Last Leaf

Name: Last Leaf
SKU: 72699
Availability: InStock

Danish String Quartet

EN / DE

They are widely recognised as the most exciting young string quartet of the present moment, bringing new insights to contemporary composition and core classical repertoire. In parallel, they have also made surprising and impressive forays into the world of Nordic folk music. Their 2014 album Wood Works (Dacapo Records) was a left-field hit, and audiences around the world have been delighted by concert performances of the music. Now the Danish String Quartet bring their folk project to ECM with a stirring new recording. Fästan takes off from an unusual Christmas hymn, “Now found is the fairest of roses”, published in 1732 by Danish theologian and poet H.A. Brorson. The hymn is set to a mysterious, dark melody: Brorson had chosen an old Lutheran funeral choral to accompany his Christmas hymn, elegantly showing how life and death are always connected. “From here we embark on a travel through the rich fauna of Nordic folk melodies until returning to Brorson in the end,” say the DSQ. “It is a journey that could have been made in many different ways, but we believe that we returned with some nice souvenirs. In these old melodies, we find immense beauty and depth, and we can’t help but sing them through the medium of our string quartet. Brorson found the fairest of roses, we found a bunch of amazing tunes – and we hope you will enjoy what we did to them.”

Allenthalben als das gegenwärtig aufregendste Streichquartett gefeiert, wirft das Danish String Quartet neue Blicke auf zeitgenössisches Komponieren und ins klassische Repertoire. Parallel dazu haben die Dänen eindrückliche Ausflüge in die Welt der nordischen Volksmusik unternommen. Ihr 2014 erschienenes Album Wood Works (Dacapo Records) bescherte ihnen unter anspruchsvollen Musikliebhabern einen erstaunlichen Erfolg, den sie während ihrer weltweiten Konzertauftritte unter begeisterten Zuhörern fortführen konnten. Nun trägt das Quartett sein Folk-Projekt zu ECM, mit einer aufwühlenden neuen Aufnahme. "Fästan" geht aus von dem ungewöhnlichen Weihnachtslied „Die lieblichste Rose wir fanden“ (1732) des dänischen Theologen und Dichters H.A. Brorson. Das Lied hat eine mysteriöse, dunkle Melodie: Brorson wählte einen alten lutherischen Begräbnischoral zur Begleitung des Weihnachtshymnus, mit dem er elegant vorführt, wie Leben und Tod natürlich verbunden sind. „Von hier brechen wir auf zu einer Reise durch die reiche Fauna nordischer Volksmelodien, bevor wir am Ende zu Brorson zurückkehren“, sagen die Musiker des Quartetts. „Es ist ein Reise, die auf verschiedenen Wegen machbar gewesen wäre, aber wir glauben, auf unserem Weg einige schöne Souvenirs gefunden zu haben. In diesen alten Melodien spüren wir eine unglaubliche Schönheit und Tiefe. Wir können gar nicht anders als sie durch das Medium unseres Streichquartetts hindurch zu singen. Brorson fand die lieblichste aller Rosen, wir fanden ein Bündel aufregender Melodien – und wir hoffen, Ihnen wird gefallen, was wir daraus gemacht haben.“

Featured Artists

Danish String Quartet
Rune Tonsgaard SørensenViolin, Harmonium, Piano, Glockenspiel
Frederik ØlandViolin
Asbjørn NørgaardViola
Fredrik Schøyen SjölinVioloncello, Double Bass

Recorded

January 2017, The Kirsten Kjær Museum, Frøstrup

Original Release Date

22.09.2017

1Despair not, o heart
(Traditional)01:51
2Shore
(Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin)02:50
3Polska from Dorotea
(Traditional)03:03
4Tjønneblomen
(Gjermund Haugen)03:51
5Minuet no. 60
(Traditional)02:39
6Æ Rømeser
(Traditional)04:02
7Intermezzo
(Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin)01:23
8Shine you no more
(Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen)03:38
9Drømte mig en drøm
(Traditional)03:45
10Stædelil
(Traditional)02:44
11Naja's Waltz
(Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin)03:19
12Unst Boat Song
(Traditional)04:46
13Fastän
(Eva Saether)02:43
14Hur var du i aftes så sildig
(Traditional)02:00
15The Dromer
(Traditional)03:01
16Now found is the fairest of roses
(Traditional)03:01

