Previously unpublished recordings. Nominated for Swedish Grammy Award. Two poems with lyrics by Osten Sjostrand for mixed choir and Gustav Mahler's devout 16-tone polyphonic Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen. Daniel-Lesurs seven-invest Le Cantique des Cantiques shows Eric's interest in and connection to the French idiom. In Arnold Schoenberg's powerful Friede auf Erden for eight-voice mixed choir also participates Eric Ericson's other favorites Radio Choir and the School of Music Chamber Choir.

The venerable, renowned 28 mixed-voice EECC brings us a collection of 6 eclectic pieces by avant-garde, contemporary Swedish composers Jan Sandstrom, Anders Hillborg, Anders Eliasson, Thomas Jennefelt and Sven David Sandstrom. Jan Sandstrom's Two Choral Poems is based on words by Harry Martinson, Hillborg's surreal, etheric piece (with an undecipherable, upside-down name) has no words, Elisson's 'Breathing Room' is a fascinating, dissonant vocal smorgasbord, Jennefelt's powerful 'O Domine' dramatically explores attitudes to death before becoming tranquil and reflective. And finally, Sven Sandstrom's 'Etude No. 4, as in E minor' is based on a melancholy poem by Tobias Berggren that uses the waning of summer as a metaphor for similar changes in humankind. A strong, surprising, cutting edge collection from one of Europe's most versatile and innovative chamber choirs.

The 28-strong mixed-voice, much-awarded Eric Ericson Chamber Choir, founded by Eric in 1945, has continually searched out new music and maintained a central position on the Swedish and international music scene. This and their pure 'Nordic' sound has made them the ideal ensemble for several generations of Swedish composers, in this case Sven-David Sandstrom, whose groundbreaking 1978 piece 'A Cradle Song/The Tyger' is presented here. There are 6 movements in this eclectic, spiritual work, 'Hear My Prayer, O Lord,' 'April and Silence,' 'Etude No. 4 as in E Minor' (based on a strange, moody secular poem by Tobias Berggren), the title song, with text by William Blake, 'A New Heaven and A New Earth,' and 'Agnus Dei.' The extensive liner notes, in Swedish and English, have all the lyrics, and information about the composers and their sources. Breathtaking and unique material from the EECC.

The venerable, renowned 28 mixed-voice EECC brings us a collection of 6 eclectic pieces by avant-garde, contemporary Swedish composers Jan Sandstrom, Anders Hillborg, Anders Eliasson, Thomas Jennefelt and Sven David Sandstrom. Jan Sandstrom's Two Choral Poems is based on words by Harry Martinson, Hillborg's surreal, etheric piece (with an undecipherable, upside-down name) has no words, Elisson's 'Breathing Room' is a fascinating, dissonant vocal smorgasbord, Jennefelt's powerful 'O Domine' dramatically explores attitudes to death before becoming tranquil and reflective. And finally, Sven Sandstrom's 'Etude No. 4, as in E minor' is based on a melancholy poem by Tobias Berggren that uses the waning of summer as a metaphor for similar changes in humankind. A strong, surprising, cutting edge collection from one of Europe's most versatile and innovative chamber choirs.

The new musical ideas emerging during the thirties and forties in the Church of Sweden came as a reaction against romantic ideals and dreamlike sound pictures. The focus of attention now turned to earlier music. Authentic performance became de rigeur, and the New Objectivity soon beccame both art form and life-style. The music which resulted seems today amazingly fresh and timeless. Eric Ericson directs his own choir in performances of choral compositions from Gottfrid Berg to Sven-Erik Back, many of which he premiered. We hear Rolf Stenholm at the 1949 organ of the Oscar Church, Stockholm.

Texture and dynamics are among Eric Ericson's main tools for this Volume 2 of contemporary Swedish choral music. Sven-Erik Back, Lars Edlund, Miklos Maros and Arne Mellnas are presented - that is to say, some of our most eminent composers, represented by works of which several are classics already. 'A superb presentation of the current high standard of Swedish choral music' was one reviewer's verdict.

Eric Ericson presents contemporary Swedish choral music on a CD of which a noted reviewer wrote: 'It's almost too good! Two of our foremost 20th century composers are each represented by their five foremost compositions, performed by our best choir and our foremost choral conductor - and, moreover, with a quality of sound engineering both bright and beautiful.'

Born in 1921, the composer Ingvar Lidholm is the doyen of Swedish music. We recently released three CDs as a survey of his orchestral works, and now the time has come for this two-disc set of his music for choir a cappella. Containing the absolute majority of Lidholm's works in this genre, this release is also a documentation of the unique collaboration between the composer and the renowned choral conductor Eric Ericson. Most of these works, starting with Laudi from 1947, were actually written for the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir, an ensemble which has been described as 'the Mercedes of the choral world' and which is used by conductors such as Muti, Abbado and Levine for concerts and recordings. With the EECC as his instrument, Lidholm has created a choral style which is both virtuosic and expressive while ofet exploring moral issues, for instance in The Persians, a setting a scene from Aeschylus's tragedy, which in Lidholm's opinion deals with 'the curse of power-mad leaders throughout history, not least in our own time.' Texts from or about classical antiquity have often provided Lidholm with inspiration, for instance in Greek Gravestone and Two Greek Epigrams. Another major source of material has been the Swedish playwright August Strindberg: 'demented and deranged in many ways, a fantastic inspiration'. Lidholm has used texts by Strindberg in various works on this disc, such as the extracts from the opera 'A Dreamplay', in which the choir has an important musical function. These recordings, made between February 2003 and April 2005 with the composer taking an active part, might be considered the climax of almost 60 years of collaboration between two great makers of music: Eric Ericson and Ingvar Lidholm. (2 CDs)