The Danish String Quartet - Wood Works (2014) [Official Digital Download 24/88.2]

The Danish String Quartet's love of traditional Scandinavian folk music is becoming as well known as the quartet's masterly approach to the classical repertoire. Now the renowned ensemble, at present house quartet at both New York's Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society and BBC Radio 3, is releasing the album "Wood Works", present their favourite melodies from Nordic folk music – including the 400 years old bridal music from the island of Fanø that has spread far and wide as a video with over 50,000 plays on YouTube and Vimeo.


Every now and then a disc creeps into your ears and stages a peaceful protest, politely but determinedly refusing to leave. The Danish String Quartet's delicious new album Wood Works is one such a quietly innovative and unexpected delight, whose charms only grow as the music unfolds track by track. The premise is simple: folk music is a 'borrowed' form, lending its melodies to each new generation to make of them what they will. So here the DSQ take their turn, adapting Nordic folk tunes for the instruments they have to hand: a classical string quartet. The result might be a little too glossy, too 'finished' for some, but there's no denying the depth of colour they bring to their material, and no gainsaying the pulsing rhythms and elegiac melodies that the folk originals themselves contribute. Don't let titles like 'Five Sheep, Four Goats' or 'Ye Honest Bridal Couple' put you off; there s nothing fusty here, just an elegant fusion of folk, jazz, blues and classical traditions that sings with musical integrity and intelligence. And the playing? There's a reason that New Yorker music critic Alex Ross is a fan of the group, who are currently participating in the prestigious Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Centre's Two programme. The Danish String Quartet are definitely ones to watch or listen out for. ***** –Sinfini Music, 18/9/14

Critics Choice –Gramophone, Dec'14

TRACKLIST

1. Ye Honest Bridal Couple / Sønderho Bridal Trilogy – Part I (5:10)
We set out in the fog covering the Faroe Islands. A lonely violin plays a traditional Faroese wedding song. After a while we reach the Danish island of Fanø to immerse ourselves in Part I of the Sønderho Bridal Trilogy, a set of three sønderhonings that dates back some four hundred years.

2. Sekstur from Vendsyssel / The Peat Dance (4:02)
A Danish sekstur is a lively dance that closely resembles the Irish jig. The Peat Dance is a Danish reeltune. Thus this is a Danish version of the traditional Irish jig-reel set.

3. Vigstamoin (3:20)
Vigstamo was a small farm in the Gudbrand Valley in Norway, and Vigstamoin was the man who lived there. This tune is a springleik – a local version of what we in Denmark call a polsk.

4. Waltz after Lasse in Lyby (4:42)
Lasse lived in Lyby in Sweden’s Skåne region and he was a travelingfiddler playing for food. He was known for often playing this simple little waltz.

5. Ribers #8 (2:59)
Ribers #8 is a polka: A dance that originated in central Europe and, somewhat confusingly, has nothing to do with the polsk or polska. This is one of the happiest Danish tunes that we know.

6. Sønderho Bridal Trilogy – Part II (3:10)
Notice the exotic colour of this sønderhoning. Some people believe that the people on Fanø learned their melodic twists from visiting sailors.

7. Five Sheep, Four Goats (4:30) feat. Mads la Cour, flugelhorn
Rune stumbled on this little Danish tune with its strange name and liked it so much that he came up with an arrangement for three string quartets.

8. O Fredrik, O Fredrik (4:15)
Our cellist Fredrik is a tough Norwegian sailor. His childhood friend Johannes Rusten wrote this catchy tune and dedicated it to him.

9. Ack Värmeland, du sköna (3:16)
An old Swedish folk song. The title was given in the 19th century and celebrates the beauty of the Värmland region.

10. Easter Sunday / Polsk after Rasmus Storm (4:23)
We pair a polsk from 1989 by Danish fiddler Poul Bjerager with an old polsk we found in a handwritten collection of tunes from the 1760s by Danish sailor and fiddler Rasmus Storm.

11. Jässpodspolska (2:54)
Here is a nice little polska (Swedish for polsk) from the region of Dalarna in Sweden.

12. Old Reinlender from Sønndala (3:06)
The title indicates that this dance came to Norway from the Rhineland. In Denmark we call this type of tune a schottis. Did it come up north via Scotland or Germany? Not so important, perhaps. The funky possibilities of the tune inspired us to make this arrangement.

13. Sønderho Bridal Trilogy – Part III (3:40)
This is dance music, but inspired by the unique tonal colours of the music our good friend Nikolaj Busk made a very contemplative arrangement of this final part of the Sønderho Bridal Trilogy. After all the excitement of reels, polskas, sheep and goats, we are back at the island of Fanø, disappearing into the Atlantic fog.