UTFORSKENDE STRYKETRIOER
Ssens Trio er ute med sin tredje CD-utgivelse på LAWO Classics. Mens debutalbumet (LWC1122) inneholdt trioer av Beethoven og oppfølgeren (LWC 1170) var viet Mozart, er det på denne utgivelsen duket for norsk musikk. Ssens Trio dykker ned i det norske repertoaret, og ønsker med denne utgivelsen å framheve fire verker for stryketrio som fortjener å være en del av det internasjonale stryketriorepertoaret. Utgivelsen har fått navnet «Ricercare», som er tittelen på det siste verket på CD-en, komponert av Bertil Palmar Johansen, men som også passer veldig godt for de tre andre verkene.
«Ricercare» betyr å søke, lete og utforske, og det er nettopp slike elementer vi finner i Johan Kvandals stryketrio op.12. Verket skiller seg ut fra Kvandals andre verker skrevet på samme tid. Det er en søken mot ny europeisk musikk for å finne sitt eget uttrykk. Finn Mortensens stryketrio op.3 var det første verket han fikk oppført på en offentlig konsert. Her søker han mot individuelle toner i rene linjer og dynamisk lek. Mye av de kompositoriske virkemidlene i dette verket er noe vi kan høre i senere verk av Mortensen. Edvard Fliflet Bræin vrir og vender på musikalske motiver og temaer i sin «Trio» op.15. Verket er ensatsig og har en frisk rytmisk lek mellom instrumentene med metriske forskyvninger og veksling i både klang og register. Bertil Palmar Johansens stryketrio starter med en gammeldags «Ricercare», som en bred instrumental fortelling der teksturen veksler mellom fri og streng linjeføring, og verket bærer med seg en søken etter nye veier, den utforsker og utfordrer de tonale forventningene våre.
Ssens Trio (uttales «Essens») ble startet i 2014 av tre musikere med lang fartstid i internasjonalt musikkliv. Trioen består av fiolinist Sølve Sigerland, bratsjist Henninge Landaas og cellist Ellen Margrete Flesjø. Deres forrige utgivelse, «Mozart: Divertimento, Preludes and Fugues» (LWC1170) mottok strålende anmeldelser og har per dags dato over 3 mill. strømminger på Spotify.
PROBING STRING TRIOS
Ssens Trio is out with its third CD release on the LAWO Classics label. While the debut album (LWC1122) featured trios of Beethoven and its successor (LWC1170) was devoted to Mozart, this release spotlights Norwegian music. With this deep dive into the Norwegian repertoire, Ssens Trio wishes to call attention to four works for string trio deserving of inclusion in the international string trio repertoire. The album is called “Ricercare”, the title of the last work on the CD, composed by Bertil Palmar Johansen, but it could have been used for the other three works as well.
“Ricercare” means to search out or explore, the very elements we find in Johan Kvandal’s String Trio, op. 12. The work stands out in Kvandal’s long list of piano pieces and songs from this period. It is his search to find his own musical expression in a new European music. Finn Mortensen’s Trio, op. 3 was the first of his works ever performed in a public concert. The three instruments follow distinct lines in their dynamic interplay, each retaining its individual tone. We find many of the compositional means from this debut work further developed in Mortensen’s later works. In Edvard Fliflet Bræin’s “Trio”, op. 15, variations are created by twisting and turning the musical motifs and themes. The entire work is composed in one movement, with a fresh rhythmic playfulness between the instruments, and with metric shifts and changes in sound and register. Bertil Palmar Johansen’s string trio begins with an old-fashioned “Ricercare”, set up as an expansive instrumental narrative in which the texture alternates between free and strict linearity. Inherent in the work is a search for new paths in an effort to weed out our tonal expectations.
Ssens Trio (pronounced “Essence”) was established in 2014 by three musicians with a wealth of experience in the international music scene. Members of the trio are violinist Sølve Sigerland, violist Henninge Landaas and cellist Ellen Margrete Flesjø. Their previous release, “Mozart: Divertimento, Preludes and Fugues” (LWC1170) received glowing reviews and to date has been streamed over 3 million times on Spotify.
