Music commissioned for Tromsø Kulturhus in cooperation with the Arctic Opera and Philharmonic Orchestra.

Composed and first performed by Ulver, on primarily electronic instruments, with the Tromsø Chamber Orchestra September 21 2012. The assistance of Martin Romberg – God bless his Viennese heart and arrangements – has been invaluable. Much of this was recorded live, yet it is not a live album. We've spent long hours in the studio translating what happened that night.

We are at peace for now. It is more quiet than normal. More modern than medieval. But there will always be rapture. Consecration and crying. The father, the mother ... and ghosts. Shadows reverberates – it feels like a companion piece – and Silence's erratic electronique. Sample culture. War and vulture. People hurt. In spite we love. Our children. We fear their future.

Remember Górecki's No. 3: Symphony of Sorrowful Songs. It has haunted us for years, and probably always will. The Gustavs Mahler and Holst. Sound collages from When or Nurse With Wound. 70's kraut and synth. Ash Ra and Autobahn. 80's pop scores. John Carpenter and Tin Drum. Terry Riley, again and again and again. Saint John of the Cross.

By now, most of you know where we come from. The rest is silence.

Ulver, Purgatory, summer 2013.