A vandring minstrel Norwegian folk artist Benedicte Maurseth evokes the soundscapes of her native land
Benedicte Maurseth
Hárr
Benedicte Maurseth (Hardanger fiddle), Rolf-erik Nystrøm (saxophone)
Hubro HUBROCD2645
Norwegian Hardanger fiddler Benedicte Maurseth first featured in this magazine with her 2010 debut Alde. Since then, she has collaborated with other neo-folk luminaries such as David Rothenberg, who invited her to join him in several musical projects involving the sounds of unique birds from around the world. Following this experience, her latest album Hárr is an exquisite musique concrete sound portrait of Maurseth’s native Hardangervidda region, making canny use of samples of local wildlife and a small ensemble featuring double bass, vibes, marimba and electronica. It takes off with a typically forlorn sounding golden plover and sleepily twittering passerines before the appearance of irked or startled common cranes and arctic loons out on their own astral plane. Rolf-erik Nystrøm’s atmospheric flurries of sax could almost be wild sounds, but then there are the clanking bells of reindeer and their breathy, ungulate exertions, as well as matter-of-fact exchanges in Norwegian by their herders. You might feel you’ve been vandring in the Hardangervidda National park once the piece ends. ★★★★★