Sanger og romanser: fifty-one songs, seven performers
Sanger og romanser, released by Barth Records in 2023, brings together 51 songs by Trygve Madsen. Cover illustration: Thore Hansen. Album: Barth Records. Source.
A friendship, a gathering of musicians and fifty-one songs come together in Sanger og romanser. Four singers and three pianists share this double album of Trygve Madsen’s vocal music, released by Barth Records in December 2023 and accompanied by a short film about the people behind it.
The story behind the recording begins with a neighbour. In the account accompanying the project, Frode Barth recalls meeting Madsen and receiving advice from him about a composition during a bus journey. Madsen subsequently became his mentor, a relationship that preceded their work on the album. [4]
For the recording, Tora Augestad, Julie Kleive, Magnus Staveland and Johannes Weisser joined pianists Jens Harald Bratlie, Joachim Kwetzinsky and Magne Fossum Løvdal. Between them, they share a programme that fills two discs, issued by Barth Records under catalogue number BRCD611. [1]
The songs move between Norwegian, English and German texts. Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Sigbjørn Obstfelder, Rolf Jacobsen and André Bjerke are among the Norwegian poets represented. The publisher describes a selection reaching from Madsen’s youth into his later career; the songs are also available in print through Norsk Musikkforlag. [1]
Twelve opus groups appear in the track list, beginning with the three songs of Op. 3 and ending with the two songs of Op. 99. Titles include På jorden et sted, Den sterkeste and Berceuse, as well as the English-language A Match and From the Antique. [1]
Barth’s enthusiasm for the songs is explicit in his introduction to the album. He praises the maturity and individuality he hears already in Op. 3, and singles out Madsen’s melodic gifts and humour. These are the producer’s own observations, offered as part of his account of a project made with musicians he describes as sharing that enthusiasm. [1]
Barth Records accompanied the release with a ten-minute film published on YouTube on 4 December 2023. The film’s credits name Madsen and the recording’s performers among its participants. They also identify Frode Barth as producer and director, Magne Fossum Løvdal as co-producer, and Gunnar Knutsen of Tumblewine Films for editing, sound and co-direction. [4]
The project credits list Leif Johansen of Stable Studios for recording and mastering. Illustrations are by Thore Hansen, whose artwork also appears on the album cover. The publisher describes Hansen as a longstanding friend of Madsen and notes his earlier work illustrating the composer’s printed music. [1] [4]
For listeners following the programme at home, each song has its own track, with opus numbers retained in the titles. The digital edition contains the same fifty-one songs as the CDs. Apple Music gives the release date as 1 December 2023 and the playing time as approximately one hour and fifty-five minutes; the album is also on Spotify. [2]
The recording can be approached through either the music or the people who made it. The publisher’s page offers a shorter album teaser as well as the documentary, while Spotify and Apple Music carry the complete programme. The physical two-disc edition remains listed by Notebutikken. [1] [2] [4]