The two composers Karin Rehnqvist and Ellen Lindquist are on the Norwegian Alpaca Ensemble‘s latest CD (LAWO Classics).
Karin Rehnqvist is from Sweden. Ellen Lindquist is an American-Dutch musician and composer who now lives in Norway. Alpaca Ensemble is based in Trondheim, Norway.
Expandable trio
The ensemble is basically a trio that works flexibly and connects with the musicians the works need. So on this record, Rolf Borch also participates in clarinet. The trio was founded in 1996 by Else Bø (piano), Sigrid Elisabeth Stang (violin), and Marianne Baudouin Lie (cello).
Rehnqvist (born 1957) and Lindquist (born 1970) write music that reflects on how humans belong in a nature that is larger than us. In the first work on the record, Karin Rehnqvist takes the listener into space (In Orbit – a moving quartet). Rehnqvist’s works for solo clarinet, Far and near, are also included; both from 2017.
Ellen Lindquist’s works are slightly older (from the years 1991–2010): Groundings (2004), Gaia (1998), Somniloquy (2010), and Pastorale (1991).
Alpaca Ensemble has collaborated with both composers on several previous occasions.
Alpaca Ensemble received the Norwegian Composers’ Association’s artist of the year 2020 and has established itself as one of Norway’s most important contemporary music ensembles. The album Rehnqvist & Lindquist is their tenth album.
The illustration at the top (which is also the album cover) is by Jenny Soep.
