Gjermund Larsen won "TONO's Composer's Award" at the Spellemannprisen last Saturday for the songs on the album "Salmeklang". This means that Larsen has won no less than six Spellemannprisen over the years.
/ 03/02/2017 / codexPhoto above: Geir Dokken, text: Willy Martinsen
– What’s extra special about this award is that it transcends genres. It was a new step for me to compete in a class with all genres. But to be completely honest, I was hero sure that I would not get the award this time. I was nominated with great, nice, talented people who I have enormous respect for, and who all deserved to win. So I call it a little luck, and maybe a little timing, but I was very surprised and extremely happy. You just have to accept it and say thank you, he says.
Homely
Salmeklang is the fourth album by the Gjermund Larsen Trio, which consists of Larsen himself on violin and fiddle, Andreas Utnem on piano and harmonium and Sondre Meisfjord on double bass. The starting point for Salmeklang was a commission from the Oslo Church Music Festival. Larsen was given complete freedom here, and invited the Swedish folk music group Nordic to contribute with mandolin, kleinharp and cello. The collaboration and performance went so well that Larsen thought it had to be recorded. The commission gave the album its name, even though it also has other songs that were not part of the commission. It took two years from composing the first note to the finished recording.
– The songs were created during a period when I was at home a lot, because we had twins. The inspiration is also from that. Both the children and other family members are the inspiration for a lot of the music. I spent a long time developing the repertoire, and the music was thus able to mature properly. That is probably what characterizes the album the most, and I am very happy with how it turned out in the end.
– How does the composition process work for you?
– When you are going to create a commissioned piece, you have to clear space in your calendar for a longer period of time. Even though it may be simple songs, it is incredibly time-consuming for me to come up with a finished result. I have built myself a house in the garden here at home in Verdalen, where I compose with the fiddle, grand piano and pedal organ. Then I go back and forth a bit, switching instruments and testing out chords, melodies and harmonies. Sometimes I first get a chord progression, other times a melody that I get the hang of. Sometimes it comes together quickly, other times it is extremely time-consuming. Some songs mature for years. A lot of it is created when I am traveling, and I use my phone and record small snippets, which eventually become a bank of ideas that I take home.
Arranged at rehearsal and recorded in Rainbow
When it all comes together, he makes sure that it's not 100 percent finished before the fellow musicians in the trio, Utnem and Meisfjord, get involved.
- When you work with such talented people as I do, you have to use their strengths. It would be wrong to ask them to play ready-made notes. It is much better to have some ideas and guidelines, and work it out together. The album was recorded at Rainbow Studios with Jan Erik Kongshaug behind the controls over five days in April last year. Everything was done live, without overdubs:
– Rainbow is a fantastic place to work. You can completely relax and not spend any energy worrying about the sound. We were there for five days, two of them with Nordic. Five days is a lot on paper, but it's really good to have some time to warm up. You have to tweak a bit to find the latest version of everything when you're in the studio, and you also get a lot of inspiration when you're in a studio like that and working.
Open mind
– You stand in a folk music tradition, but at the same time Salmeklang has a tonal language that sounds very modern?
- I grew up with folk music at home, come from a fiddler and old-time dance environment, and studied folk music for eight years. But I also have an open mind. I was allowed to play in Christian Wallumrød's ensemble for many years, and it was a revelation because Christian has no limitations when it comes to musical ideas. I have taken that into my music. I have also worked a lot with the Trondheim Soloists, other classical musicians and folk singers. All of this is in the background when I make music, he says. He adds that folk music is diverse, and throughout time has absorbed new impulses. Being a traditional musician also means that you should develop and take in elements of your contemporary.
– I think that the very melodic nature of my music is a result of the music I grew up with. A lot of folk music is melancholic and incredibly beautiful. It's old ballads, and where I come from in Verdalen there is also a tradition that has a lot in common with Swedish folk music, both the polska tradition and different types of folk songs. When I grew up with this, it's probably natural to have this with you, and it's also easy to stick to what you're best at. I've probably found that for me it's all about making nice songs. At least I don't do anything to not do it, he says. And it's not just Norwegians who think the Gjermund Larsen Trio sounds nice and great. The trio has also been touring abroad in recent years:
– Yes, we have traveled a lot in Germany. A few years ago we got a record company there that licenses the records and books jobs for us. We are building up, and then many people also come when a Norwegian trio comes to visit. We get an incredible amount of great feedback. The music sounds different, but it is also recognizable.
– All glory to Grappa
The record label Grappa's artists won a whole bunch of Spellemann awards this year, and they are also the ones who released Salmeklang.
– I have a very good relationship with Grappa. Helge Westbye and Andreas Meland, and the others there, are a fantastic group who work hard for us who work in slightly narrower genres. I get very free rein and have no time pressure or other guidelines. And they work well with the media, and these days you have to work a bit to get attention. Just getting a review in a newspaper is a bit of a job, so all credit to them, he says.
– And what does this new year hold for you?
– I have started slowly with two commissioned works, both of which will be premiered at the end of the summer. In mid-February, my trio will travel to Kansas City in the USA to play at Folk Alliance, the world's largest music fair for folk, roots and world music. It will be very exciting to see what we can get out of it, he concludes.