Advent and Christmas are for many people a time for light and hope and warmth. Yet the world around us is cold and turbulent. Wars are being fought. People are fleeing from their homes. Children are dying. Thousands of people lack food and medicine. Our prayers are for peace. We sing "Beautiful is our Earth! Glorious is God's heaven!" as a protest song for peace and justice, the world being unjust.

During Advent many of us are fond of the familiar and much-loved Christmas carols as we remember them from our childhood, and as they have been sung for generations. There are carols in these traditional arrangements on this album, but there are others in completely new arrangements, made specially for Uranienborg Vokalensemble and for this recording.

Christmas can be a festival that intensifies our feelings - what is good seems even better, and what hurts feels even more painful. Perhaps we have lost someone close to us: can we then sing "Oh, Christmas, so cheerful"? We know that there are people who look forward to Christmas but at the same time dread it, and we believe that Kjetil Bjerkestrand's arrangement brings out this element of equivocation and irony. The birth of Jesus - this is the message of Christmas! - a birth that changed the world for ever. May your Christmas be peaceful!

Uranienborg Vokalensemble

Elisabeth Holte, conductor

Kjetil Bjerkestrand, synthesizers

Øystein Moen, synthesizers

Torun Torbo, flute

Henriette Viktoria Eide Skagen, organ

Morten Lindberg, balance engineer and recording producer

Disc 1

Hybrid SACD

MCH 5.1 DSD

Stereo DSD

RedBook PCM: MQA CD

Disc 2

Pure Audio Blu-ray

2.0 LPCM 192/24

5.1 DTS HDMA 192/24

7.1.4 Auro-3D 96kHz

9.1.4 Dolby Atmos 48kHz

mShuttle: MQA + FLAC + MP3

Region: ABC - worldwide