Kjetil Bjerkestrand - Piano Poems - Una Corda

Lyrical CD debut with the grand old man of Norwegian music

With wordless songs about love and hope Kjetil Bjerkestrand's music weaves its way into our hearts, leaving us in a state of calm tranquillity and introspection. At the age of 54 he is now making his solo debut on CD, performing ten of his own compositions and three well-loved hymns on "Piano Poems". The main focus is on the Steinway grand piano, and around and behind it the experienced pianist and organist has created a discrete shadow landscape of electronics, and a touch of church organ spiced with some Hammond C3.

The music is performed in a space with great depth and height, and Kjetil Bjerkestrand's debut album has thus become an audiophile manifest from KKV. The music is being released on both CD and vinyl.

We have heard Kjetil Bjerkestrand as a pianist, keyboard player, organist, arranger and producer on innumerable records with Norwegian artists from most musical worlds, particularly pop, rock, folk songs and church and classical music. He has written and performed music for a large number of Norwegian films. His CV amounts to a whole book.

He describes his compositions as mental states. In many ways the entire Piano Poems is a mental state, an atmosphere of great calm and timeless devotion to something that is never spoken, only existing as an unknown comforting hand. The titles are often quite neutral, such as a number, or perhaps a date or a hotel room, or a single word that does not bear any special connotations.

Bjerkestrand has subtitled his CD "Una corda", which means "one string". This musical expression is used in written piano music to indicate that the composer wants to soften the note, and this is accomplished when the pianist presses the leftmost pedal so that only two of the three strings for each tone are sounded.

Piano Poems was recorded in Kulturkirken Jakob in Oslo by Daniel Wold and produced by Erik Hillestad.