Danish String Quartet – Last Leaf, Germany 2018 ECM Records 2550

Danish String Quartet – Last Leaf

Factory sealed. New.

Last Leaf Review by James Manheim

This recording by the Danish String Quartet of Nordic folk music from as far south as the Shetland Islands has a lot going for it. One is the usual exemplary sound from ECM, for one thing, captured at a Danish museum that's a fine stand-in for an interior space where folk music would reside. For another, there's a feel for the smaller details of the various instrumental traditions on the part of the musicians, some of whom have played in folk bands themselves: violinist Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen and cellist Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin contribute convincing original tunes themselves, and Sørensen changes the texture up with harmonium and glockenspiel effectively. The program is intelligently put together, with a little medley of joined traditional (or traditional-style) tunes giving way to more elaborate arrangements, all by the quartet members themselves. Sample one of the more contrapuntal pieces, like Drømte mig en drøm. And ECM makes room within its usual set of arty, black-and-white photographs for a highly engaging set of notes about the tunes. The one thing that remains murky is why this music should be played by a string quartet, a medium that hardly fits it musically or historically. The players offer this: "Is it meaningful to explore what happens, when the 'function' of a melody is tweaked? Can a funeral chorale be used to celebrate Christmas? Can a rustic folk dance conjure up feelings of melancholy and contemplation? Is a traditional Norse boat song supposed to be sung by the men at oars or the women at home? And what happens when a classical string quartet travels yet again through the world of Nordic folk music?" The logical thread is not quite clear, but there's much to enjoy on the album.