Artist for All Seasons

Listening Post 78. Poets and writers from Ecclesiastes to Aeschylus, from Shelley to Kahlil Gibran, have described the thin line between joy and sorrow, but peerless is the musician who can erase the line and capture both emotions in a single note. The Norwegian folksinger, fiddler and composer/lyricist Sigrid Moldestad is that rare artist—in every sweet word a seed of loss, in every wintry chord a memory of flowers. Rooted in her nation’s rich music, she balances traditional and contemporary styles and takes inspiration where she finds it—Scandinavian poets, Robert Burns, bluegrass, Celtic and American folk. Så ta mitt hjerte – Dei beste songane (Take My Heart – Best Songs) is a dazzling collection of 18 past hits with four new compositions. In Å kjæraste (To a Love), her music animates poetry by Jan-Magnus Bruheim in a prayer that encompasses trials that strengthen the heart: “I pray for you sorrow and hard times, but not harder than you can manage,” she sings (video 1). The lyrics of Eg ser inn i augo dine (I Look Into Your Eyes) describe the warming rays of a lover’s gaze while fiddles sing with a vein of longing (video 2). Vintersong (Winter Song), one of the new tracks, asks whether evil sleeps at night and expresses hope in the Christmas message of peace (video 3). Haustkveld ved havet (Autumn Night by the Sea) again combines Moldestad’s music with a Bruheim poem, written in a coastal town but nostalgic for his home in the interior (video 4). Poetry itself is often an interior pursuit, but Moldestad projects her own work and that of others to the world with a voice and music that express the aching beauty of life. (Grappa Musikkforlag/Heilo)