«Letters from Ruth» - world premiere at Musical Frühling in Gmunden, Austria, March 31. 2023

Gisle Kverndokk's music is like a constant river that carries the protagonists along with it. The Norwegian composes pleasant music that never turns into sugary sweetness; dissonances also have their right to exist. Solo numbers, duets, ensembles and short choirs are also naturally woven into the long, arioso flow of tones.
Stefan Ender, Der Standard

But above all: it's the music! It is multi-layered, from concertante to dramatic elements. Emotional, romantic and then again, in keeping with the action on stage, an expression of a dehumanized, criminal ideology. This musical deliberately dispenses with the usual songs and highlights; the music is entirely at the service of Ruth's diaries.
Werner Rohrhofer, Oberösterreichisches Volksblatt

The music had a deep melancholy, as if the composer had looked directly into Ruth Maier's soul and set it to music.
Andrea Martin, Kulturaspekte

Gisle Kverndokk has created sophisticated yet accessible music full of heartwarming melodies that allow one to indulge in youthful dreams, in swing, and suddenly in klezmer sounds.
Karin Schütze, OÖ Nachrichten

The album «Så kort ein sommar menneska har», LAWO 2021

New and beautiful!

Gisle Kverndokk is a composer with so many different irons in the fire. He is just as sure of style in today's innovative sound world as in the musical's theatrical form. And now he has truly created something that definitely points straight back in time, when romance was the ultimate beauty.

And then there is the matter of mastering different musical expressions. "Ocean Waves" written for the Oslo Philharmonic in 2019, the opera "The Fourth Watch of the Night " from 2005, his fine Oboe Concerto and the imaginative piece "The Whirls of the Witches" are some of the things I have listened to over the years - with great pleasure, and then comes a completely different world of Gisle Kverndokk's musical writings with this recording. It is somewhat fascinating that there are so many incredible ideas with this composer.

Trond Erikson, The classic CD blog, 3/5 – 21

“Fanny and Alexander” – Landestheater Linz, 2022:

“Fanny and Alexander” is the most convincing world premiere to date at Landestheater Linz. A gem among European musicals that bucks every trend. May it find an audience that appreciates the diversity but also the depth this genre can offer.
Thomas Thalhammer, Musicals, 06.22

The album «Fuge der Zeit”, Aurora 2015

We meet exquisite compositions that are brought to life through sparkling and virtuosic performances – texts and music that tackle the existential questions through classical forms, and do so with a vital, musical excess. At the same time, Kverndokk walks a middle path between conveying the semantic content of the text and using the words to make music. The semantic and musical aspects are strictly balanced.
Egil Baumann, Klassekampen

«Symphonic Dances», SSO Recordings, 2018

“Symphonic dances” flows from Kverndokk's pen in a work that is as appealing as it is easy to follow right from the first listen. The orchestration is beautiful. It is quite a play of timbres where it is quite natural that a flute has a dialogue with a tuba, where the harp gets to be the solo instrument for a few moments in what Kverndokk says is written as a concerto for orchestra, and the composer seduces with warm strings.
Magnus Andersson, Klassekampen

«Upon This Handful of Earth”, Oslo International Church Music Festival, 2019

The Oslo Sinfonietta impressed with their fullbodied textures; the B-flat, E-flat and bass clarinets at the heart of the sound edged by sumptuous strings and troubled horns. An ethereal otherworldliness was spun by the vibraphone and glockenspiel and piano passages. A contrast to the thunderous bass drum heralding the opera’s apocalyptic climax. In a moving final tableau, the choirs joined the soloists on stage with everyone pointing upwards to the invisible bumble bees which flitted through this stunning performance. Operas might not change the world, but they can help to change the way we think.
Susan Nickalls, Opera Now, May 2019

“The Name of the Rose”, Domstufen Festspiele, Theater Erfurt, 2019

There are musicals that simply stand out from the crowd.

"The Name of the Rose", based on the book by Umberto Eco, is such a musical. The Erfurt Theater dared to tackle this difficult material and created a masterpiece with this premiere for the DomStufen Festival 2019.
Der Musikjournalist – Erika Urban 21/8-2019

“Around the world in 80 days” – Landestheater Linz, 2016-17:

“… colorful, loud, varied and funny entertainment at a very high level.”
Claudia Stelzel-Pröll, Kurier.at, Oct., 2., 2016

“Max and Moritz” - National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, December – 2013:

 “… a bracing, scintillating score that was well suited to its subject matter”
Anne Midgette, The Washington Post, Dec. 16, 2013.

“Martin L.” – Domstufen Festspiele, Erfurt, July-August 2008:

 “Martin L. Superstar. Indeed there is much artistic power in the work of the successful musical writing team Øystein Wiik and Gisle Kverndokk, the “Martin. L.” could perhaps assign a place in Erfurt as the “Jedermann” has in Salzburg (…) to conclude the complex dramaturgy in the reconciling spirit of Psalm 23 is almost a divine inspiration.”
Ursula Mielke, Thüringer Allegemeine, July 2008.

“The Fourth Watch of the Night”, Savonlinna Opera Festival, 2012

Gisle Kverndokks “The Fourth Watch of the Night” is like frozen lace. An epic, very Nordic story about suppressed feelings and forgiveness.
Gisle Kverndokk's music has the same serenity and clear beauty as in the story, only at the beginning the sound is stronger than the image of the young priest.
Folk music memories and hymn pieces, also composed by Kverndokk, bring bloodiness. A real fiddler, folk dance fragments and chants bring a Norwegian atmosphere.
Between folklore, church music and modernity, the same tension that prevails between rural surroundings and individual thoughts arises.
Timo Säppäläinen, Itä Savo, Helsinki, 3/8 – 2012

«The Fourth Watch of the Night» - world premiere The Norwegian National Opera, 2005.

Quotes from Ballade 10/11 – 2005:

New Norwegian operas are rare events, and even rarer are those that also garner good reviews. Gisle Kverndokk's The Fourth Watch of the Night is probably one of those rare operas, because the praise of his work by the critics is almost unanimous. The libretto was written by Ivar Tindberg, and it is based on Johan Falkberget's novel of the same name. The headlines speak their own clear language:

"Luminous night watch " (Vårt Land),

"Powerful music drama from Røros" (VG),

"Gripping new opera" (Aftenposten),

"Opera with quality and identity" (Adressevisa).

Aftenposten elaborates:

"It was a success and was impressive from the first scene where curiosity is awakened, to the last note when the life that was created and the world that was allowed to unfold dies out.
The world that unfolds is naturally as much Falkberg's as Kverndokk's/Tindberg's, or perhaps rather the three together.”

 Adresseavisa writes:

"With Johan Falkberget's perhaps most famous novel as a basis, Gisle Kverndokk and Ivar Tindberg have created a brilliant love drama with all the ingredients: drama, grandeur, intimacy, moving musicality, elegance and a touch of humor in the Bør Børson-inspired details."

Vårt Land writes:

"a performance that sings in the mind long after the curtain has fallen", which in the critics' parlance means partly that the critic was actually moved, but also that the performance is so multifaceted that it measures up to more than one or two performances.