Keel Road Danish String Quartet

• Turlough O'Carolan (1670 - 1738): Mabel Kelly (Arr. for String Quartet by the Danish String Quartet):
• 1O'Carolan: Mabel Kelly (Arr. for String Quartet by the Danish String Quartet)04:16
• Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen (b. 1983): Pericondine / Fair Isle Jig (Arr. for String Quartet by the Danish String Quartet):
• 2Traditional, Sørensen: Pericondine / Fair Isle Jig (Arr. for String Quartet by the Danish String Quartet)02:57
• Ale Carr (b. 1989): Stormpolskan (Arr. for String Quartet, Piano and Cittern by the Danish String Quartet):
• 3Carr: Stormpolskan (Arr. for String Quartet, Piano and Cittern by the Danish String Quartet)04:27
• Traditional: En Skomager Har Jeg Været:
• 4Traditional: En Skomager Har Jeg Været00:43
• Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen: Once a Shoemaker:
• 5Sørensen: Once a Shoemaker04:20
• Traditional: Lovely Joan (Arr. for String Quartet by the Danish String Quartet):
• 6Traditional: Lovely Joan (Arr. for String Quartet by the Danish String Quartet)03:08
• Turlough O'Carolan: Carolan's Quarrel with the Landlady (Arr. for String Quartet by the Danish String Quartet):
• 7O'Carolan: Carolan's Quarrel with the Landlady (Arr. for String Quartet by the Danish String Quartet)02:18
• Traditional: Regin Smiður (Arr. for String Quartet by the Danish String Quartet):
• 8Traditional: Regin Smiður (Arr. for String Quartet by the Danish String Quartet)03:38
• Turlough O'Carolan: Captain O’Kane (Arr. for String Quartet by the Danish String Quartet):
• 9O'Carolan: Captain O’Kane (Arr. for String Quartet by the Danish String Quartet)03:15
• Fredrik Sjølin (b. 1982): Kjølhalling:
• 10Sjølin: Kjølhalling03:21
• Turlough O'Carolan: Planxty Kelly (Arr. for String Quartet by the Danish String Quartet):
• 11O'Carolan: Planxty Kelly (Arr. for String Quartet by the Danish String Quartet)02:06
• Traditional: As I Walked Out (Arr. for String Quartet by the Danish String Quartet):
• 12Traditional: As I Walked Out (Arr. for String Quartet by the Danish String Quartet)04:30
• Fredrik Sjølin, Traditional, Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen: Marie Louise / The Chat / Gale Warning (Arr. for String Quartet by the Danish String Quartet):
• 13Sjølin, Traditional, Sørensen: Marie Louise / The Chat / Gale Warning (Arr. for String Quartet by the Danish String Quartet)07:19
• Traditional: Når Mitt Øye, Trett Av Møje (Arr. for String Quartet by the Danish String Quartet):
• 14Traditional: Når Mitt Øye, Trett Av Møje (Arr. for String Quartet by the Danish String Quartet)05:05
• Total Runtime51:23

Info for Keel Road

Das neue Album des Danish String Quartets ist eine "musikalische Spurensuche über die Nordsee, eine Reise durch die Klänge der traditionellen Musik Nordeuropas, die uns von Dänemark und Norwegen zu den Färöer-Inseln und nach Irland und England führt."

Keel Road folgt auf Last Leaf, das gefeierte Danish-String-Quartet-Album aus dem Jahr 2017, das von NPR zum "Classical Album of the Year" und von Publikationen wie der New York Times und dem Gramophone Magazin zum "Best of the Year" gewählt wurde. Keel Road unterstreicht die Auffassung der Gruppe, dass "Volksweisen nicht nur ein Teil unseres Repertoires, sondern ein wichtiges Element unserer Identität als Musiker sind." Subtil in den Fluss der Einspielung integriert sind neben traditionellen Stücken auch Eigenkompositionen von Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen und Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin sowie bestechende Arrangements der Musiker von vier Kompositionen Turlough O'Carolans, dem legendären Harfenisten aus dem irischen County Meath. Das Programm beleuchtet sowohl musikalische Verwandtschaften als auch deren subtile Unterschiede, denn obgleich Folkmusik "lokale Traditionen und lokale Geschichten repräsentiert, ist sie gleichzeitig auch die Musik von überall und jedem".

Keel Road wurde im November 2022 im Village Recording Studio in Kopenhagen aufgenommen und im März 2024 in den Bavaria Musikstudios in München gemischt.

"Folkmusik ist nicht nur Teil unseres Repertoires, sondern ein wichtiges Element unserer Identität als Musiker". (The Danish String Quartet)

Danish String Quartet

Danish String Quartet
As a string quartet, we find ourselves at the core of the classical music world. On a daily basis we delve deeply into works by great masters such as Beethoven and Mozart, but we also play the occasional folk gig. Over the years we have been fortunate to study in many different places in masterclasses with renowned teachers and have had opportunities to perform in major concert halls across the world. Sometimes a friendly reviewer has written nice things about us too. We have participated in competitions and made some recordings as well. If you want to know more about all this stuff, check out the ‘press‘ page on our site, where you can download a PDF with all the text you could hope for.

Here’s a simpler story of the quartet: We are three Danes and one Norwegian cellist, making this a truly Scandinavian endeavor. We are often joking about ourselves being modern Vikings – perhaps a touch more harmless than our ancestors – we are not pillaging cities or razing the English coastline! We are simply your friendly neighborhood string quartet with above average amounts of beard.The three of us met very early in our lives in the Danish countryside at an amazing summer camp for enthusiastic amateur musicians. Not yet teenagers, we were the youngest players, so we hung out all the time playing football and chamber music together. During the regular school year we would get together often to play music and just have fun. We became best friends. In 2001, professor Tim Frederiksen of The Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen got in touch with us and started coaching us on a regular basis. All of the sudden, at the ages of 15 and 16, we were a serious string quartet. It all happened so fast that none of us seemed to notice the transition.

Time passed and we grew up. We were enrolled at The Royal Academy of Music and our life as music students had begun. Funnily enough, none of us have any memory of our lives without the string quartet. In 2008 Norwegian cellist Fredrik joined in, generously adding to the amount of beard and general Vikingness of the group. We found him hidden away in a castle outside Stockholm. During his free time, Fredrik can be found fixing or sailing his sailboat somewhere in Scandinavia.The rest of us spend time with different hobbies – old cars, cooking, gaming, reading, playing, talking, and drinking. Yes, playing string quartets is our job, and yes it is hard work, but we mostly do it for pleasure, like we always did.There is so much amazing music to delve into, and our hope is to continue our travels through life and music together as a quartet. We want to be able to share our music with as many people as possible. And of course, the ultimate goal is to beat Valentin Berlinsky’s (Borodin String quartet) world record of “most years in the same chamber music group”. We will reach that goal around 2060 and on that day we will host a giant feast – you shall all be invited!

Booklet for Keel Road