Norwegian Girls Choir: Stjernebru Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		0.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		5.0

Norwegian Girls Choir: Stjernebru Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 26, 2025

2L continues to be a "designer" label devoted to hi res audio frequently featuring Norwegian artists in particular, but one of the things that has repeatedly struck me as I've reviewed many of their releases is what might be called a "spiritual" aspect to the music. Even in some of 2L's more discordant offerings there is almost a metaphysical ambience suffusing the music. In this particular case, things are decidedly tonal and really rather sumptuously beautiful and consonant almost all of the time, but there's still a somewhat questing aspect to both the sound but perhaps especially some lyrics that can at times overtly mention "the beyond" (for want of a better term) but can just as easily detail everyday life that nonetheless may subliminally hint at something more meaningful. This album features a selection of Norwegian folk songs arranged by Ørjan Matre especially for the Norwegian Girls Choir. Some of the songs feature accompaniment by Gjermund Larsen on fiddle and Frode Haldi on accordion. I'd compare the sonorities here to pieces by, say, Eric Whitacre and/or Morten Lauridsen. Some of the tunes reminded me at times of Mediæval Bæbes.

The album's tracklist can be seen in screenshot 6 of this review.

Norwegian Girls Choir: Stjernebru Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

While there is an AVC 1080 video component to this release, it's really just a standard menu, as can be seen in the screenshots accompanying this review. A few "moving parts" are included, with the track titles changing and a complete track list also available as mentioned above, along with a credits pop up informational screen as shown in screenshot 7. You can control which audio codec you prefer via the colored buttons on your remote and so really don't need to have a monitor employed to enjoy this release.

Norwegian Girls Choir: Stjernebru Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Norwegian Girls Choir: Stjernebru features 2L's fantastic assortment of audio codecs, including Dolby Atmos, Auro-3D, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.0 and LPCM 2.0. All three of the surround tracks are absolutely gorgeous listening experiences, but both the Atmos and Auro-3D iterations offer an incredibly immersive environment that once again highlights how careful 2L's Morten Lindberg typically is in recreating the actual hall ambience and positions of the performers via precise microphone placement. While the insert booklet doesn't actually have photos showing the recording layout, 2L's website does, and the singers are seen in a circle, something that is recreated rather wonderfully in the Atmos and Auro-3D renderings especially.

Norwegian Girls Choir: Stjernebru Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements to speak of on the Blu-ray disc, other than MShuttle accessibility. The package also includes an SACD and insert booklet.

Norwegian Girls Choir: Stjernebru Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's a good reason that I singled out 2L amongst a handful of other labels when I "broke the rules" and actually cited Audio Blu-ray as my Number 1 choice on my Top Ten list last year. 2L continues to offer really distinctive releases, typically with impeccable engineering and gorgeous hi res audio options, and this is another sterling example of their craft. Highly recommended.