CCMusic.com

Hugo Alfvén, who this year would have celebrated his 150th anniversary, was for decades one of Sweden´s most highly esteemed composer. Many of his compositions for men´s choir and mixed choir number among Sweden´s most beloved. They have become a part of the Swedish choir music´s soul. Twenty of these songs have now been recorded by the Erik Westberg Vocal Ensemble. A number of these, including A Song of the Youngsters´ Island (En visa om Barnens ö), The Song Thrush (Taltrasten) and Christmas Hymn (Julhymn) are recorded here for the first time. His well-known original songs The Evening (Aftonen), Ambient Mood (Stemning), Butterfly (Papillon), Star of Christmas (Julsång) and others, are also included on this release. This record is issued in collaboration with the Swedish Musical Heritage at the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. The Erik Westberg Vocal Ensemble consists of 20 singers from northern Sweden and Finland. Earlier this year, the ensemble also issued the records The Cloud of Unknowing and SÀPMI. Erik Westberg has been professor at the Piteå School of Music at the Luleå University of Technology since 2003.