Songs From The Alder Thicket

Release Date: 4th May 2012
Catalogue No: 2791249
Label: ECM
Length: 2 hours 0 minutes

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Bjørnstad: So Far, So Hidden

Work length11:35

$1.10

$1.40

Ketil Bjørnstad (piano)
Recorded: 2009-12
Recording Venue: Pettersens Kolonial Lydstudio, Hønefoss

Bjørnstad: If Only

Work length7:36

$1.10

$1.40

Ketil Bjørnstad (piano)
Recorded: 2009-12
Recording Venue: Pettersens Kolonial Lydstudio, Hønefoss

Bjørnstad: Outside Skoog

Work length4:25

$1.10

$1.40

Ketil Bjørnstad (piano)
Recorded: 2009-12
Recording Venue: Pettersens Kolonial Lydstudio, Hønefoss

Bjørnstad: The Stones, The River

Work length6:27

$1.10

$1.40

Ketil Bjørnstad (piano)
Recorded: 2009-12
Recording Venue: Pettersens Kolonial Lydstudio, Hønefoss

Bjørnstad: Promise

Work length5:16

$1.10

$1.40

Ketil Bjørnstad (piano)
Recorded: 2009-12
Recording Venue: Pettersens Kolonial Lydstudio, Hønefoss

Bjørnstad: She Didn't Say

Work length4:42

$1.10

$1.40

Ketil Bjørnstad (piano)
Recorded: 2009-12
Recording Venue: Pettersens Kolonial Lydstudio, Hønefoss

Bjørnstad: Evening Voices

Work length3:27

$1.10

$1.40

Ketil Bjørnstad (piano)
Recorded: 2009-12
Recording Venue: Pettersens Kolonial Lydstudio, Hønefoss

Bjørnstad: Remembrance I

Work length5:16

$1.10

$1.40

Ketil Bjørnstad (piano)
Recorded: 2009-12
Recording Venue: Pettersens Kolonial Lydstudio, Hønefoss

Bjørnstad: New Morning

Work length6:55

$1.10

$1.40

Ketil Bjørnstad (piano)
Recorded: 2009-12
Recording Venue: Pettersens Kolonial Lydstudio, Hønefoss

Excerpt, Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K488

Work length6:15

$1.10

$1.40

Christian Eggen (piano)
Norwegian Radio Orchestra
Christian Eggen
Recorded: 2009-03
Recording Venue: Store Studio, NRK, Oslo

2. Adagio

Track length6:15

$1.10

$1.40

Excerpt, Debussy: Suite Bergamasque

Work length5:15

$1.10

$1.40

Gunilla Süssmann (piano)
Recorded: 2009-03
Recording Venue: Store Studio, NRK, Oslo

3. Clair de lune

Track length5:15

$1.10

$1.40

Excerpt, Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18

Work length12:10

$1.10

$1.40

Gunilla Süssmann (piano)
Norwegian Radio Orchestra
Christian Eggen
Recorded: 2009-03
Recording Venue: Store Studio, NRK, Oslo

2. Adagio sostenuto

Track length12:10

$1.10

$1.40

Chopin: Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23

Work length8:55

$1.10

$1.40

Jie Zhang (piano)
Recorded: 2009-03
Recording Venue: Store Studio, NRK, Oslo

Excerpt, Ravel: Piano Concerto in G major

Work length9:02

$1.10

$1.40

Jie Zhang (piano)
Norwegian Radio Orchestra
Christian Eggen
Recorded: 2009-03
Recording Venue: Store Studio, NRK, Oslo

2. Adagio assai

Track length9:02

$1.10

$1.40

Excerpt, Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109

Work length13:36

$1.10

$1.40

Gunilla Süssmann (piano)
Recorded: 2009-03
Recording Venue: Store Studio, NRK, Oslo

3. Gesangvoll, mit innigster Empfindung. Andante molto cantabile ed espressivo

Track length13:36

$1.10

$1.40

Barber: Adagio for Strings, Op. 11

Work length9:44

$1.10

$1.40

Norwegian Radio Orchestra
Christian Eggen
Recorded: 2009-03
Recording Venue: Store Studio, NRK, Oslo

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To celebrate the 60th birthday of Norwegian jazz pianist/composer/novelist and poet Ketil Bjornstad, ECM issues a double album as "literary soundtrack", its release also coinciding with the Norwegian publication of the one-volume edition of Bjornstad's highly-acclaimed fictional 'Vinding' trilogy, 'To Music', 'The River' and 'The Lady in the Valley'.

After keeping his musical and writing activities entirely separate for decades, Renaissance Man Bjornstad dissolved the boundaries with his 'Vinding' books: "When I had the idea of writing a trilogy about the young piano student Aksel Vinding, I realised that I would have to grant music access to my world of writing. This felt surprisingly liberating, almost like a confession. Music is a powerful source of inspiration for many writers, and so it was for me when I relived, through the novels, my experiences as a young piano student in Oslo in the late 1960s and early 1970s."

When the trilogy was completed, a concert of music referenced in Bjornstad's narrative was mounted in Oslo. A recording from that evening comprises volume two of the Vinding's Music set. Pianists Jie Zhang and Gunilla Süssman perform pieces by Beethoven, Chopin and Debussy, and each plays a movement from Piano Concertos by Rachmaninov or Ravel with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra conducted by Christian Eggen. Eggen is also heard as piano soloist in part of Mozart's Piano Concerto in A major, K488, while the disc ends with Samuel Barber's famous Adagio for strings.

Disc one features Ketil Bjørnstad as improvising solo pianist over nine tracks, meditating upon themes related to his protagonist. It's in the role of improvising pianist that Bjornstad has mostly been heard on ECM, but he did begin his performing career as a teenage classical soloist, playing Bartok with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. Among his notable ECM jazz recordings are Water Stories, The Sea and The Sea II, Life in Leipzig and recently Remembrance, a trio album with Tore Brunborg and Jon Christiansen.

Personnel: Ketil Bjornstad (solo piano), Disc Two: Gunilla Sussmann, Jie Zhang (piano), Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Christian Eggen (conductor)

Offer, Songs From The Alder Thicket

2 CDs

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