ACROSS THE OCEAN TOWARDS A HIGHER FIRMAMENT

A moving orchestral portrait of Ståle Kleiberg (b. 1958), one of Norway's most performed living composers, recorded with the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra under conductor Peter Szilvay.

At the album's heart is Symphony No. 3, "Across the Ocean towards a Higher Firmament", commissioned by the orchestra and premiered under Szilvay in April 2025. Written in 2025, a year dedicated to commemorating Norwegian migration and identity (leading up to Norway's National Jubilee in 2030),  the symphony takes as its subject the great wave of Norwegian emigration to North America in the 19th and 20th centuries — moving across three movements from yearning through drama to a hymn-like close.

The album opens with Lamento – Cissi Klein in memoriam (2001), a tender tribute to a young Jewish girl from Trondheim killed during the Second World War, part of a trilogy by Kleiberg on Nazi persecution alongside his Requiem and the cello concerto Dopo. It is followed by The Town and its People (2022), completing a journey from the intimate to the epic.

A major Norwegian composer with a considerable international reputation, Kleiberg is known for a distinctive, warmly expressive musical language. His large-scale works, including the Requiem – for the Victims of Nazi Persecution and David and Bathsheba, have earned wide acclaim. He is professor emeritus of music at NTNU in Trondheim.