Watch the video for Ola Gjeilo's stunning Norwegian choral work ‘Tundra’, exclusively, right here

18 April 2016, 09:32 | Updated: 18 April 2016, 09:43

Love choral discoveries? We're sure you'll agree that Ola Gjeilo's 'Tundra' is something very special indeed

Allow us to introduce you to an exquisitely beautiful piece of contemporary choral music. Composer Ola Gjeilo has drawn deeply from his Norwegian roots to create a stunning new work featuring radiant vocal textures, shimmering strings and hypnotic piano accompaniment.

An album of his compositions, titled Ola Gjeilo: Voices, Piano, Strings was Classic FM's Album of the Week earlier in the year. It features the outstanding choral ensembles Tenebrae and Voces8.

We think Tundra is a stunning track, and may well be destined for great things. In fact it already made it into the 2016 Classic FM Hall of Fame as a new entry at No.270.

Click on the image below to have a listen to it (and take a look at the kind of stunning landscapes that inspired the work). If you have an Instagram account, you can even contribute your own picture to the music video.

A work inspired by mountains (and beautiful words about mountains)

The lyrics for Tundra were written by Gjeilo's frequent collaborator Charles Anthony Silvestri. The composer asked him to write a text inspired by the title, as well as by photos of a part of his native Norway that is very dear to him, the Hardangervidda mountain Plateau. 

"This area is a barren, treeless and intensely beautiful moorland, the largest eroded plain in Europe," says Gjeilo. "It is easy to feel that you are treading on sacred land, which Tony so wonderfully expresses in his text."

Tundra
Charles Anthony Silvestri

Wide, worn and weathered,
Sacred expanse
Of green and white and granite grey;
Snowy patches strewn,
Anchored to the craggy earth,
Unmoving;
While clouds dance
Across the vast, eternal sky.

There's also more from the composer that's well worth discovering. Indulge in another track from the new album called Sacred Heart.