Cantus, Tove Ramlo-Ystad – Yggdrasil – 2L170

Yggdrasil is Cantus’s third album at NativeDSD.  It was produced by Morten Lindberg on the 2L label. It follows Spes released in 2015 and Fryd in 2019, both albums Grammy Nominees in the Best Immersive Audio Album category. All 3 albums by Cantus are available in Stereo and 5.1 Channel DSD Surround Sound at NativeDSD.

Yggdrasil is also available in 5.1.4 Channel Auro3D FLAC Immersive Surround Sound Audio and 7.1.4 Channel Dolby Atmos TrueHD & Auro3D MKV Immersive Surround Sound (for AVR Receiver and Processor Owners) plus 12 Channel Discrete DXD Immersive Surround Sound (for 12 Channel Digital to Analog Converter Owners).

Cantus’s performances, innovative productions and development of new music have been groundbreaking for other ensembles with similar ambitions. Contributing in both of Disney’s Frozen movies made Cantus more widely known, also outside the world of choral music.

The Yggdrasil is an immense and scared tree in Norse mythology. Our Yggdrasil musical project started as the idea of reaching out to composers from near and far, as if travelling along the branches of the tree, and it embraced the concept of gathering around the tree as a common theme.

We envisioned the richness and complexity of Yggdrasil as giving these composers the freedom to fill their compositions with ideas, reflections, stories and references connected to “world trees” – however they might interpret this – from their own lives. We hoped this would generate wide diversity in musical expression and content.

We spread this process over several years. That way, it would constantly provide us with new musical challenges and new inspiration, and give us new timbres, sounds and chords – we then had the task of figuring out how to make them our own. We were also fortunate to meet and collaborate with most of the composers along the way, receiving a greater understanding of their music and the stories behind it.