Why
should you want to buy a CD played on an instrument and by a
musician of which and of whom, unless you are Swedish, you probably
haven’t heard? Here is one answer: when the instrument is the
nyckelharpa and the player is Torbjörn Näsborn. The instrument
is a kind of keyed fiddle, earliest known in Sweden from 14th
and 15th century church art and from a real instrument
dated 1526. Like the hurdy-gurdy it has keys to control pitch,
but whereas the strings are vibrated on the former with a wheel,
on the nyckelharpa a short bow is used. In addition, like the
viola d’amore, the modern version of the nyckelharpa has sympathetic
strings – twelve on the instrument used on this CD. The result
is a wholly individual sound, lacking in vibrato but flexible
and capable of variation in articulation. Clearly related to
the viola da gamba and to other folk instruments it is more
than capable of meeting most of the very varied requirements
of the music played here. I understand that there has been a
revival of interest in it in recent years in Sweden. This is
understandable, and CDs such as this could easily spread it
well beyond there.
Torbjörn
Näsborn started as a violinist, playing both classical and folk
music, but he took up the nyckelharpa later, initially as a
side activity. This disc shows that he can play not only folk-inspired
music such as that of Lars Näsborn and Eric Sahlsröm with gusto
and grace, but also great and well known baroque masterpieces.
I do however find the Bach Suite the least satisfactory item
on the disc. This is not because of any objection in principle
to playing it on instruments other than the cello. After all,
convincing recordings of it are available played on, for instance,
the viola and the guitar. It can give pleasure in private to
players of many other instruments, from the flute to the double
bass. Näsborn does not give an unmusical or uninteresting performance,
but the much more limited sonority of his instrument does seem
to reduce the impact of the music, in particular of the Prelude
and Sarabande.
The
other large scale transcriptions are much more satisfactory.
Both the C.P.E. Bach and the Marin Marais pieces are utterly
convincing, and in no way lose out from not being played on
the viola da gamba for which they were written. The Couplets
de Folies are played with both dash and concern for their cumulative
effect. Both Näsborn and Edlund, the excellent harpsichord player,
are at their best here, at the end of the CD, which I have found
makes it almost impossible to avoid the temptation to return
to the start and listen to it all over again.
The
impact of the playing is assisted by an excellent recording,
clear and well balanced, neither too close to the instruments
nor in too reverberant a space. The notes, by Professor Emeritus
Jan Ling are helpful about the instruments - and come in Swedish
and Japanese as well as English - but say little about the music.
The beautifully presented folder containing both notes and CD
does however have a delightful series of photographs taken by
Leif Haglund on the estate of Wapnö Slott, Halland, which may
not always be directly related to the contents of the CD but
are a source of great pleasure in themselves. All in all, I
can strongly recommend this to anyone with an interest in Baroque
music, folk music or simply wanting to hear great music played
in an unexpected but wholly fascinating way.
John Sheppard
