We have definitely met the trio Bjørnstad - Bremnes - Munch before. Is this really Separation-2?

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Ketil Bjørnstad

My first musical encounter with Ketil Bjørnstad album was "Berget det Blå", nearly 40 years ago. This was a strong musical event for me, which provided an aha-experience category - that can also be jazz. There was also a late teenager to brush the dust off the piano lid, that for my part had been closed some years in favor of an electric guitar, which neither gave any further results.

"Berget det blå" , which was a far stronger successor to the album "Åpning", was probably a little ahead of the time when Ketil Bjørnstad  had become common property, and also one of the first albums he produced that was clearly outside the classical path he had actually started as. He was originally a young and promising Chopin interpreters.

Later it became a bit of everything, and apparently Ketil Bjørnstad wanted to have a journey constantly exploring new genres, and genres to break boundaries or working with multiple genres in the same work. Subsequent releases appear quite seeking in the border between jazz and related genres, but unless he completely found his ground. Until the album Live Pategonia in 1978, which was perhaps best known for the song Summer night by the fjord . After a period of Fraternizing with synth-pop/rock in the beginning of the eighties, even new directions explored a couple of new base stations were reached in the 90s.

In the second half of the 90s he published the records The Sea I and II , and The River , all based on a collaboration with cellist David Darling, with Terje Rypdal and  Jon Christensen in addition on The Sea. This is music at the interface between jazz and classical, and is safely within the concept of ECM jazz.

The other main station consisted of a programmatic collaboration with prominent vocalists in the works based on historical texts. These are respectively Edvard Munch with Kari Bremnes, Arne Garborgs Haugtussa with Lynni Treekrem and Edit Södergran with Lill Lindfors. Again back to the intersection between singer-songwriter-style and jazz. And especially the first two of these albums have been very strong productions. For Lynni`s concern, I am in no doubt that this is the very best of her releases. She is in my ears a very much better singer than songwriter.

But Løsrivelse i reconed the very best of Kari Bremnes`releases for some people. It also came at a time when Kari Bremnes was on her way to a small change of style. But not quite yet. First gentle prelude to this shift came a few years later with Månesten, and in full with 11 ubesvarte anrop.

Furthermore, after the turn of the century came perhaps the main direction for Ketil Bjørnstad in his production range, and that has lasted the longest. This has been publishing the fringes of jazz, with some supplementary. It started with the release Grace, where Anneli Drecker is the vocalist. After this came a series of releases that had a very similar character but with different vocalists, and also many pure instrumental releases. There has been an extensive re-use of song material and musical phrases, but to varying incarnation and crew. This is an important characteristic with Ketil Bjørnstad - huge span of musical genres, but mostly always recognizable in musical expression and reasoning.

For my part, I have also always found that Ketil Bjørnstad has been at his best when he has worked with smaller herds. He is a master of intimate musical expression, and not always aptly when there are more than a handful that stand for exercise.

Sunrise

I want a trip back to Løsrivelse before we take off with Sunrise. As mentioned, this one is built on texts by Edvard Munch, and there were plenty more than me that became aware of that the painter also wrote lyrics becaue of this record. Løsrivelse was an immensely strong production, where some songs stood out as almost grotesque with its unvarnished lyrics. The highlight in this respect must have been the song Syk Pike with this stanza "would you like to live?". Ketil Bjørnstad has in his writings demonstrated that he has a more than average attention to Christiania Bohemians in general, and especially Edvard Munch. He has also shown his commitment to Munch through the active participation of the debate around the new Munch Museum. And yet Kari Bremnes have a very large share of the credit for the quickening of the Munch's texts that took place on Løsrivelse.

For so to finally get to today's topic - the new release Sunrise - where we find the trio Munch, Bjørnstad and Bremnes, it is inevitable that one before unveiling wonder if this could be Løsrivelse II, a sequel to this powerful and successful disc from 1993. It is a question that can be answered very quick with a specific, yet ambiguous "no!". Here it is a completely different genre - or rather genres - than we did on secession. Firstly, in addition to this trio completely new and different elements dominate, despite the fact that we recognize also Bjørn Kjellemyr on some of the recordings. It is also on a couple of numbers that have associations with Leve Patagonia - intro on Jorden Elskede Luften is so much in the spirit of Leve Patagonia that we are almost expecting Cornelis Vreeswijk to enter the microphone. But he is dead.

It strikes me quickly that it is much more fruitful to describe what Sunrise is - not what it is not. Ketil Bjørnstad call this work a cantata, and it was originally commissioned for the 70th anniversary of Nordstrand Music Society Choir - premiered in the university auditorium in 2011. The disc however is recorded in Rainbow Studio, led by Jan Erik Kongshaug. In 8 of the pieces Oslo Chamber Choir is involved, while Kari Bremnes sings in four of the pieces. In addition, there are six pure instrumental numbers - 3 Recitative and 3 Intermezzo.

Ketil Bjørnstad has made records with the Oslo Chamber Choir previously, and here they have some kind of lead in the cantata. They have in general an extensive background in recordings at the intersection of several genres. Choral arrangements are made ​​by the director Egil Fossum. And it sounds really beautiful. On the best tracks it is a real pleasure to hear the Oslo Chamber Choir in arrangements by Ketil Bjørnstad`s musical language, and Gravsten is perhaps the one that works best of the events of the Oslo Chamber Choir. At the other end I still have a bit to go before I completely absorbs Jorden Elskede Luften and Livets Dans . There is something about this combination of chorus and "Patagonian" rhythms which for me will be a bit of a too challenging mix.

The 4 songs where Kari Bremnes perform Munch's texts works in my ears even better than the songs where Oslo Chamber Choir sings, despite the fact that the work is written for choir, or at least commissioned for a choir. There is one significant difference between these two categories - those songs Kari Bremnes sings draw crystal clear images, while those pictures are absent in my brain when the text is performed by the Oslo Chamber Choir. This is probably for a large part due to the obvious connection that choirs are usually much less distinct and text focusing than solo vocals.

But equally important parameter I think is that Kari Bremnes is a formidable Munch interpreters. It's almost as if she goes into a special mode in these songs - a mode then of course we recognize from Løsrivelse, where she also made crystal clear images in most of the songs. Not Munch paintings but razor-sharp photographs from this period. It is indeed very strong lyrics she conveys in these songs. Not necessarily dramatic as in Skrik and Syk Pike in Løsrivelse, but also common and romantic snapshots as in Moren, where the strength lies in the clear, beautiful and recognizable.

There is also another element that fascinates in these songs with Kari Bremnes. And it is that this is not only a synthesis between Edvard Munch and the musicians Bjørnstad and Bremnes - also Aage Kvalbein is an equally important element in the overall picture these songs provide. It has created a whole new musical image that despite its conventional style is a kind of micro innovation in Ketil Bjørnstad`s musical universe. A trio I hope to hear far more from.

Sound.

It's almost tempting to say that a recording at Rainbow Studio by Jan Erik Kongshaug at the helm do not need detailed comments at all. Nevertheless, I just confirm that this is also a highly successful audio-production from Kongshaug and ECM. It is razor sharp precision in the stereo image, and airiness and transparency that are a delight. Sunrise is reviewed in the CD version, but we can hope that it eventually becomes available in their range of ECM releases in 96kHz/24 bits.

Sunrise is a wonderful production that joins the ranks of Ketil Bjørnstad`s vast range of good and interesting music releases. And it's tempting to nominate the record to one of Kari Bremnes` very best, despite her limited presence. Highly recommended!