Album

The concept of this release is rare if not unique, and it deserves kudos even if most listeners will like some parts of it better than others. Thousands of recordings have featured music inspired by the body of traditional music labeled, problematically enough, as "folk," but most of them feature one particular method of making it into a concert music artifact. This group of Norwegian musicians under conductor Grete Pedersen does something different: it presents several different "impressions of Norwegian folk music" and lets them talk to each other, as it were. There are essentially three. First is a set of lightly arranged renditions of Norwegian traditional music, featuring folk vocalist Berit Opheim Versto, and a Hardanger fiddle player, Gjermund Larsen. This unique instrument may be worth the price of admission for many listeners; it has four main and six sympathetic strings. Second is a group of choral arrangements of folk songs, with wordless passages, which is not too far off, if you don't consider the melancholy Scandinavian spirit, from the choral versions of American folk song that were so common a few decades ago. Finally there's a more contemporary take in the form of the seven-movement Allsang (2009), by composer Eivind Buene, featuring choir, folk singer, violin, and tape; the work has a variety of intriguing rhythmic structures (although the motor rhythms of Bartók are avoided), broadening out at the end to return to the tonality of the source material. All of this is splendidly performed: the Norwegian Soloists Choir is limpid, the fiddler and folk singer have some grit. One point of interest is that much of the music is religious in nature; even some of this religious music may contain the Hardanger fiddle. Strongly recommended and superbly recorded.

© James Manheim, Rovi

CD 1
Gjermund Larsen Composer Polonaise for fiddle Work Gjermund Larsen Fiddle, Norwegian Soloists Choir Chorus/Choir, Grete Pedersen Conductor
1	Polonaise for fiddle	5:52			$0.99
Norwegian Traditional Composer Gropen, traditional dance melody from Verdal (after Asbjørn Indahl) Work Gjermund Larsen Fiddle, Norwegian Soloists Choir Chorus/Choir, Grete Pedersen Conductor
2	Gropen, traditional dance melody from Verdal (after Asbjørn Indahl)	1:50			$0.99
Norwegian Traditional Composer Gjendines bådnlåt (Gjendines lullaby) (after Slaalien, Kaia Gjendine) Work Jorunn Lovise Husan Vocals, Norwegian Soloists Choir Chorus/Choir, Grete Pedersen Conductor, Berit Opheim Versto Vocals
3	Gjendines bådnlåt (Gjendines lullaby) (after Slaalien, Kaia Gjendine)	3:38			$0.99
Norwegian Traditional Composer Jeg lagde mig saa sildig Work Norwegian Soloists Choir Chorus/Choir, Grete Pedersen Conductor
4	Jeg lagde mig saa sildig	2:25			$0.99
Norwegian Traditional Composer Jesus din søte forening å smake, hymn from Ryfylke Work Norwegian Soloists Choir Chorus/Choir, Grete Pedersen Conductor
5	Jesus din søte forening å smake, hymn from Ryfylke	3:05			$0.99
Norwegian Traditional Composer Nådigste Jesus (Merciful Jesus), hymn (after Ragnar Vigdal) Work Norwegian Soloists Choir Chorus/Choir, Grete Pedersen Conductor, Berit Opheim Versto Vocals
6	Nådigste Jesus (Merciful Jesus), hymn (after Ragnar Vigdal)	3:12			$0.99
Eivind Groven Composer Margjit Hjukse, folk song setting for fiddle, soloists & mixed chorus, Op.48 Work Jens-Erik Aasbø Vocals, Svein Korshamn Vocals, Norwegian Soloists Choir Chorus/Choir, Grete Pedersen Conductor, Berit Opheim Versto Vocals
7	Margjit Hjukse, folk song setting for fiddle, soloists & mixed chorus, Op.48	7:57			$1.49
Gjermund Larsen Composer Solbønn (Sun Prayer), for fiddle & chorus Work Gjermund Larsen Fiddle, Norwegian Soloists Choir Chorus/Choir, Grete Pedersen Conductor
8	Solbønn (Sun Prayer), for fiddle & chorus	3:40			$0.99
Gjermund Larsen Composer Solistvals (Soloist's Waltz), for fiddle Work Gjermund Larsen Fiddle, Norwegian Soloists Choir Chorus/Choir, Grete Pedersen Conductor, Berit Opheim Versto Vocals
9	Solistvals (Soloist's Waltz), for fiddle	3:49			$0.99
Eivind Buene Composer Allsang, for voice, violin, chorus & tape Work 16:36 Gjermund Larsen Fiddle, Norwegian Soloists Choir Chorus/Choir, Grete Pedersen Conductor, Berit Opheim Versto Vocals
10	Preludium	1:43			$0.99
11	Liksang (etter Odd Mehus, Per Vetrhus og Anders Lunde)	2:03			$0.99
12	Allsang	3:21			$0.99
13	Duo	2:01			$0.99
14	Responsorium (etter Gro Heddi Brokke)	3:03			$0.99
15	Fragment	3:02			$0.99
16	Salme (etter Ola M. Vanberg)	1:23			$0.99
Norwegian Traditional Composer Med Jesus vil eg fara (I will walk with Jesus), folk song Work Norwegian Soloists Choir Chorus/Choir, Grete Pedersen Conductor, Berit Opheim Versto Vocals
17	Med Jesus vil eg fara (I will walk with Jesus), folk song	3:25			$0.99
Norwegian Traditional Composer Bridal March from Valsøyfjord-Aure, traditional melody Work Gjermund Larsen Fiddle, Norwegian Soloists Choir Chorus/Choir, Grete Pedersen Conductor, Berit Opheim Versto Vocals
18	Bridal March from Valsøyfjord-Aure, traditional melody	3:37			$0.99