Gro Sandvik and Stein-Erik Olsen have for many years collaborated on chamber music projects all around the world, premiering numerous works for flute and guitar. On this album they focus on “the space between them”, with two pieces written especially for them, the title work by Noel Zahler, and Oratorium Lachrimae by Nikita Koshkin. The disc also includes contemporary pieces by Edison Denisov and Lowell Liebermann.

Nikita Koshkin studied guitar and composition at the Moscow conservatory. His Oratorium Lacrimae (Oratorio of Grief) can be seen as a comment on the values of the present day. Edison Denisov was a leading Russian composer in the generation after Shostakovich. His list of works is long, and includes music to around 60 movies. American Lowell Liebermann’s music is notable for its stylistic resourcefulness and polished craftsmanship. Noel Zahler, Head of the Carnegie Mellon University School of Music, Pittsburgh, has written a variety of vocal and instrumental compositions.

Gro Sandvik has been solo flautist with the Bergen Philharmonic for many years and Professor at the Grieg Academy, Bergen. Stein-Erik Olsen, Professor at the Grieg Academy, studied with the legendary Alexandre Lagoya at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and is one of Scandinavia’s leading classical guitarists.