Vårdroppar

It's enough of a selling point to say that the liner notes for this album were written by the great Norwegian trumpeter and composer Arve Henriksen. Rydvall and Mjelva ‘resonate with a life and joy that lift me high up and convey the same clear passion and play of colours as the view that shimmers outside of my window.’

The name of Hardanger fiddle player Olav Luksengård Mjelva has graced the Songlines pages on several occasions in reviews of his many projects. This album, with the Swedish nyckelharpa player Erik Rydvall, has an extra-special quality, not just in terms of performance (though that is both brilliant and magical) but in the choice of tunes, which shows a thoughtfulness, a respect for the music and a sense of fun. It's a mixture of traditional dance tunes and newer compositions, which brings out the mysterious resonances of both instruments, most touchingly in ‘Nödåret’, an outpouring of emotion surrounding a 19th-century famine. Eric Sahlström's ‘Akademipolska’ has an infectious baroque elegance and virtuosity and sets out the pair's purity of sound, and the captivating traditional tune ‘Vals Etter Tor Grimsgard’ is a call to the dance floor with some unexpected harmonic twists and turns. This is outstanding music-making from two of the masters.