Search - Ketil Bjornstad, Randi Stene :: Light

Great poetic works from Ketil Bjornstad

Huang, Yu-chun | Taipei, Taiwan | 11/25/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you are looking for a Jazz album, certainly this is not it. If you are looking for an album which can touch you just like Bjornstad's other poetic works, this could be the most outstanding one. This album consists of 2 sets of vocal pieces both composed by Ketil Bjornstad for piano, viola and mezzo-soprano. The first set is "Four Nordic Songs" (lyrics in Norwegian) (1. The Border 2. The Night 3. By the Fjord 4. Summer Song). The second set is "The Light", 11 song cycle on (English) poems of John Donne (1572 - 1631).



The lyrics are about human natures - love, fear, desire, thus this album subtitle is "Songs of Love And Fear". In the booklet, Bjornstad said that "these (Four Nordic) songs were...(in their Nordic background, reflecting this area's nature, light and peripheral location) discussed the ability of men and women to attain a more profound understanding of each other across gender lines."



With the combination of Mezzo-soprano's vocal (Randi Stene), viola's sound (Lars Anders Tomter), and Bjornstad's piano accompany, I bet you can imagine the elegiac, smooth, autumn-like atmosphere this album can bring upon you (as contrary to bright, shining, dramatic). These are all modern music pieces blessed with fluent melodic lines. Five star excellent pieces, warmly touching human souls."