Chamber Works by Asmund Feidje is a Stereo DSD release from Lawo Classics. The album features performances of Feidje’s works by a number of musicians.

The album features Bjørg Lewis, Kvindelige Studenters Sangforening (KSS) conducted by Marit Tøndel Bodsberg Weyde, Vertavo String Quartet, Håkon Thelin, Cikada Ensemble conducted by Christian Eggen, Dan Styffe, Kenneth Ryland, Håkon Thelin & Glenn Lewis Gordon and Kolbjørn Holthe, Jon Wien Sønstebø, Ernst Simon Glaser, Marius Knudsen Flatby, Christian Krogvold Lundqvist, Members of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra (KORK) conducted by Bjarte Engeset.

Chamber Works by Asmund Feidje has been made possible with support from Arts Council Norway – The Audio and Visual Fund and the Norwegian Society of Composers.

After seven years of violin studies during his childhood, Åsmund Feidje founded the Norwegian experimental rock band Rain in 1967. In 1969, the group was employed by the National Theatre in Oslo to take part in the pop musical Din egen vri (Your own thing). Ever since then, Feidje has worked primarily with theatre music, both individually and in collaboration with the other members of RAIN. He was permanently employed at the theatre in 1973, playing in numerous productions over a wide range of styles, yielding him countless experiences within several musical genres. He also played with the Terje Rypdal Ensemble, and would later co-found the contemporary music ensemble Octoband.

Since the end of the 1970s he has focused more and more on composition, taking a year off in 1989-90 to study in Salzburg with the Polish contemporary composer Bogusław Schaeffer, professor of composition at the Mozarteum. He has subsequently composed chamber music for soloists and various ensembles while maintaining his work for the stage, for which he has composed music for more than 150 productions, including for all the major Norwegian theatres, for radio theatre, and for film and TV. Many of these productions in collaboration with Carl Jørgen Kiønig, his colleague from RAIN, who, from the 1980s and onwards, became one of the leading theatre directors of Norway.

He has also composed music for several ballet companies at home and abroad, including for the Finnish and Icelandic national ballets. He has enjoyed a close working relationship with choreographer Sølvi Edvardsen, collaborating on the ballet Access for the Norwegian National Ballet, which premiered on the main stage at Oslo’s prestigious new opera house (The Norwegian Opera & Ballet) in 2010. In 2002, they were commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to create the ballet Beyond Borders in New Delhi with leading Indian and Norwegian dancers, marking 50 years of aid to India.

Etüde for Violoncello Solo
Bjørg Lewis, Cello

Sonnet No. 8 for Women’s Choir
Kvindelige Studenters Sangforening (KSS)
Conductor: Marit Tøndel Bodsberg Weyde

1905 – Duel for String Quartet
Vertavo String Quartet

Contrabbacchus per contrabbasso solo
Håkon Thelin, Double Bass

Kort møte (Brief encounter) for Chamber Ensemble
Cikada Ensemble
Conductor: Christian Eggen

Fragment for Double Bass Quartet
Dan Styffe, Double Bass
Kenneth Ryland, Double Bass
Håkon Thelin, Double Bass
Glenn Lewis Gordon, Double Bass

Pas de deux for Chamber Ensemble and String Orchestra
Kolbjørn Holthe, Violin
Jon Wien Sønstebø, Viola
Ernst Simon Glaser, Cello
Marius Knudsen Flatby, Double Bass
Christian Krogvold Lundqvist, Vibraphone
Members of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra (KORK), String Orchestra
Conductor: Bjarte Engeset