Ketil Bjørnstad

Ketil Bjørnstad (born 25 April 1952 in Oslo, Norway) is a Norwegian pianist, composer and author. Initially trained as a classical pianist, Bjørnstad discovered jazz at an early age and has embraced the emergence of "European jazz".

He is an artist on the ECM record label, but has also published some 20 books (predominantly novels) and a number of poetry and essay collections.

He has collaborated with other ECM artists, including cellist David Darling, drummer Jon Christensen, and guitarist Terje Rypdal.

Biography
Ketil Bjørnstad was trained as a classical pianist and studied with Amalie Christie and Robert Riefling, and also in London and Paris. He showed great talent at a young age, and won the title of "Youth Piano Master" in 1966 and 1968. When he was 16, he made his debut as a concert pianist with Béla Bartók's third piano concerto.

Bjørnstad subsequently turned towards jazz and rock, in close cooperation with the guitarist Terje Rypdal, bassist Arild Andersen, drummer Jon Christensen and the American cellist David Darling. He has recorded more than 50 albums, for labels which include Universal, Kirkelig Kulturverksted and ECM. He is particularly famous for the work Leve Patagonia (1978), which features Cornelis Vreeswijk and Lill Lindfors. His most famous song is "Sommernatt ved fjorden", sung by Ellen Westberg Andersen. Bjørnstad has released discs with a range of artists including Anneli Drecker, Kristin Asbjørnsen, Kari Bremnes, Lill Lindfors, Randi Stene, no:Lynni Treekrem, Frøydis Armand, the Stavangerensemblet, Anders Wyller, Per Vollestad and Ole Paus. He is internationally known for his Universal and ECM recordings, including The Sea, duo recordings with David Darling and Terje Rypdal, Grace, with Anneli Drecker, Bendik Hofseth and Trilok Gurtu,Floating with bassist Palle Danielsson and percussionist Marilyn Mazur, which went to the top of the jazz charts in Germany, solo triple album Rainbow Sessions and The Light, with Randi Stene and Lars Anders Land, which led Gramophone magazine to compare Bjørnstad's songs to those of Leonard Cohen. His most recent ECM album, Remembrance (2010), adds to his catalogue of his serene, meditative work.

Bjørnstad has worked in recent years with the Swedish cellist Svante Henryson. In 2000 he wrote the millennium oratorio Himmel Rand (The edge of the sky), based on texts of the poet Stein Mehren. He wrote commissions for the Molde International Jazz Festival in 2007 and for the Bjørnson Festival in 2008. He also wrote "Coast Lines" for the Canal Street Festival in Arendal in 2007 and "Hvalenes Song" for Vestfold International Festival in 2009. His music has often been used by film directors, including Ken Loach and Jean-Luc Godard. As a pianist he has toured all over the world, and visited jazz festivals including those in Montreal, Shanghai, Taipei, Rome, Nancy, Frankfurt, Leipzig, London, Molde and Kongsberg.

Bjørnstad first appeared as an author in 1972 with the poetry collection Alone. He has published about 30 books in all, including poems, novels and biography. Among his earliest novels are Pavane and Bingo – a virtue of Essentials. His novel Oda!, which is based on the life of Oda Krohg is regarded as a reference work on the bohemian scene in Kristiania (Oslo before 1924), and sits alongside his biography of Hans Jæger. A translation of his biographical work The story of Edvard Munch was published in English to coincide with a Munch retrospective exhibition. Among his other literary works are the critically acclaimed Villa Europa and the Victor-Alveberg trilogy, which consists of the novels Drift, Dream of the Sea and Road to Dhaka . Bjørnstad won the Riksmål prize in 1998 with Spiritual. The same year he wrote a satirical book about football, The journey to Gaul with Ole Paus. Mention must also be made of the millennium trilogy which comprises Fall, Ludvig Hassel's Tusenårsskiftet (Ludwig Hassel's Millennium)  and Tesman.

Bjørnstad wrote the psychological thrillers The Custom Themes and Twilight. The events of the latter take place in the archipelago of Tvedestrand, where Bjørnstad lived in the 1970s and 80s. More recently, Bjørnstad wrote an award-winning trilogy about the young pianist Aksel Vinding. It consists of the novelsThe music,The River and Damen i Dalen (The Lady in the Valley).

Bjørnstad's literary breakthrough in Germany came in 2006 with Vindings Spiel (To the music) published by Suhrkamp / Insel. The influential critic Elke Heidenreich described the novel as "a perfect book" in her Lesen! program for ZDF, and it went straight into the bestseller list of Der Spiegel. The book was also Bjørnstad's literary breakthrough in France, and was awarded the Prix des lecteurs for 2008. To Music was published in English in 2009.

