ProStudioMasters.com

A host of Norway's leading musicians and ensembles perform chamber music by Åsmund Feidje. The solo pieces "Etüde für Violoncello solo" (Bjørg Lewis) and "Contrabbacchus per contrabbasso solo" (Håkon Thelin) were composed by Feidje thanks to his fascination for the two largest string instruments and their incredibly rich capacity for variation. Both pieces provide an exploration of these possibilities to express heartfelt, lyrical lines, as well as energetic and more jagged parts in the wide range between the darkest and lightest tones. "Fragment for Double Bass Quartet" (Dan Styffe, Kenneth Ryland, Håkon Thelin, Glenn Lewis Gordon) explores this material even further. "1905 – Duel for String Quartet" (Vertavo String Quartet) was borne from a somewhat more traditional source. Written in 2005, to mark the 100th anniversary of Norway's independence, it is based on both the Swedish and Norwegian national anthems. In a type of contrapuntal scherzo, a musical duel is fought between the two countries. Alas, it is naturally Norway that wins the battle in the end, with the help of quotations from people other than the composer of the Norwegian anthem, Rikard Nordraak. "Pas de deux" (Chamber Ensemble and strings from the Norwegian Radio Orchestra), is an adaptation of the ballet Access by Sølvi Edvardsen, a pas de deux commissioned by the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet and performed on the main stage of the Oslo Opera House in 2010. It has been shortened and abridged in order to create a standalone musical style, and the new title now refers to the play and interplay between the chamber ensemble and the string orchestra. Erik Bystad's retelling of Shakespeare inspired this a capella version of "Sonnet No. 8" (KSS) In "Brief Encounter" (performed by the Cikada Ensemble), we also get to hear three wind players – namely flute, clarinet and melodica in addition to the violin, cello and percussion.