Iver Kleive & Knut Reiersrud – Vidunderligst av alt på jord (Kirkelig Kulturverksted, 2025)
Vidunderligst av alt på jord (The most wonderful thing on earth) feels like a homecoming. Iver Kleive and Knut Reiersrud have long chased sacred acoustics across Denmark, although this time the journey carries them to Trondheim (Norway), into the west nave of Nidarosdomen, beneath the famed rose window. During four winter nights, from 11 p.m. to dawn, while the city slept, the two artists worked on their project.
The album opens its arms to the memory of Olav Haraldsson, St. Olav, whose path from Kønugard to Stiklestad built Norway’s story and whose burial at Nidaros birthed a pilgrimage site and a national symbol. Kleive’s organ speaks with the authority of the cathedral itself, pipes blooming into the dark like lanterns lifted for travelers. Reiersrud answers with guitar and oud, the latter nods toward the eastward routes of medieval faith and trade. The mesmerizing conversation feels warm and intimate, even in a room that can swallow choirs.
Working at night granted permission to play slowly, to wait for the room to answer back. The label Kirkelig Kulturverksted has long encouraged such meeting points of devotion, folk memory, and experiment. This release fits that spirit.
Musicians: Knut Reiersrud on guitar, oud, vocals (track 10); and Iver Kleive on organ.
Recorded in Nidaros Cathedral, 6-9 January 2025. Sound by Alf Christian Hvidsteen.
Produced by Erik Hillestad. Mastered by Björn Engelmann, Cuttingroom, Stockholm.
Photo by Hans Olav Baden. Portrait: Ole Martin Wold. Cover design: Blæst Design, Geir Henriksen.
Author: Madison Quinn
