Traditional Norwegian Fiddle Music

Sven Nyhus | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 19, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Shanachie
• ASIN: B000000DUM
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #293,108 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sven Nyhus's Traditional Norwegian Fiddle Music, December 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Traditional Norwegian Fiddle Music (Audio CD)

Sven Nyhus is an unusual musician. He was born to the fiddle tradition of Norway and has played for decades as both a dancer's musician (with his own small group ensemble) and a musician's musician (solo concerts on international stages). Beyond that? Well, he is scholar of the music with a university professorship and books to his credit. This CD reflects his breadth of his traditional interests: tunes carefully chosen and artfully played on both the regular fiddle and the hardanger fiddle (resonating sympathetic strings). Hard to imagine a better or more authentic introduction to the string traditions of this country. If you are not familiar with Norwegian folk music, you should to get this CD. If you have scratched the surface (say with Annbjorg Lien), you need this CD. As a matter of fact, if you have gotten as far as reading this review, you ought to have a copy of this CD!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It Must Be Close to Yuletide, November 16, 2007

By 

Giordano Bruno - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Traditional Norwegian Fiddle Music (Audio CD)

JUL is the Swedish word for Christmas, and although none of Sven Nyhus's fiddle music has anything to do with Christmas, this is the time of year when I feel a need to listen to him. Nyhus plays the "flatfele" - the ordinary violin - in the most uncompromisingly traditional style of eastern Norway, so his performance sounds to me like perfectly civilized Swedish folk music. Be warned: this is a whole CD of one man playing dance tunes on a fiddle - no electronics, no concession to 'world music' or synthesis, and the only percussion comes from Sven's tapping foot. It might be possible to be very bored with such a CD, except that Sven Nyhus is a true virtuoso of his style. Ethnographic recordings of old Scandinavian fiddlers often suggest either a loose concept of tuning or else a weird modality, but Nyhus is totally in control of his pitch and of his bow. The style calls for a lot of semi-contrapuntal double stopping, and a fanatical attention to steadiness of rhythm. Odd springy rhythms are perhaps the hallmark of this repertoire. To some people, it may sound vaguely "Celtic", while to others it will resemble a more leisurely, meditative blue-grass. In any case, Nyhus plays it as well as anyone I've ever heard. You can get an idea of whether you might enjoy it by using the preview samples on amazon.