Midsummer

Description

«On A Cold Winter’s Day », the first album by Quadriga Consort for Deutsche Harmonia Mundia, has quickly become a bestselling hit praised for its repertoire and interpretations of traditional winter songs and instrumental pieces from Scandinavia and the British Isles. For their new album, the Austrian ensemble turns this time to Summer. The period of Midsummer is historically significant for the peoples of the Nordic countries and has given rise to numerous traditions. Quadriga Consort has found, and in some cases, rediscovered about 20 traditional songs and melodies from Sweden, Denmark, England, Scotland, and Ireland, celebrating the Nordic summer. Among them is Idas sommarvisa, a very popular song in Swedish schools, with lyrics written by the children's author Astrid Lindgren, as well as the traditional song Uti vår hage (‘In our garden’) or the song, long associated with Danish solstice celebrations, Vi elsker vort land (‘We love our land’). With Midsummer, Quadriga Consort succeeds in creating a varied and atmospheric album, inviting the listener to dream of the endless days of Northern Summers.