Tales and Stories

Eikanger Bjorsvik Band
Conductor: Reid Gilje
Soloists: Magnus Brandseth, Henning Anundsen, Tormod Flaten, Martin Winter
Organ: Iver Kleive
Recitation: Kirsten Hofseth
Doyen Recordings: DOY CD204
Total Playing Time: 64.03

~ Buy with 4barsrest shopping

Eikanger has a lovely habit of producing extremely interesting CD releases. Not for them the tried and tested, the traditional but tiresome, the conservative and confined. No. Not one bit. Eikanger do things differently, and we should be shouting their praises from the top of our bandroom roofs for doing so.

‘Tales and Stories' is another in a fine line that over the years have sought to bring innovation, inventiveness and creativity to the banding repertoire. It is a wonderful release, superbly delivered by an exceptionally talented group of musicians with a collective understanding and appreciation of the material they are performing.  

The CD is broken into three distinct parts: The opening six tracks entitled ‘Balkan Moods' takes its musical inspiration from the troubled area of Europe that has seen military, political and economic conflict scar its beautiful natural landscape and its intelligent and cultured people over the past two hundred years. The second is the quite amazing organ led ‘Nade' from the opening ceremony of the Lillehammer Winter Olympics of 1994, whilst the third is a poetic musical fairy tale entitled ‘Segn' which explores the oral tradition of centuries old Norwegian myths and legends.

It makes for a trio of amazing technical and musical playing and an immensely satisfying and intelligent musical experience.

Used by the band as their winning performance at the 2001 Siddis Brass Entertainment Contest – a slightly more cutting edge version of the UK's Brass in Concert Contest, ‘Balkan Moods' is written and arranged by the talented trio of soprano player Frode Rydland, conductor Reid Gilje and Svein Giske and is a suite of varying colours and moods that accurately reflects the diverse musical influences of the Balkan melting pot – although it is slightly doubtful if it is as Creole inspired as the sleeve notes suggest.  It certainly is a fertile musical breeding ground of cultural musical ideas – many of which come together in an amalgam of melodic themes, but is a mixture that at its heart is deeply middle European in feel with a bias of Eastern undercurrent as its heartbeat – from the Tartars and Cossacks to the Romanian Gypsies and orthodox Jews.  

From the atmospheric opening through to the almost naïve folk inspired dances and dark lyrical passages of introspection, it continually demands your attention – especially as the contributions of the soloists, Magnus Brandseth, Heening Anundsen, Tormod Flaten and Martin Winter who are all on supreme form, makes for such.

The deep euphonium and tuba sounds are rich and darkly hued, whilst the flugel playing from Anundsen has a lovely pure compactness. Winter in his turn sends us into the stratosphere with a surreal display of technique that although eyewatering never detracts from the essence of the angular austerity of the music. 

The power and purposefulness of ‘Nade' (meaning, somewhat strangely, ‘Mercy') meanwhile hits you in the chest with an intensity that sends your vital organs into some sort of apoplectic shock.  For a moment you think you are listening to the opening bars of Michael Jackson's ‘Thriller' – all is needed is a Vincent Price voice over for it to be complete – but it soon opens and develops into something less comedic and much more seriously intense.

The balance between the organ (played with an intensity the Abominable Dr. Phibes would have been proud of) and the band is perfectly judged into a huge wall of sound that grows with such a force not even Lemmy and the boys of Motorhead could better on an airing of the ‘Ace of Spades'. The climax makes your backbone wriggle.

 ‘Segn' (‘Myth') on the other hand opens with an eeriness that would send a shiver up your spine when if it ever stops wobbling.  This is as creepy an opening you could ever wish for – strange almost surreal unworldly noises come from bowels of the earth (or from the ends of the instruments in this case) as the mist descends to wrap itself around your ankles like a soggy carpet in a council flat.    

And just when you think things are brightening up, comes the sound of a decapitated voice – as dead as a shark's eye and as welcoming as a visit from your local undertaker. It is as eerily reminiscent of that bloke from the Ministry of Defence in the Falkands War who used to sit and read out the new releases on the losses with a detachment that made your blood run cold. Kirsten Hofseth is truly wonderful as the narrator – and adds so much to the collection of five pieces that make up this musical journey through the fables and legends of Norwegian myth.

The playing is also of the same class – joyous and facile when needed, dark and brooding with menace when required, light and delicate when asked for, heavy and percussive when called upon. Some of the material mind you would make a social worker put down their Guardian and put on their sandals and cardigan, what with tales of Devils, pixies and trolls mixed in with ironmongers who slice off their own daughters bum and welds a new one back on. It is a suite that has something for everyone and everyone has something to say.

The final Prayer however is a thing of rare ethereal beauty –‘Come silence, come solitude. Hold me in your embrace and let my mind brightness find' - a paean of such sorrowful pain and despair, it makes Leonard Cohen sounds like a Chas and Dave knees up.  

This has been one of the very best CDs we have reviewed in a long time – different indeed, but so intelligently performed that it keeps you enthralled from the first note to the last. Add some wonderful post production (it was recorded both in the UK and Norway), excellent translation, compact sleeve notes and a very striking cover, and you have yet another example of one of the finest brass bands in Europe once more expanding their, and our musical horizons.    Eikanger deserve nothing but the highest praise for this release.

Iwan Fox.

~ Buy with 4barsrest shopping

^back to top