Danish String Quartet’s New Album, “Keel Road”

Released on ECM New Series, the album celebrates music from or inspired by northern folk and traditional sources

Comprising violinists Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen and Frederik Øland, violist Asbjørn Nørgaard, and cellist Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin, the Danish String Quartet (DSQ) made its ECM debut in 2016.

The group’s latest album on ECM New Series is “Keel Road,” which marks a decade of the DSQ engaging with folk music. 

“Folk tunes are not just a part of our repertoire, but an important element of our identity as musicians,” the quartet explained. “As we came together to form the quartet, folk melodies naturally blended into our rehearsals. We were experimenting with lots of different tunes, each of us adding a personal touch. This evolved into a serious endeavor over time.”

Amongst its traditional pieces, “Keel Road” includes compositions of a “folk” spirit by DSQ members Sørensen and Sjölin. Additionally, an excerpt from a field recording of the Danish traditional song “En Skomager Har Jeg Været” (A cobbler I was) precedes Sørensen’s reflective tune “Once A Shoemaker.”

“We set out on a musical journey that traverses the North Sea. For centuries, the main communication channel of Northern Europe, the highway and the internet of bygone eras,” DSQ wrote in the press release. “And even though known for its swift upsurges and strong gales, brave sailors would again and again travel the keel road, enabling a continuous exchange of goods, culture and music. The musical keel road of this album will take us from Denmark and Norway to shores far away: to the Faroe Islands, to Ireland and England.

“While folk music represents local traditions and local stories, it is also the music of everywhere and everyone,” they added. “At the end of the day, our stories and our music remain closely connected.

To purchase and listen to the album, click here.

DSQ’s new album features instruments including the spinet, harmonium, bass, and clog fiddle. Guest musicians include Ale Carr (on the cittern) and Nikolaj Busk (on piano), who both join the DSQ and Rune (of the folk trio Dreamers’ Circus) in Carr’s piece “Stormpolskan,” which can be viewed below.

Other works include those from Turlough O’Carolan — the legendary harpist from County Meath in the late 17th to early 18th centuries — who drew influences from local tradition and then-contemporary European composers such as Vivaldi and Corelli.

“Keel Road” was recorded at Copenhagen’s Village Recording Studio in November 2022, and was mixed by Munich’s Bavaria Musikstudios in March 2024.

The DSQ’s recent recording projects also include its five-volume PRISM series on ECM, which explores musical and contextual relationships between Bach fugues, Beethoven string quartets, and works by Shostakovich, Schnittke, Bartók, Mendelssohn, and Webern.