Klangschönheiten aus dem hohen Norden, aus Dänemark, Schweden und von den Shetland-Inseln. Traditionelle Volksweisen, Kirchenlieder oder Tänze zu Kirchweih und Hochzeit, umwoben von der Melancholie vergangener Zeit. Was einst von Seeleuten gesungen oder von Fiddler-Persönlichkeiten ersonnen und gespielt wurde, erscheint nun im klassischen Gewand eines Streichquartetts. Gehoben und arrangiert hat diese Schätze das Danish String Quartet, drei Dänen, ein Norweger, die seit 2008 zusammenspielen. Sechzehn Stücke präsentieren sie mit üppigem Klang und virtuosem Zugriff. […] Einen erstaunlichen Sog entwickeln diese kurzen, gerade einmal ein bis vier Minuten langen Stücke, dem man sich kaum entziehen mag.

Susanne Schmerda, Bayrischer Rundfunk

Mit dem Programm des Albums ‚Last Leaf‘ durchstreift das Danish String Quartet verschiedene Regionen in Europa und mehrere Jahrhunderte der Musikgeschichte. Dabei sind die einzelnen Stationen kunstvoll miteinander verknüpft; viele Stücke gehen direkt ineinander über und verwachsen so zu einem Ganzen.

Marcus Stäbler, Westdeutscher Rundfunk

Dass auch die zweite Folk-CD des Danish String Quartet eine Lehrstunde in Sachen Intonation, Sound und idiomatischer Artikulation ist, liegt einmal mehr am einfachen Rezept des Ensembles: Exquisites Handwerk entsteht hier auf der Basis guten Geschmacks, und der schützt bekanntlich vor ästhetischen Fehlgriffen. Anders formuliert: Wer so gut spielt, der weiß, was geht!

Jörg Lengersdorf, Südwestrundfunk

A heartfelt, thoroughly researched and exquisitely performed journey through Nordic folk songs, dances and hymns from the past five centuries […] an album that traverses simple emotions but taps something deep at the same time […] they also invest this music with the sort of ensemble precision, subtlety of colour and well-timed abandon that they do Shoastakovich and the rest of them. The best album of folk ditties from a string quartet you’ll ever hear? Probably.

Andrew Mellor, Gramophone

Like painters, the young musicians of the quartet add a broad palette of colors to these old canvases. You can hear the shuffling feet of dancers and wheezy squeeze-boxes in these arrangements. They can be vigorous and earthy or evocative and wistful. Or both at once, like the tune ‘Æ Rømeser,’ from the village of Sønderho on the southern tip of the Danish island of Fanø. It's a dance, sure, but it dances with a tear in its eye. On ‘Last Leaf’, the Danish musicians carry on Nordic folk traditions by refurbishing the old tunes and writing a few new ones of their own. Tonsgaard's ‘Shine you no more’ was inspired by the 16th century English composer John Dowland, but plays out more like an Irish reel. Although the album can serve as a fascinating history lesson in Nordic folk music, you don't have to be a Scandinavian musicologist to fall in love with ‘Last Leaf’. The music erases borders between folk and classical, suggesting that you can either kick up your heels or simply kick back and enjoy.

Tom Huizenga, NPR

Nordic Folk für Streichquartett und Harmonium, Musik aus Nebel, Laub und Erde, aus Wolle, Holz und Rauch, eingängig und kunstfertig zugleich.

Jan Brachmann, FAZ

Ihr letztjähriges ECM-Debüt mit weniger bekannten Werken von Adès, Nørgård und Abrahamsen zählte zu den (womöglich zu wenig beachteten) Höhepunkten der Veröffentlichungen im Bereich zeitgenössischer Kammermusik; da ist es besonders erfreulich, dass das Danish String Quartet bereits ein Jahr später nachlegt – und zwar auf recht unerwartete Weise. Sehr erfreulich, dass sie auch diesmal eine eigenwillige Werkauswahl mit einem überzeugenden Gesamtkonzept in petto haben. […] Nicht nur von einem Stück zum nächsten, auch innerhalb der Lieder variieren die Musiker Tempi und Stimmungen, Gefühlslagen und Dynamik, Drama, Introspektion, Ernsthaftigkeit und spielerische Leichtigkeit in beeindruckender Wendigkeit. Da darf auch mal ein Glockenspiel, ein Harmonium oder ein Piano erklingen; nicht verkehrt, wenn einen das an Nils Øklands sehr gegenwärtige Auslegung von Nordic Folk denken lässt. Anders als bei Økland jedoch bleibt hier das klassische Streichquartett jederzeit die Basis, und es gelingt ihnen bemerkenswert, die 16 manchmal kurzen Lieder zu einer großen, schillernden, agilen Suite im ‚klassischen Stil‘ zu verknüpfen.

