), a collection of Nordic Christmas songs, "Swedish Christmas Oratorio" (2012) (FRCD069) for Footprint Records. The new album begins with Sven-David Sandstrom's "To Heaven" from his Requiem, followed by religious songs by Swedish, Norwegian, American, Scottish, Russian, Estonian, and Welsh composers.Cantate Domino" based on "Psalms" (No. 98, "Sing unto the Lord a new song"), commissioned by the Sofia Vocal Ensemble and written by Swedish-American Matthew Peterson(1984-). Anim zemirot (Let us sing a sweet song), a religious poem by Swedish composer Jacob Muhlrad (1991-) that ends a synagogue gathering on a Jewish Sabbath morning. The "Three Chants" is considered one of Schnittke's "masterpieces". Pärt Arvo Part composed the "...which was the son of..." ("The genealogy of Jesus" (3:23-38, "When Jesus began his ministry") and "Lord, now you are" (2:29-32) on the text of "The Gospel according to Luke" (3:23-38, "When Jesus began his ministry"). Chapter 3, verses 29-32). I lift up my hands" was composed by Karin Rehnquist on a text written by Jacob Arrhenius, a theologian at Uppsala University, based on a traditional hymn in 1694. Paul Mealor's "Beatitudes" is based on the Gospel of Matthew (5:3-12, "Blessed are the poor in spirit. Tokyo M-Plus