Berit Opheim / / Maurseth - Tidekverv

Four days every year mark especially significant days for the sun: the vernal equinox, the summer solstice, the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice. On the summer and winter solstices the sun "turns", and on the spring and autumn equinoxes the day and night are the same length. The work Tidekverv presents new vocal and instrumental folk music composed for, and dedicated to, the sun's four important days. Two of Norway's most prominent folk musicians created this distinctive work. Berit Opheim is one of the country's foremost folk singers, and has in the past few years performed on stages in Norway, Europe and Asia as a member of Trio Mediæval and as a soloist. She has been associated with the Ole Bull Academy in Voss since 1992. Benedicte Maurseth started playing the Hardanger fiddle at the age of eight, under the instruction of Knut Hamre, and specializes in the traditional music of Hardanger. The work Tidekverv was inspired by the medieval visionary poem "Draumkvedet", both as a form of poetry and as type of musical ritual, as the ballad was mainly performed on the 13th day of Christmas every year. The two composers wanted to pay homage to an older form of poetry, the Nordic ballad, by writing new folk music, and they perform the work primarily in the periods of the equinoxes and solstices. The melodic material was composed by Opheim and Maurseth, but was adapted and arranged with the valuable help and enthusiasm of their musical colleagues Rolf Lislevand and Håkon Mørch Stene. Lislevand is well known as a lutenist and performer of early music. He has participated in many of Jordi Savall's projects, and heads his own group, Ensemble Kapsberger. Mørch Stene is a percussionist who has been awarded a number of prizes, and specializes in contemporary music and early music. The work was composed using the traditional style, tonalities and form of folk music, but has also clearly been inspired by elements of baroque, contemporary and improvisational music.