Discography

 * Apning (PHILIPS) (1973)
 * Berget det Bla (PHILIPS) (1974)
 * Tredje Dag (PHILIPS) (1975)
 * Lise Madsen, Moses og de Andre (with Ole Paus) (PHILIPS) (1975)
 * Finnes du Noensteds I Kveld (PHILIPS) (1976)
 * Selena (PHILIPS) (1977)
 * Musikk for en Lang Natt (with Sigmund Groven) (PHILIPS) (1977)
 * Leve Patagonia! (rockopera) (PHILIPS) (1978)
 * Svart Piano (PHILIPS) (1979)
 * Tidevann (PHILIPS) (1980)
 * Och Manniskor ser Igen (for Lill Lindfors) (1980)
 * La Elva Leve! (KOLIBRI) (1980)
 * Tredvearskrigen (30-ars Krigen) (with Stavangerensemblet) (PHILIPS) (1981)
 * Engler I Sneen (PHILIPS) (1982)
 * Bjornstad / Paus / Hamsun (text: Knut Hamsunddikt, 1859–1952) (HETE BLIKK / SLAGER) (1983)
 * Aniara (rockopera) (feat. Lill Lindfors) (1983)
 * Mine Dager I Paris (HETE BLIKK / SLAGER) (1984)
 * Preludes Vol. 1 (1984)
 * Manniskors makt (for Lill Lindfors) (text: Edith Sodergran, 1892–1923) (1985)
 * Natten (with Sissel Ingri Andersen) (HETE BLIKK) (1985)
 * Preludes Vol. 2 (1985)
 * Three Ballets (Pianology / Ophelias arrival / Minota) (1986)
 * Pianology (Hete Blikk / Hermetage) (1987)
 * Karen Mowat-Suite (Hot Club Records, 1988)


 * The Shadow (featuring Randi Stene), poems by John Donne, (1562–1626) (KKV, 1990)
 * Odyssey (KKV) (1990)
 * Rift  (rockopera) (SLAGER) (1991)
 * Messe for en Saret Jord (Mass for a Wounded Earth) (KKV) (1992)
 * Losrivelse (for Kari Bremnes) (text: Edvard Munch, 1863–1944) (KKV) (1993)
 * Water Stories (ECM) (1993)
 * Preludes (re-release) (HERMITAGE / SEPTEMBER) (1993)
 * Ophelias arrival / Minota (re-release) (HERMITAGE / SEPTEMBER) (1994)
 * Svart Piano / Tredje Dag (re-release) (PHILIPS) (1994)
 * For den som elsker (For Those Who Love) (with Froydis Armand) (text: Stein Mehren, 1935\u2013) (KKV) (1994)
 * 30 Arskrigen (UNIVERSAL) (1994)
 * Salomos Hoysang (for Lill Lindfors & Tommy Nilsson) (text: the Bible) (KKV) (1995)
 * Sanger fra en Klode (for Per Vollestad) (GRAPPA) (1995)
 * The Sea (with David Darling, Terje Rypdal, Jon Christensen) (ECM) (1995)
 * Haugtussa (for Lynni Treekrem) (text: Arne Garborg, 1851\u20131924) (KKV) (1995)
 * The Davidssalmer (with Anders Wyller, text: the Bible) (KKV) (1995)
 * The River (with David Darling) (ECM) (1996)
 * Reisetid (SEPTEMBER) (1997)
 * Ett liv (with Lill Lindfors, text: Edith Sodergran, 1892–1923) (KKV) (1998)
 * The Sea II (with David Darling, Terje Rypdal, Jon Christensen) (GRAPPA / ECM) (1998)


 * The Rosenborg Tapes, Volume I—New Life (aka Nytt Liv) (TYLDEN & CO. / PHILIPS / SEPTEMBER) (1998)
 * The Rosenborg Tapes, Volume II—20 variations on the Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp minor by J. S. Bach (TYLDEN & CO. / SEPTEMBER) (1999)
 * Himmelrand \u2013 Tusenarsoratoriet (text: Stein Mehrens, 1935–) (BMG) (1999)
 * Epigraphs (with David Darling) (ECM) (2000)
 * Grace (Recorded live at Vossajazz, 2000) (text: John Donne, 1562–1626) (EMARCY) (2001)
 * Before the Light (NOVEMBER) (2001)
 * Old (UNIVERSAL) (2001)
 * Early Years (UNIVERSAL) (2002)
 * The Nest (featuring Anneli Drecker) text: Harte Crane, 1899–1932) (EMARCY) (2003)
 * Profeten (with Terje Rypdal and Ole Paus) (text: Kahlil Gibran, 1883–1931) (ABC-MEDIA) (2003)
 * Seafarer's Song (UNIVERSAL JAZZ) (2004)
 * Solskinnsdypet (featuring Kolbein Falkeid) (text: Kolbein Falkeid) (KKV) (2004)
 * Floating (EMARCY) (2006)
 * Rainbow Sessions (UNIVERSAL JAZZ) (2006)
 * Devotions (UNIVERSAL JAZZ) (2007)
 * Life in Leipzig with Terje Rypdal (ECM, 2008)
 * The Light: Songs of Love and Fear (with Randi Stene and Lars Anders Tomter) (ECM) (2008)
 * Night Song (with Svante Henryson) (ECM, 2009)
 * Remembrance (with Tore Brunborg & Jon Christensen) (ECM, 2009)
 * Early Piano Music (Hubro, 2011) - (2xCD)
 * Vinding's Music - Songs From The Alder Thicket (with Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Christian Eggen, Gunilla Süssmann & Jie Zhang) (ECM, 2012)
 * La notte (with Anja Lechner, Andy Sheppard, Eivind Aarset, Arild Andersen & Marilyn Mazur) (ECM, 2013)

Books

 * Ketil Bjørnstad. The story of Edvard Munch, London, UK: Arcadia, 2001. ISBN 1-900850-44-3.
 * Ketil Bjørnstad. Villa Europa: novel, Oslo, Norway: Aschehoug, 1992 (Norwegian). ISBN 82-03-16872-8.

Awards

 * Spellemannprisen 1974 in the open class forBerget det blå
 * Sarpsborg Prize 1978
 * Riksmål Society Literature Prize 1988
 * Mads Wiel Nygaard's Endowment 1989
 * Gammleng Prize in the open class in 2001
 * The French reader prize Le prix des lecteurs for his novel To Music in 2008