Einar Olav Larsen and Gjermund Larsen - Søttenpassingen
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Einar Olav Larsen and Gjermund Larsen
Søttenpassingen
Ta:lik (www.talik.no)

cd cover The Larsen brothers are young, Gjermund was born in 1981, Einar Olav in 1979. A fifteen year old photo in the booklet confirms what the music has already told us: they have always fiddled together. The material on the CD consist mainly of waltzes and pols-tunes from the region of Verdalen, east of Trondheim. Many tunes are surprisingly difficult, due to position playing, ornaments and rhythmic finesses. Influences from Swedish music can be traced; the track "Restar'n" is a variant of a well-known Bingsjöpolska.

Listen!
The charming "Barsengsvalsen," aimed to depict the birth of a child, shows how skilled the brothers are in their bowing as well as their interplay. Einar Olav always plays the first part and his younger brother thus has to accompany him, a task he executes brilliantly. Gjermund's creative harmonies are beautiful, and woven so closely to the melody that the music seems to be coming from a four-armed Larsen! Most melodies are quite cheerful and sometimes even humorous, which fits well with their style of playing. Søttenpassingen contains twenty tracks, and only two stick out from the predominant major-feeling. Gjermunds second solo is easily one of the most captivating and interesting moments on the CD, due to its different tonality and character. Some more planning in the choice of tunes could have made the record more balanced and varied. To sum up, this fourteenth Ta:lik release gives us original and fresh duo-playing that will charm anyone not afraid of dashing major melodies. - Staffan Jonsson

CD available from cdRoots


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