Ketil Bjornstad - A Passion for John Donne (2014)

Ketil Bjørnstad's passion for the English metaphysical poet John Donne (1572-1631) is a lifelong affair. The Norwegian pianist-composer's settings of Donne's verse have led to recordings including The Shadow, Grace, the ECM album The Light, and now this important disc.
"After working with the texts of John Donne for more than twenty years, I still find new approaches to understanding what he wrote and I find music throughout. It is in the language, in the rhythm, in the silence between the sentences - a passionate quest for meaning and reconciliation. Donne's dramatic life is reflected in the texts and everywhere in them you will find the passion, melodies and sounds".

Bjørnstad wrote 'A Passion for John Donne' for the Oslo International Church Festival in the winter of 2011/2012 and the premiere performance - documented here - was at the Sofienberg Kirke in Oslo in March 2012. The Oslo Chamber Choir is sensitively directed by Håkon Daniel Nystedt, and passion is personified in the unique performance of Håkon Kornstad, who makes his ECM debut, as both tenor saxophonist and classical tenor singer.

Over the years, Bjørnstad has been a highly prolific creator, with more than 50 albums and 40 books to his name. The Oslo-born pianist, composer, improviser, novelist, poet and essayist, described by The Guardian as "a cultural prodigy", has been an ECM recording artist since 1993, when his 'Water Stories' album was issued. Other ECM recordings include 'The Sea', 'The River', 'The Sea II', 'Epigraphs', 'Life In Leipzig', 'The Light', 'Remembrance', 'Night Song', 'Vinding's Music - Songs From The Alder Thicket', 'La notte', his tribute to film director Antonioni, and 'Sunrise', a cantata on texts by Edvard Munch.

Tracklist:

01. Introitus – a passion for John Donne
02. Thou hast made me
03. A fever
04. Death, be not proud
05. Interlude no.1
06. The legacy
07. Batter my heart, three personed God
08. A nocturnal upon St.Lucy’s day
09. Farewell to love
10. Interlude no.2
11. Since she whom I loved hath paid her last debt
12. A valediction, forbidden mourn
13. Oh, to vex me, contraries meet in
14. Interlude no.3
15. There we leave you

Personnel:

Ketil Bjørnstad (piano),
Håkon Kornstad (saxophone, flute, voice),
Birger Mistereggen (percussion),
Oslo Chamber Choir,
Håkon Daniel Nystedt (conductor).