La Voie Triomphale The Staff Band of the Norwegian Armed Forces & Ole Kristian Ruud

• Hector Berlioz (1803-1869): Grande Symphonie Funèbre et Triomphale op. 15:
• 1 I. Marche funèbre 16:18
• 2 II. Oraison funèbre 06:58
• 3 III. Apothéose 08:49
• Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921): Orient et Occident - Grande Marche op. 25:
• 4 Orient et Occident - Grande Marche op. 25 07:43
• Paul Dukas (1865-1935): Fanfare pour précéder La Péri:
• 5 Fanfare pour preceder la Péri 02:03
• Darius Milhaud (1892-1974): Suite Française op. 248:
• 6 I. Normandie 01:39
• 7 II. Bretagne 04:05
• 8 III. Île-de-France 01:53
• 9 IV. Alsace-Lorraine 04:20
• 10 V. Provence 02:59
• Henri Tomasi (1901-1971): Fanfares Liturgiques:
• 11 I. Annonciation 02:41
• 12 II. Evangile 03:59
• 13 III. Apocalypse 03:26
• 14 IV. Procession du Vendredi-Saint 08:50
• Eugène Bozza (1905-1991): Children’s Overture:
• 15 Children’s Overture 05:26
• Total Runtime 01:21:09

Info for La Voie Triomphale

The years before, during and after the French Revolution were a turning-point for wind ensembles throughout the world. They developed from being small ensembles, with each instrument represented in pairs, to being something much larger. At the same time, the repertoire moved rapidly from the chamber music for wind instruments of Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven to much larger works of almost orchestral dimensions by a new generation of composers.

The Staff Band of the Norwegian Armed Forces and their conductor Ole Kristian Ruud has on this recording chosen music by composers who all made significant contributions to the evolvement of the wind orchestra and to the literature for wind orchestra that we know today. The music is an exquisite selection of French drama, romance and epic tone poems composed at times of considerable political turbulence. It could be precisely this political backdrop, combined with the wind orchestra's hitherto unexplored potential, that goes some way towards explaining why composers like Berlioz, Bozza, Saint-Saëns, Tomasi, Dukas and Milhaud chose to write large-scale works for the wind orchestra - works that are still considered an important part of the standard wind ensemble repertoire today, a repertoire the Staff Band of the Norwegian Armed Forces performs with the elegance, virtuosity and energy the music demands; The Triumphal Way!

The Staff Band of the Norwegian Armed Forces is one of the Norwegian armed forces’ five professional music ensembles, and since its formation in 1818 has been the country’s largest professional wind band. Based in Oslo, with their own concert hall Ridehuset at Akershus fortress, it is the armed forces' most important band for providing musical support at ceremonial functions, and it plays regularly on royal and official government occasions and on behalf of the armed forces – as well as at a host of other ceremonial and representative functions at home and abroad.

The Staff Band of the Norwegian Armed Forces
Ole Kristian Ruud, conductor

Recorded at Jar Church, Norway
November 2011 and January 2012 by Lindberg Lyd AS
Recording Producer: Wolfgang Plagge
Balance Engineer and Surround Sound Producer: Morten Lindberg
Recording Technician: Beatrice Johannessen
Editing: Jørn Simenstad
Mix and Mastering: Morten Lindberg

This recording was made by Lindberg Lyd AS with DPA microphones, Millennia Media amplifiers and SPHYNX2 converters to a PYRAMIX workstation. Digital eXtreme Definition is a professional audio format that brings “analogue” qualities in 24 bit at 352.8 kHz sampling rate. DXD preserves 8.4672 Mbit/s per channel linear PCM.

Ole Kristian Ruud - Conductor
Since 2006 Ole Kristian Ruud has been the music director of the Staff Band of the Norwegian Armed Forces. He has raised the quality of the band to new heights. Ruud has an exceptionally well-tuned ear for detail and for musical line, and always inspires musicians to play with heart and feeling. In close cooperation with the band’s programming committee, Ruud has succeeded in establishing the band’s reputation internationally, and it is widely recognized as an ensemble that both upholds its traditions and explores new musical ideas and works.

Ole Kristian Ruud has a wide-ranging background. After completing his studies at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, he made his debut as conductor with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra in 1985. From 1987 to 1995 he was artistic director of the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra. He was Chief Conductor of the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra from 1996 to 1999, and artistic director of Norwegian repertoire for the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra from 2000 to 2003. He has appeared as guest conductor with most Scandinavian orchestras. He has taken orchestras on several tours abroad, and has also conducted orchestras in other countries, including Germany, Austria, France, Spain, England, the USA and Japan. He has played a prominent role in recording Norwegian music with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra.

Ruud has recorded Ole Bull’s violin concertos with Annar Follesø and the Norwegian Radio Orchestra for 2L, and he will also conduct the Staff Band of the Norwegian Armed Forces in our coming recording of works from Norway’s golden age of wind music.

Ruud has been professor of conducting at the Norwegian Academy of Music since 1999. He is also artistic director for the Norwegian National Youth Orchestra. He has won several prizes. He was awarded the Grieg Prize in both 1992 and 2007, the Norwegian Music Critics’ Award in 1993, the Lindemann Prize in 1994, the Johan Halvorsen Prize in 1996 and the Stiklestad Prize in 2004.

Booklet for La Voie Triomphale