ANMELDELSER/REVIEWS:
4/5 stars: "The Norwegian composer Edvard Fliflet Bræin often signed his name in visitor books as 'Edvard Flikkflakk Brahms', flikkflakk in Norwegian refers to flailing one's arms and beating the body to keep warm. This sense of humor can also be found in his short single movement string Trio on the album Ricercare from the Norwegian Ssens Trio. On this recording, the SSens Trio shines a light on four composers and countrymen from the 20th Century. Kvandal, Mortensen and Bræin paid playful and idiosyncratic homage to the classical style in the early fifties. A highlight on this album is the singing 'Adagio' by Kvandal. The fourth composer, Bertil Palmar Johansen (b. 1954), wrote his trio Ricercare a half century later for Isabelle van Keulen's Leopold String Trio. Here the music is a tad more experimental. The SSens Trio lives up to its name: it gets to the essence of this beautiful music with glowing string sounds that leaves both everything and nothing to the imagination." Joost Galema, NRC, 09.06.2022
"[...] The fact that their playing is technically on a par with other string trios and that the joint music-making has found a highest degree of attunement and closeness to each other are only the preconditions that make such a result possible. Whether one wants to see the works as the essence of Norwegian chamber music is one thing. But here not only the basic ingredients are offered, but the finest recipes are used. The informative booklet on composers and works rounds off this recording, as does the successful technical realization." Uwe Krusch, pizzicato.lu, 20.06.2022
"Dette er ganske enkelt den fineste, og en av de best spilte, kammermusikkplater jeg har hørt i år. Det som kanskje kan overraske lytteren er at alle musikerne – Sølve Sigerland, Henninge Landaas og Ellen Margrete Flesjø – og komponistene er norske. Alle komponistene er faktisk født i det 20. århundre, og en av dem – Bertil Palmar Johansen (f.1954) – er fortsatt aktiv. [...]" Guy Rickards, klassiskmusikk.com, 18.07.2022
"The Ssens Trio (pronounced ‘essence’) makes a good case for these four string trios by Norwegian composers active in the postwar years. Johan Kvandal’s Trio of 1950 is the most conservative of the bunch, marrying a Shostakovich-like guile with a hint of folk-nationalism, all firmly diatonic and/or modal but not devoid of charm. Finn Mortensen’s Trio from the same year is tonally more free-ranging – indeed its composer went on to champion Schoenbergian dodecaphony later in the decade. A more caustic Shostakovich rears his head again in Edvard Fliflet Bræin’s single-movement Trio, probably written in the 1960s but maybe earlier. With Bertil Palmar Johansen’s Ricercare we move on a generation or more and to a work written for the Leopold String Trio in 1996; it’s the knottiest of the pieces here but in its greater emotional depth also makes the most telling use of the textural capabilities of the three stringed instruments. Recorded in a supportive but not over-resonant church acoustic, these are all very well-judged performances that bring out the individual characteristics of each composer. Texturally, the three players sound evenly balanced and their individual focus and technical acuity all come across in the punchiness and crispness of attack while at the same time giving voice to the expressive lyricism shared by all four pieces." Matthew Rye, The Strad, 20.07.2022
"[...] Til og med den innviklede polyfonien til Finn Mortensen, modernismens fremste fanebærer i Norge, framstår som en fritonal fest. Platas definitive høydepunkt er likevel Johan Kvandals Sjostakovitsj-inspirerte Stryketrio, opus 12, som både er full av rytmisk snert, og nærhet og finesse. Jeg har aldri tidligere hørt Kvandal så fint spilt på plate.Ssens trio kanskje Norges aller råeste kammergruppe akkurat nå. Samspillet gnistrer gjennom hele plata. Det skinner gjennom at de både kjenner hverandre godt, og liker det de gjør." Ola Nordal, ballade.no, 15.09.2022
"[...] The playing of the Ssens Trio (pronounced “essence”) is expert on every level. The sound is quite fine, with enough hall bloom surrounding the ensemble without muddying the sonic textures." Mark Novak, Fanfare Magazine, Nov/Dec 2022
INTERVJU/INTERVIEWS
The Ssens Trio on Norwegian string trios | Presto Music
JOHAN KVANDAL (1919–1999)
String Trio, Op. 12
1) I. Allegro moderato /// 06:17
2) II. Adagio non troppo /// 11:00
3) III. Allegro /// 07:41
FINN MORTENSEN (1922–1983)
Trio, Op. 3
4) I. Adagio – Allegro /// 05:43
5) II. Adagio – Allegretto /// 07:08
6) III. Allegro vivace /// 04:48
EDVARD FLIFLET BRÆIN (1924–1976)
Trio, Op. 15
7) I. Allegro /// 06:29
BERTIL PALMAR JOHANSEN (*1954)
Ricercare for String Trio (1996)
8) I. Andante – Allegro – Presto /// 07:44
9) II. Andante, stille /// 06:00
10) III. Energico /// 03:37
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