Ketil Bjornstad & Anneli Drecker
Release Date: 18 May 2018
Label: ECM Records
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 602567283560
Genres: Jazz Vocal Jazz
Description
Settings of poetry and other literary texts form a special category in the discography of Norwegian pianist-composer Ketil Bjørnstad's and A Suite of Poems, recorded at Oslo's Rainbow Studio in June 2016, is a song cycle to put alongside such projects as A Passion for John Donne, Sunrise, and The Light.
Norwegian-Danish author Lars Saabye Christensen is one of Scandinavia's most widely-praised contemporary writers. For many years now, in the course of his travels around the globe, Christensen has been sending "hotel poems" to Ketil Bjørnstad, a friend from their teenage years, inviting him to make music out of them. "I started writing music to his poems more than 20 years ago," says Ketil in his liner note for this album. "His ability to expose the inner conflicts we all bring with us in our suitcases is striking."
Christensen literary postcards explore a range of moods. Bjørnstad, who is also a writer himself, says: "I feel very connected to the lonely, existential perspective of these poems, made in different hotel rooms." For this recording, Ketil worked closely with singer and actress Anneli Drecker, former lead vocalist of pop group Bel Canto.
Personnel: Ketil Bjornstad (piano), Anneli Drecker (voice).
Tracklisting
Various artists
Yuval Cohen Quartet
Thomas Stronen; Craig Taborn; Chris Potter; Sinikka Langeland; Jorge Rossy
Stephan Micus
Rainer Bruninghaus
Paul Bley
Mathias Eick; Kristjan Randalu; Ole Morten Vagan; Hans Hulbaekmo
Julia Hulsmann Quartet
Emily Saunders
Freddy Cole
Billie Holiday
Various Artists
Irene Kral
Ineza with The Alex Webb & The Copasetics
Helena Debono & Charlie Bates
Roberta Gambarini & Hank Jones
