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Written in fRoots issue 246, 2003
 

NYCKELHARPORKESTERN
N.H.O.
Drone DROCD032 (2003)

DANIEL PETTERSSON
Sweden: The Nyckelharpa
Ocora C 560177 (2003)

Sweden’s Nyckelharpa Orchestra’s wall of keyed fiddles in the hands of six top Swedish players emerges as genuinely a new form of orchestra, and it’s a powerful beast. It would, and should, cause a stir in the concert halls of the world, but it’s no stiff, dinner-suited thing; it has the energy and drive of, say, Väsen, of which one of the Orchestra, Olof Johansson, is a member. The other NHO bowmen are Ola Hertzberg, Henrik Eriksson, Ranarim’s Niklas Roswall, Markus Svensson of Kalabra and Trio Patrekatt, and Johan Hedin of Bazar Blå, Triptyk, Trio Patrekatt and more.
      They use a range of versions of the nyckelharpa, from the old moraharpa to the newer chromatic forms and alto, tenor and octave developments, making a complex and agile sound covering a pitch spectrum from high ringing sympathetic strings down to a richly resounding cello range.
      The band formed and made a debut album as the Till Eric group, titled in tribute to Eric Sahlström, who was crucial in keeping the nyckelharpa skill-base alive during the thin years of a handful of players in Uppland before the current explosion of thousands worldwide. That 1995 album was dedicated to Sahlström’s compositions, and its 2000 sequel to those of 19th-century master Byss-Calle. But right from the beginning there has been a great deal of arranging creativity and some new composition, and the material on this new release is all new-written. Every bit as strong melodically as the tradition that precedes it, in addition the compositions can revel in the expanded tonal and arrangement possibilities of the group rather than being based on single-line tunes.

      Daniel Pettersson’s a top player too, and his album is another that widens the territory of nyckelharpa. He studied at the new Eric Sahlström Institute at Tobo in the nyckelharpa heartland of Uppland. Back home further north in Västerbotten, he has set about applying the instrument to the music of his own region, adding in the influences of Baroque music and of Dalarna’s asymmetric polskas and subtle uses of pitch. His name doesn’t actually appear on the front of his CD – it’s part of Ocora’s series representing the music of various nations, so just bears the legend Suède / Sweden: La Nyckelharpa / The Nyckelharpa, but it’s his nevertheless - and on it his standard modern chromatic nyckelharpa and kontrabasharpa are joined by Maria Jonsson on fiddle and quinto d’amore and singer Kersti Ståbi, both from the band Svart Kaffe, and viola player Olof Misgeld of the trio Toxa.


© 2003 Andrew Cronshaw


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