"Looking through my songs I discovered that most of them deal with love, often lost or unrequited love; yes, even with the same aspects that one finds in Edvard Munch's central themes: love, angst and death.

"With one exception, the songs in the album are arranged more or less chronologically according to the date of the source, from the Bible to poems by contemporary Norwegian poet Paal-Helge Haugen. Surprisingly, this sequence results in a dramaturgical movement from the love described in the Song of Songs, through the angst-filled life, to death. In order that the album not end on a negative note, however, I have placed the poem by Olav H. Hauge (19081994) after the Haugen (1945) poems.

"And there is one more coincidence: Almost without exception the chronological sequence coincides with the order in which the songs were composed, from '3 Canticles' in 1984 to 'It is that Dream' in 2015."

Kjell Habbestad (b. 1955, Bømlo, Norway) is Professor Emeritus of Theory and Composition at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, Norway. Habbestad has been a prolific composer throughout his career. His catalogue of works includes: orchestral works; concertos for the following solo instruments: organ, Hardanger fiddle, flute, saxophone, oboe, and clarinet; chamber works for various combinations of instruments including two string quartets, a clarinet quintet, and a string duet; choral works; works for organ; works for piano.

He has also written several dramatic works including The Moster Pageant, which from 1984 to 2015 was performed annually at an outdoor theatre in Moster, Norway; the oratorio One Night on Earth, 1993; the operas Hans Egede's Night, 1995, The Maid of Norway, 2000, Nenia - Fartein Valen in memoriam, 2014; all librettos by Paal-Helge Haugen; Adam and Eve, 2008 (Henrik Wergeland); Karlstad 1905 - A Page in the History of Civilization, 2016; and the musical The Count of Monte Cristo, 2011 (own librettos).

In 2017 he was nominated for Spellemannprisen Composer of the Year for the choral album Et nox in diem versa (LWC1136) with the Latvian Radio Choir, conducted by Sigvards Kļava.