Susanne Lundeng – Mot (Courage) 

Visionary and fascinating new CD with Susanne Lundeng 

On her new CD "Mot" (Courage) the artist, violin player and composer Susanne Lundeng takes a new turn on her fearless journey through her cosmopolitan musical universe.

Susanne Lundeng is a musical sensation in Norway, and KKV is proud to have accompanied her on a journey where she has broken down many boundaries and found her very own path in the borderlands between folk and contemporary music. We have previously compared her to the Argentinean Astor Piazzolla and seen Susanne's works as a Norwegian parallel to what he did with the tango. This new record "Mot" makes this comparison even more valid. Through her six compositions and one by Rolf Wallin she delves deeper into the expressive register of the violin, and in her cooperation with Wallin, Håvard Lund and Bugge Wesseltoft, and playing with Bodø Sinfonietta, the MIN ensemble and Bjørn Andor Drage, she explores the interface between traditional music and contemporary music, with jazz elements as a suggestive undertone or attitude.

This is what Susanne Lundeng has to say about the production: "Now in 2011, it is 20 years since I released my first CD, Havella, folk tunes from Nordland on solo violin. I have always loved the Nordland pols dance, and this is the foundation of several of the folk tunes on Mot, and also the contemporary music piece Imella. On this CD I want to highlight and explore free and improvisational violin music juxtaposed with the fixed framework of traditional music." 

The composer Rolf Wallin has the following to say about the work "Imella" which plays for 21 of the total 52 minutes’ playing time on the CD: "When Bodø Sinfonietta commissioned a violin concerto for Susanne Lundeng it made one of my long-standing dreams come true: To combine the power and direct expression of folk music with the way art music can take the listener on a journey in grand and fluctuating soundscapes. Most important, the special logic found in the melodies and tonality in much Norwegian violin music has always seemed to be so close to my own ways of composing music. It has been so inspirational to work with Susanne in exploring "the territory between the violin and the fiddle", and between two ways of thinking within the sphere of the same instrument."

With Bugge Wesseltoft on grand piano and harmonium and Bjørn Andor Drage on piano. Lundeng also sings in addition to playing the violin, which is the prominent instrument on the entire album.

The MIN Ensemble features six strings and clarinet. Bodø Sinfonietta is conducted by Christian Eggen. 

The recordings were made by Are B. Simonsen and Håvard Christensen and are produced by Susanne Lundeng and Rolf Wallin.

Track list:

1. Gaven                                            3:18

2. Nøktern                                        3:44

3. Havn                                             7:58

4. Mot                                               4:59

5. Blyg                                               6:21

6. Imella                                            21:20

7. I ånde                                            4:44