The Squid's Ear Magazine


Ratkje, Maja R.S.: River Mouth Echoes (Tzadik)

Unorthodox vocalist and electroacoustic composer Maja Solveig Kjestrup Ratkje, half of FE-Mail, in a collection of compositions from chamber music to works for electronics and voice.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Richard Boothby-Viol

Richard Campbell-Viol

Christian Eggen-Conductor

Frode Haltli-Accordion

Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje-Voice, Synth, Processing

Asako Morikawa-Viol

Rolf-Erik Nystrøm-Alto Saxophone

Oslo Sinfonietta-Conductor

Torben Snekkestad-Tenor Saophone

Hakon Thelin-doublebass

Richard Tunnicliffe-Viol


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UPC: 702397805120

Label: Tzadik
Catalog ID: TZA-CD-8051
Squidco Product Code: 9450

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2008
Country: USA
Packaging: Jewel Tray

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Maja Solveig Kjestrup Ratkje is a remarkable vocalist and composer based in Norway. Her work ranges from orchestral and chamber works to electronics, improvisation and creative combinations of all of the above. This special collection of Maja's work showcases several aspects of this composer's unique and intense approach to sound and features two of her most personal chamber works along with electronic and electro-acoustic works for voice, saxophone and more."-Tzadik



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The Squid
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Artist Biographies

"Frode Haltli (b. 1975, Norway) began playing the accordion at the age of seven. As a child he played folk music but soon moved into different forms. Playing music by composers such as Pietr Fiala, Per Nørgård, Arne Nordheim as well as classical music, he swiftly developed exceptional instrumental skills alongside a deep understanding of new music.

In his early years he won numerous national contests, raising interest in and appreciation of the accordion to unprecedented heights. Haltli studied at the Norwegian State Academy of Music with prof. Jon Faukstad, then at the Royal Danish Music Conservatory in Copenhagen with Geir Draugsvoll and James Crabb, graduating in 2000. In 2001 the Norwegian Concert Institute named him Young Soloist Of The Year, he was also placed second in the International Gaudeamus Interpreters Competition 1999 in the Netherlands.

Concerts throughout Europe as well as several other parts of the world, including the USA, Canada and Asia, raised awareness still further. Directing his career into explorations of new music, he became associated with like-minded musicians mainly in Europe where the development of adventurous forms has grown throughout recent years.

Haltli has established links with several composers, notably Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje who is one of several who have written especially for him; others include Bent Sørensen, Rolf Wallin, Atli Ingólfsson, Hans Abrahamsen, Jo Kondo and Sam Hayden. He has also worked as a composer himself, making music for theatre plays, the commissioned work 'The Border Woods' (Osa Festival 2015), and together with Maja S.K. Ratkje he composed the music for Elifriede Jelinek's 'NEID' (Bayerischer Rundfunk 2011).

Haltli has a broad repertoire of contemporary classical works, including several concertos for the accordion, appearing with string orchestras, sinfoniettas and symphonic orchestras world wide. He has also cooperated with several string quartets.

His debut CD 'Looking on Darkness' was released on the prestiguos German record label ECM in 2002. It was very well recieved, Hilary Finch in the BBC Music Magazine wrote: 'Still in his twenties, the young Norwegian accordionist Frode Haltli is clearly a performer of comparable gifts and imagination, whose astonishing virtuosity has inspired many Scandinavian composers. This debut solo presents five challenging new works which explore the furthest sonic regions of the instrument.'

Haltli released 'Arne Nordheim Complete Accordion Works' (Simax 2012) to great critical acclaim, followed by 'Vagabonde Blu' (Hubro 2014), a live solo recording from the Emanuel Vigeland Mausoleum featuring works by Salvatore Sciarrino, Aldo Clementi and Arne Nordheim. On the album 'Air' (ECM 2016) he recorded music for accordion and strings by Hans Abrahamsen and Bent Sørensen with the Arditti Quartet and the Trondheim Soloists. On his 2007 recording 'Passing Images' (ECM), Haltli is joined by trumpeter Arve Henriksen, viola player Garth Knox, and vocalist Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje, for a selection of lyrical explorations of folk themes couched in the form of contemporary improvised music. This is developed further on the albums 'Avant Folk' (Hubro 2018) and 'Border Woods' (Hubro 2019), which both features Haltli's own music based inspiration from traditional music as well as improvisation and more experimental music. In 2020 he released a lockdown single and music video with his Avant Folk ensemble, entitled 'Quarantine Quilt' (Hubro), as well as the triple digital album 'Selected Solo Works, Vol. 1-2' (SMP) with works from composers Edison Denisov, James Dillon, Leif Kayser, Rolf Wallin, Maja S.K. Ratkje, Ørjan Matre, Robert HP Platz and Magnar Åm.