Ingo J. Biermann, Nordische Musik

It is wonderful to hear these superb players let their collective hair down in this collection of (mostly) Scandinavian folk tunes and original material composed in like fashion. This should warm the heart of every fan of fiddling, whether bluegrass, Celtic or Bachian.

James R.Oestreich, The New York Times

When it comes to the simple idea of a classical string quartet performing folk tunes, the Danish musicians have exceeded all expectations.

Tom Huizenga, NPR

Besonders an diesem Projekt ist, dass es das Quartett schafft, Traditionelles mit Neuem bruchlos und perfekt zu verschmelzen. Diese Musik hat zum Teil eine tänzelnde Leichtigkeit, dann wieder fließt sie ruhig und meditativ.

Richard Butz, St. Galler Tagblatt

Dances dominate the collection and through the juxaposition of the more refined waltzes and minuets with raw fiery polkas, the Quartet again bridge classical poise and a genuine folk sensibility. The few contemporary pieces composed within the group […] bring in a contemporary sensibility. […] Quieter and more austere than the accessible ‘Wood Works’, ‘Last Leaf’ is nevertheless just as beautiful, and it represents a step forward in the Quartet’s exploration of Nordic folk song and dance.

Tim Woodall, Songlines

It’s quite impossible to be anything other than deeply impressed with the standards of playing, arrangement and recording which are utterly beyond reproach. The sound is rich, superbly balanced, glowingly coloured and varied, all the more so when judicious contributions from harmonium, piano, glockenspiel and double-bass (all played by members of the quartet) are thrown into the mix. […] The commitment of all involved in bringing this new DSQ project into the world is worthy of the highest praise.

Richard Hanlon, Music Web International

Thankfully the Danish String Quartet delivers performances that suggest not only familiarity with Nordic traditional music—including Christmas tunes, dance numbers, and funeral hymns—but also a commitment to arrangements that preserve the source material's rhythmic vitality and bittersweet sonorities without dumbing down the group's virtuosity. ‘Last Leaf’ is as beautiful as anything I've heard all year.

Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader

The group has combined classical and folk dances in adroit ways in several places. One of the most fetching and memorable of these is ‘Nadja’s Waltz’ by cellist Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin. Another is ‘Shine No More,’ a reel-like tune by violinist Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen. ‘Polska from Dorotea,’ an arrangement by the full quartet is a wonderful blend of contrapuntal writing and boisterous dance music. Sumptuous sonorities populate the ballad-like ‘Now Found is the Forest of Roses,’ a poignant album closer. Often, string quartets rely on their creativity to provide impetus for interpretation. It is gratifying hear a group that is as interested in the acts of creating arrangements and compositions as it is in providing stalwart renditions of preexisting music. Recommended.

Christian Carey, Sequenza 21

The Danish String Quartet, widely recognized as one of today’s most exciting quartets, not only brings new insights to contemporary composition and core classical repertoire, it has also explored folk music, beguiling listeners with these sounds on record and in concert. For Last Leaf, its second ECM New Series release, the group returns to the texturally rich, emotionally resonant world of Nordic folk, from medieval ballads to funeral hymns, Christmas tunes, boat songs and dances of every sort. The Danish quartet made custom arrangements of this material, playing the music with the lush tone and virtuoso focus that earned the quartet such praise as “spellbinding” from Strings magazine for its ECM debut of 20th-century compositions by Per Nørgård, Hans Abrahamsen and Thomas Adès. That album was also dubbed one of the best of 2016 by The New York Times, while The Guardian declared the recording “terrific” for the quartet’s combination of “grace, grit and clarity.” In the booklet notes to Last Leaf, the group says about its selection of folk tunes: “In these old melodies, we find beauty and depth, and we can't help but sing them through the medium of our string quartet.”

The Danish String Quartet – violinists Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen and Frederik Øland, violist Asbjørn Nørgaard and cellist Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin – convened at the Kirsten Kjær Museum, a favorite recording venue in Frøstrup, Denmark. There, with Sjölin also playing double-bass and Sørensen adding harmonium, piano and glockenspiel for a glistening touch to the arrangements, the quartet captured the 16 pieces of Last Leaf, the album’s title a reference to the oldest known secular song in the Nordic countries, “Drømte mig en drøm” (I Had a Dream). The magical melody was found on the last leaf of a parchment in the Codex Runicus from around 1300, written in runes and containing the so-called Scanian law as well as chronicling the early Danish monarchs. The meaning of “Drømte mig en drøm” has been debated, but most scholars seem to agree that it is a song about justice and fair play.

