Reiersrud's and the Trondheim Soloists' fearless encounter with Schubert and Brahms

The Trondheim soloists and Knut Reiersrud are now embarking on a criminal career. On their new CD/LP they commit a series of musical crimes. With no discernible respect for tradition, they serve up some versions of works by Schubert and Brahms that we are sure you have never heard before.

The new release on vinyl and CD before the Christmas rush has been recorded in Kulturkirken Jakob and is on the KKV label. The album, entitled "Infinite Gratitude", includes two of the most beautiful works of chamber music written by two of the giants of 19th-century music – Schubert's string quintet in C major, and Brahms' string sextet in B flat. The “criminal offences” include extending both works by several minutes and dynamic inventions never heard before from the two original masters. We are not necessarily claiming that this is better than the originals, but we can certainly promise that this is truly unique music – expressive and beautiful – where classical music and blues mutually reinforce each other’s poetics.

“Classically trained musicians have much to learn from how pop and jazz musicians think about their audience,” says the renowned British music psychologist John Sloboda to NRK. He believes that loyalty should be with the audience, not the composer. Classical music should find a form opening more for improvisation and unpredictability that will capture the interest of listeners, just as rock and jazz do, and which was such a natural element for musicians during the lifetimes of Brahms and Schubert. The background for this idea is an American survey which indicates that audiences for classical music concerts are dwindling in the US, having dropped by 30 per cent over the last 25 years.

This is an interesting idea when thinking about the new album recorded by Knut Reiersrud and the Trondheim soloists last summer and which is now being released in the fall. This is an exciting idea because the most common combination of strings and rhythm and blues-based recordings has been for the classically trained players to put the icing on the cake of the r&b artist, adding some lavish sounds in the background. This project turns the tables: While the Trondheim soloists play the work as written in the original score, the Knut Reiersrud Band expands and amplifies the sound and the musical intentions of the classics. While the Trondheim soloists give new life to the music with a special dynamic and colouring, the blues band breaks through the formal frameworks fearlessly and with wild creativity.

For this recording the Trondheim soloists are Alexander Robson and Sigmund Tvete Vik on violin, Anders Rensvik and Åshild Breie Nyhus on viola, Øyvind Gimse and Katrine Pedersen on cello. In addition to the boss himself on electric guitar and steel guitar, the Knut Reiersrud Band consists of some of Norway's foremost pop/ rock/ jazz-musicians; David Wallumrød on piano and Hammond B3, Bjørn Holm on electric guitar, Nikolai Hængsle Eilertsen on electric bass and Andreas Bye on drums. 

Track list:

Chapter 1

- part I                 10:49

- part II                4:46        

- part III               5:26

Chapter 2

- part I                  7:41

- part II                 5:08

- part III                4:58