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Stories   >   In advance of the Colorado Music Festival, Danish String Quartet violinist Rune Tonsgaard Sorenson chats with 88.5KGNU

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In advance of the Colorado Music Festival, Danish String Quartet violinist Rune Tonsgaard Sorenson chats with 88.5KGNU

Posted: July 25, 2024
Interview with KGNU

88.5KGNU'S Anya Sanchez writes….KGNU’s Sanford Baran interviews Rune Tonsgaard Sorenson, a violinist from the Danish String Quartet, known for their mix of classical and folk music. Sorenson shares his musical journey and his early love for the violin. He discusses the quartet’s formation in 1998 and highlights their diverse repertoire, which includes both classical and folk music, and their creative process for arranging and performing these pieces. He also mentions their upcoming album “Keel Road,” which explores musical traditions from Scandinavia and the British Isles, and future projects like a recording of Schubert’s chamber music and a multi-art form project for Shostakovich’s 50th anniversary. The quartet will perform at the Colorado Music Festival on July 30th. 

The Quartet’s upcoming recording Keel Road is the latest chapter for the group, a reckoning with music from – or inspired by – northern folk and traditional sources, rounding off a decade of sustained engagement with the genre. Wood Works, issued in 2014 on the Danish Dacapo label gave notice of the extent of the DSQ’s commitment to folk, explored in parallel with their classical activities, and Last Leaf, released in 2017 on ECM New Series took the story further. A resounding success with press and public, Last Leaf ranked high amongst albums of the year at NPR, The New York Times and Gramophone, the latter magazine suggesting this might be “the best album of folk ditties from a string quartet you’ll ever hear”, an assertion now challenged by Keel Road. 

Once again, the group casts its associative net wide: “We set out on a musical journey that traverses the North Sea. For centuries, the main communication channel of Northern Europe, the highway and the internet of bygone eras. And even though known for its swift upsurges and strong gales, brave sailors would again and again travel the keel road, enabling a continuous exchange of goods, culture and music. The musical keel road of this album will take us from Denmark and Norway to shores far away: to the Faroe Islands, to Ireland and England.” The journey illuminates musical affinities as well as distinctions. “While folk music represents local traditions and local stories, it is also the music of everywhere and everyone. At the end of the day, our stories and our music remain closely connected.

Amid the traditional pieces, Keel Road subtly interweaves compositions by Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen and Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin, which eloquently convey a “folk” spirit. A brief excerpt from a field recording of the Danish traditional “En Skomager Har Jeg Været” (A cobbler I was) precedes Sørensen’s reflective tune “Once A Shoemaker”. 

With characteristic attention to detail, the Danish String Quartet creatively colour the album’s arrangements with the addition of instruments including spinet, harmonium, bass and clog fiddle. Guest musicians Ale Carr (cittern) and Nikolaj Busk (piano), meanwhile, both members, with Rune, of the folk trio Dreamers’ Circus join the DSQ for a performance of Carr’s “Stormpolskan”. 

Keel Road’s musical stopover in Ireland proves particularly productive, as the quartet interprets pieces composed by Turlough O’Carolan (1670-1738), the legendary harpist from County Meath. Unusual among the itinerant harpists of his day, O’Carolan drew influence not only from local tradition but also from then-contemporary European composers including Vivaldi and Corelli, intuitively seeking his own blend of form and folk spontaneity. 

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