Search - Knut Buen :: Hardanger Fiddle Music of Norway

Norway's Tangy Folk Fiddle Music, Superbly Performed!

Gerald Parker | Rouyn-Noranda, QC., Dominion of Canada | 06/18/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This recording is quite enjoyable, at least for the listener who has "open ears" for sounds that would seem unfamiliar and quaintly odd to the average North American. This listener is of partly Scandanavian descent (although Swedish, not Norwegian), accustomed to the folk, popular, and Lutheran religious music of the region, being no ethnomusicological expert on this music, but it sounds fine to these ears!



The hardanger fiddle is a Norwegian folk adaptation of the violin, slightly smaller and with sympathetically vibrating strings that resonate along with those which the performer fingers and bows or plucks, among its numerous other distinguishing characteristics. The instrument has a repertory of very tangy, rather exotic-sounding folk tunes that make for many unexpected turns of melody, ornamentation, and harmony as most listerners would perceive this peculiar music. At first, someone not acquainted with Norwegian folk music may want to sample this disc a few tunes at a time, but the music should "grow on" him with exposure, to make for enjoyable listening from the disc's beginning to its conclusion. Knut Buen plays these quirky folk tunes, as all of the disc's music, with real bravura and superb musicianship, as well as full, pleasing tone and excellent intonation. Recommended highly for the adventurous listener!



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