Susanne Rosenberg - Krokar, Länkar och Krus

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Susanne Rosenberg
Krokar, Länkar och Krus
Drone Music (www.drone.se)
The title of this CD translates to "twists, links, and flourishes," the words used by Swedish folk singers to describe the ornamentation they use when singing.
Vocalist Rosenberg draws from the repertoire of the Scandinavian folk chorale for this quiet collection of songs. The material comes from 19th and 20th century singers in Sweden, Norway, and Estonia, as well as the Swedish "Old Hymnbook," dating from 1695. She and backup vocalist Eva Åström Rune and cellists Mats Olofsson and Leo Svensson reach into these sources and pull some darkly wonderful melodies into the light. As the instrumentation would suggest, the music here has a stark, stripped-down quality. Rosenberg uses those twists, links, and flourishes referred to in the title with tasteful discretion, delivering each line with precision and purity.
Rune's harmonies have just the right amount of sweetness in some places and just enough bite in others. Their voices meander around each in other in honeyed thirds, pungent seconds, hollow fifths, and open octaves. On the spacious "Lov ske dig nu för denna dag," Rune provides a light ostinato under Rosenberg's lead. The cellos join in subtle counterpoint. Olofsson's and Svensson's accompaniments are weighty and pensive, the perfect counterbalance for the women's voices. The singers step aside to let them perform an instrumental duo, the contrapuntal "Sions vals." Krokar, Länkar och Krus is a spare, meditative work, evoking the deep mystery of Scandinavian winter. - Peggy Latkovich
CD available from cdRoots
Audio ©2003 Drone, Sweden (www.drone.se)

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