ENSEMBLE ERNST - Xtended Hearts and Unheard Herds (2019)

"Xtended Hearts and Unheard Herds" is the renowned contemporary music ensemble Ernst's second release on LAWO Classics. This release continues where the first album "... BUT ..." started, combining Ernst's own orders with works with international appeal. The intention is that the big names can give the Norwegian composers help in the world. We will hear works by the Norwegian composers Ragnhild Berstad, Jan Martin Smørdal and Jan Erik Mikalsen, as well as the Serbian-Swedish composer Djuro Zivkovic. The result is a contemporary musical treat bag, where everyone hopefully can find their favorite piece.

This recording was made in Jar church and Store Studio in cold November afternoons in 2017. The recording process was a close collaboration between the ensemble, the record company and the composers, and in our eyes the result has become an important recording of the contemporary for the future and the story. Ensemble Ernst was founded in 1996, based on the contemporary ensemble at the Norwegian Academy of Music. Thomas Rimul has been the conductor from the start, and most of the musicians have been with it since it all began.

The ensemble specializes in music from our present time, with particular emphasis on composers such as Beat Furrer, Salvatore Sciarrino, Jonathan Harvey and Iannis Xenakis, as well as commissioned works by Norwegian composers. They won the Fegerstens Music Prize in 2004 and the prize for this year's performer of the Norwegian Composer Association in 2011. Together with Christian Blom and his computer-controlled Al-Khowarizm's mechanical orchestra, they won the Spellemann Prize 2017 in the class "Contemporary" for "Christian Blom - Bring me that Horizon ". Ensemble Ernst has previously released the album "... BUT ..." (LWC1085) on LAWO Classics, with music by Nordheim, Sciarrino and Matre.