Since 1999 he has played regularly with the trio POING, alongside saxophonist Rolf-Erik Nystrøm and double bass player Håkon Thelin. They have commissioned more than a 100 works from composers all over the world and recorded several albums as a trio and in combination with everything from the Oslo Philharmonic, via drummer legend Paul Lovens to the two albums 'Wach auf' (Øra Fonogram 2011) and 'Kapital & Moral' (Grappa 2016) with vocalist Maja S.K. Ratkje.

Trygve Seim has been an important associate of Haltli since he joined Seim's large ensemble in 2000 and made contributions to the records 'The Source and Different Cikadas' (2002) and 'Sangam' (ECM 2004). Since the release of their duo album "Yeraz" (ECM 2008) they have toured frequently together in a duo format, but also with Seim's quartet 'Rumi Songs' (ECM 2016) and in other combinations.

Frode Haltli has developed several transcultural music projects, in India, China, Japan, North Korea, Egypt. He has also played music rooted in Norwegian traditional music, notably with RUSK in which he is teamed with singer Unni Løvlid and violinist Vegar Vårdal. This theme and combination of old and new music is further delevoped in duo with Norwegian violinist Gjermund Larsen, in The Snowflake Trio with Irish flute player Nuala Kennedy and Norwegian fiddler Vegar Vårdal, as well as in a trio with fiddle player Ragnhild Furebotten and the Swedish nyckelharpa player Emilia Amper.

Frode Haltli has held master classes at music academies in Copenhagen, Oslo, Graz, Lucerne, Lodz and at at number of festivals. From 2011 to 2017 he was teaching accordion at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, but is today a full-time freelance musicians and composer based in Svartskog, Norway."

-Frode Haltli Website (http://frodehaltli.com/about/)
3/27/2024

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"Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje, composer and performer (born Dec. 29th 1973 in Trondheim, Norway), finished composition studies at the Norwegian State Academy of Music in Oslo in 2000. Her music is performed worldwide by performers such as Ensemble Intercontemporain, Klangforum Wien, Oslo Sinfonietta, The Norwegian Radio Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Fretwork, TM+, Cikada, Mivos and Bozzini string quartets, Quatuor Renoir, crashEnsemble, Pearls for Swine Experience, Torben Snekkestad, Marianne Beate Kielland, SPUNK, Frode Haltli, POING and many more. Portrait concerts with her music has been heard in Toronto and Vienna, she has been composer in residence at festivals like Other Minds in San Francisco, Trondheim Chamber Music Festival, Nordland Music Festival in Bodø, Avanti! Summer Festival in Finland, Båstad Chamber Music Festival and Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.

Ratkje has received awards such as the International Rostrum of Composers in Paris for composers below 30 years of age, the Norwegian Edvard prize (work of the year) twice, second prize at the Russolo Foundation, and in 2001 she was the first composer ever to receive the Norwegian Arne Nordheim prize. Her solo album Voice, made in collaboration with Jazzkammer, got a Distinction Award at Prix Ars Electronica in 2003. In 2013 she was nominated for the Nordic Council Music Prize for her vocal work.

Ratkje is active as a singer/voice user and electronics performer and engineer, as a soloist or in groups such as SPUNK and BRAK RUG. She has been soloist with orchestras such as The Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Klangforum Wien, Avanti! Chamber Orchestra and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Other collaborations are with Jaap Blonk, Joëlle Léandre, Ikue Mori, Zeena Parkins, Stephen O'Malley, Lasse Marhaug, POING and many more. Ratkje has performed her own music for films, dance and theatre, installations, and numerous other projects. Visual art or text material is often a part of her own work, in installations or staged works. She has made large gallery works with SPUNK, she has made music for a radio play by Elfriede Jelinek, and in 2003, she played a part in her own opera, based on the texts from the Nag Hammadi Library.

Her scores are found at the National Library of Norway's publishing service, NB noter, and her records are released on Tzadik, Rune Grammofon, 2L, ECM, Important Records and many other labels."

-Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje Website (http://ratkje.no/bio/short-bio/)
3/27/2024

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"Torben Snekkestad was born in 1973 in Norway and now resides in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Torben Snekkestad is a classically educated saxophonist, dedicated in both contemporary music and many different forms of improvisation. Alongside with his classical work, he also focuses extensively on jazz.

Torben Snekkestad has premiered numerous pieces, both with his ensembles and also as a soloist with orchestras such as 'The Norwegian Radio Orchestra' and 'Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen'.

He is the soprano-saxophonist of the 'Copenhagen Saxophone Quartet' - one of Denmark's most prominent chamber music ensembles, their records and concerts being internationally acclaimed. He also plays contemporary music in another Danish chamber music ensemble, '4 Elements'.

Duo projects include those with composer Jens Hørsving such as 'Among Machines' and with saxophonist Rolf Erik Nystrøm. Torben Snekkestad also gives solo-saxophone concerts which include compositions by composers such as Berio, Stockhausen and Scelsi, along side with Scandinavian compositions and also his own improvisations/compositions.

As a jazz musician Torben Snekkestad's main projects are: 'Conic Folded' - a solo, duo and trio project which feature many of his own compositions. He performs with such groups as Spring (a Danish free jazz quartet),Tri O`Trang (a Norwegian trio) and Trygve Seim Orchestra(a Norwegian band on the ECM label). Torben Snekkestad's wide ranging musical interests have led him into numerous musical settings over the years, ranging from the music of the baroque and classical chamber music genres to rock, folk music and free jazz.

As a composer he writes mainly for his own ensembles, as well as for other projects.

Torben Snekkestad currently teaches classical saxophone at 'The Royal Danish Academy of Music' and at various workshops.

He has toured extensively throughout Europe, the USA, Russia, East Asia and Argentina."

-Linn Records (http://www.linnrecords.com/artist-torben-snekkestad-.aspx)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Håkon Thelin is a double bass player and composer.

He performs with the ensembles Oslo Sinfonietta and POING, and also regularly with Ensemble Modern and musikFabrik. At present, his main interest lies in the combination of contemporary music and folk music, in microtonality and in the sonic exploration of harmonics and multiphonics on the double bass.

Together with Rolf-Erik Nystrøm on saxophones and Frode Haltli on accordion, Håkon forms POING, an ensemble which, since they started playing together in 1999, have been one of the leading ensembles for contemporary music in Scandinavia. They have played in clubs and concert halls in most European countries, the US as well as in China and Japan, with more than 100 first performances. For their work with contemporary music, POING were in 2009 awarded "Performer of the Year" by the Norwegian Society of Composers. In 2011, POING were artistic directors of the Ultima Festival in Oslo, Scandinavias largest festival for contemporary music. Håkon is the administrative manager of POING.

Håkon' CD releases includes the 2004 solo release "a p)reference to other things", presenting works by Iannis Xenakis, Bent Sørensen and Jacob Druckman. His second solo recording called "Light" was released in 2011, featuring his own compositions. Light was awarded the Norwegian Grammy "Spellemannsprisen" in 2012 for best contemporary album. In 2015 he released his latest solo project, called "Folk", with works inspired by folk music. He has also recorded a duo album with bassist Stefano Scodanibbio and a tribute CD to Scodanibbio together with bass players like Mark Dresser, Sebastian Gramms, Jöelle Leandre and Barre Phillips. Together with the folk singer Unni Løvlid he has released the albums "Lux" and "Hymn".

From 2007-2011, Håkon worked as artistic research fellow at the Norwegian Academy of Music with the project "A new world of sounds - advancements in contemporary double bass techniques". Here, he specifically worked on the music and techniques of Stefano Scodanibbio, exploring sounds and creating new techniques to be used in his own music. Together with professor Knut Guettler he has also presented a groundbreaking research on multiphonics on the double bass."

-Hakon Thelin Website (http://haakonthelin.com/contact.html)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Øx

2. Essential Extensions

3. Wintergarden

4. River Mouth Echoes

5. Waves IIB

6. Sinus Seduction (Moods Two)

Related Categories of Interest:

Tzadik

Electro-Acoustic
Compositional Forms
Unusual Vocal Forms
Electro-Acoustic Improv
Organized Sound and Sample Based Music
Electroacoustic Composition

Search for other titles on the label:
Tzadik.


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