But it was an unusual Danish Christmas hymn that was “the initial spark of inspiration” for the album: “Now Found Is the Fairest of Roses,” published in 1732 by Danish theologist and poet H. A. Brorson. “It is one of the most beautiful Danish hymns we know,” the group explains. “It is written for Christmas, and it simply describes a fair rose, growing in a world of thorns and thistles. The hymn is set to a mysterious, somewhat dark melody, a tune that most people were familiar with in 1732. To the surprise of many, Brorson had chosen an old Lutheran funeral chorale to accompany his Christmas hymn, showing how life and death are always connected. We believe Brorson touched on something very important: That strong musical material can possess endless possibilities and it is meaningful to explore what happens when the ‘function’ of a melody is tweaked.”

The stories behind this music – told in detail in the booklet notes – are often fascinating. The infectiously upbeat dance “Polska from Dorotea” is attributed to Swedish fiddler, teacher and cantor Johan August Andersson (1866-1902), who lived in the village Dorotea in Lapland. “Andersson had a quite tragic life, losing his wife and daughter during childbirth, which resulted in a local scandal when he entered the church during service to publicly curse God,” the quartet recounts in the notes. “He was subsequently fired from his teaching position, but was allowed to stay as a cantor, because he was such a good fiddler.”

About the piece “Tjønneblomen,” the group says: “Nordic folk music is traditionally music with a defined function: to accompany dancing. In the olden days, you were considered a good fiddler if you knew lots of tunes, you could play loudly for a very long time and, most important, you kept the beat. As time passed, fiddlers began fooling around with concertizing – performing the folk music at concert venues such as churches, with an audience that was just listening, not dancing around. Norwegian fiddler Gjermund Haugen (1914-1976) was one of the most important figures of this tradition, and he wrote this beautiful waltz.”

Another highlight among the ancient folk tunes is “Unst Boat Song.” The group explains: “Unst is the northernmost inhabited island of the Shetland Islands. If you sail out from Norway, it is the first place you will arrive, and there have always been lots of communication and travel across the sea. The ‘Unst Boat Song’ is a very old song, sung in the old Norse language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlements during the 9th to 13th centuries. The text is about strong winds and begs the gods to bless the ships that are sailing. It is uncertain if it is a song sung by the men at the oars or by the worried women in home – no one knows if it is a song of struggle or a lament. In our arrangement, we sing it from the perspective of the women, who are praying for the safe return of their men.”

In addition to the old tunes, Last Leaf incorporates three pieces – “Shore,” “Intermezzo” and “Naja’s Waltz” – written in a folk style by DSQ cellist Fredrik Sjölin. The album also includes a reel, “Shine You No More,” written by violinist Rune Sørensen after the harmonic progression of Elizabethan lutenist-composer John Dowland’s iconic “Flow My Tears.” An additional contemporary piece written in a folk style is “Fastän” (Although), a polska by Swedish fiddler Eva Sæther.

The Danish String Quartet is a group with an almost lifelong history of musical collaboration. Its three members born in Denmark – Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen, Frederik Øland and Asbjørn Nørgaard – first played chamber music together in a music summer camp before they were even teenagers, and then continued to do so throughout the school year, driven by their own enthusiasm. In 2001, Tim Frederiksen of the Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen, who had been the leader of Den Danske Strygekvartet, became the quartet’s mentor and main teacher. In 2006, the group made its first recordings – of Carl Nielsen’s quartets – as the Young Danish String Quartet, immediately attracting the attention of publications from Gramophone to The New York Times. In 2008, Norwegian cellist Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin joined the quartet, and the foursome has since gone from strength to strength, with concert programs embracing core classical repertoire and contemporary music (highlighting Scandinavian composers), as well as folk music – which they play with verve and deep feeling.

Hailed by the Washington Post as “one of the best quartets before the public today,” the Danish String Quartet has won many awards. In 2009, the quartet not only took First Prize in the Eleventh London International String Quartet Competition, but was awarded four additional prizes: the 20th Century Prize, the Beethoven Prize, the Sidney Griller Award and the Menton Festival Prize. The DSQ also received the Carl Nielsen Prize, Denmark’s most important cultural award, in 2011. The New York Times has called the group “an exceptional quartet, whatever repertory they play.”