— The beauty of tone, nuanced dynamics, sensitivity to the subtleties of phrasing, and rhytmic lift are really quite spellbinding…

(Fanfare Magazine, Jerry Dubins, Jan/Feb 2018)

Ssens Trio 

Sølve Sigerland, violin 
Henninge Landaas, viola 
Ellen Margrete Flesjø, cello 

Ssens Trio (pronounced ‘Essence’) was established in 2014 by three musicians with a wealth of experience in the international music scene. The trio has appeared in concert with Geir Inge Lotsberg, Eivind Ringstad, Håvard Gimse and Leif Ove Andsnes, among others. Their first CD, Beethoven: String Trios Op. 3 & 8 (LAWO Classics), received Pizzicato Magazine’s “Supersonic Award” and a prestigious ICMA Awards nomination in 2018. Fanfare Magazine wrote: “With absolutely no hesitation I will say that it goes right to the top of my Beethoven String Trios list.” (Jerry Dubins). And the following from a review in Pizzicato Magazine under the heading ‘Beethoven With a Communicative Joy of Music Making’: “Their performance is brimming with the joy of playing together. An outstanding ‘trialogue’, with each performer fully sensing the other. Through this interactive music making, which in the Adagio and Minuet movements invokes a remarkably intimate mood, Beethoven’s works gain in depth and sensuousness. And when one combines the sensitive playing with a wonderfully eloquent virtuosity, the way is clear for pure listening pleasure.” (Alain Steffen). In 2019 Ssens Trio released a CD on the LAWO Classics label with music of W. A. Mozart. This recording received glowing reviews in Classica (France), Fanfare Magazine and Pizzicato Magazine, among others, and it was nominated for the Opus Klassik Award in Germany and the ICMA (International Classical Music Awards) in 2020. [download bio]

Sølve Sigerland has devoted the greater part of his career to chamber music, while appearing as soloist with leading Scandinavian orchestras conducted by Andrew Litton, Daniel Harding and Walter Weller, among others. In 1993 Sigerland represented Norway at the Nordic Soloist Biennial in Stockholm, and later he won two prizes at the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition in Sion, Switzerland. As a member of the Grieg Trio, he has performed in Europe, the USA and Asia and received prizes for both performances and recordings. Sølve Sigerland received the Gammleng Award in 2021. 

Henninge Landaas is a violist in Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. She was a member of the internationally renowned Vertavo String Quartet, with which she performed in concert halls the world over. The ensemble’s critically acclaimed recordings include works by Carl Nielsen, Brahms, Bartok, Grieg and Debussy, among others. With the quartet she shared the Norwegian Music Critics’ Prize, Spellemannprisen (Norwegian Grammy), and the prestigious French award, Diapason d’Or. Henninge Landaas has released a number of CDs on the LAWO Classics label, among them, Johannes Brahms: Sonatas for Viola & Piano, Op. 120 and The Golden Hindemith. She plays a G.B. Guadagnini viola on loan from Dextra Musica. 

Ellen Margrete Flesjø was a founding member of the Grieg Trio in 1987. With this ensemble she has performed in Europe, the USA and Asia and has released critically acclaimed recordings on EMI, Virgin and Simax Classics labels. Prizes she has received include the Parkhouse Award, First Prize and two additional prizes at the Colmar International Chamber Music Competition (Colmar, France), the Norwegian Music Critics’ Prize, and Spellemannprisen (Norwegian Grammy). From 2004 to 2009, Ellen Margrete Flesjø was co-artistic director of the Stavanger International Chamber Music Festival, together with her colleagues in the Grieg Trio. 

TRIO

Johann Sebastian Bach  
«Goldberg Variations» BWV. 988 (arr. Dmitri Sitkovetsky)

Ludwig van Beethoven
Trio in Eflat-major op.3
Serenade in D-major op.8
Trio in G-major op.9 nr.1
Trio in D-major op.9 nr.2
Trio in c-minor op.9 nr.3

Edvard Fliflet Bræin
Stringtrio op.15 (1963)

Ernö Dohnányi
Serenade in C-major op.10

Haflidi Hallgrimsson
Trio op.54 (2017, for Ssens Trio)

Joseph Haydn
Trio in G-major op.53 nr.1
Trio in Bflat-major op.53 nr.2
Trio in D-major op.53 nr.3

Bertil Palmar Johansen
“Ricercare” for String Trio (1996)

Gideon Klein
String Trio (1944)

Zoltán Kodály
Intermezzo (1905)

Johan Kvandal
Stringtrio op.12 (1950)

György Kurtág
«Signs, Games and Messages» (1989/97)

Bohuslav Martinů
Trio nr. 2 (1934)

Finn Mortensen
Trio op.3 (1951)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Divertimento in Eflat-major KV.563
Preludes and Fugues KV.404a

Krzysztof Penderecki
Trio (1991)

Alfred Schnittke
Trio (1985)

Franz Schubert
Trio in Bflat-major D.471
Trio in Bflat-major D.581

DUO

Händel/Halvorsen
Passacaglia for violin and viola/cello

Zoltan Kodaly
Duo for violin and cello op.7

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Duo in G-major KV.423 (violin and viola)

Maurice Ravel
Sonata for violin and cello (1920/22)

QUARTET

(with Piano) 

Johannes Brahms
Piano Quartet in g-minor op.25
Piano Quartet in A-major op.26
Piano Quartet in c-minor op.60

Antonin Dvorak
Piano Quartet in D-major op.23
Piano Quartet in Eflat-major op.87

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Piano Quartet in g-minor KV.478
Piano Quartet in Eflat-major KV.493

QUINTET

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
String Quintet in Bflat-major KV.174
String Quintet in c-minor KV.406
String Quintet in C-major KV.515
String Quintet in g-minor KV.516
String Quintet in A-major KV.581
String Quintet in Eflat-major KV.614

Franz Schubert
Piano Quintet in A-major («Trout») D.667

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News and reviews

PIZZICATO Magazine

(Supersonic Award, September 2017)

Beethoven mit kommunikativer Spielfreude

30.09.2017

Ludwig van Beethoven: Trio op. 3, Serenade op. 8; Ssens Trio; 1 CD Lawo 1122; Aufnahme 02/2016, Veröffentlichung 09/2017 (71'28) — Rezension von Alain Steffen

Mit dieser CD ist es der norwegischen Plattenfirma Lawo gelungen, außergewöhnliche Interpreten für Beethovens Trio op. 3 und die Serenade op. 8 zu finden. Solve Sigerland, Violine, Henninge Landaas, Bratsche, und Ellen Margarete Flesjo, Cello, bilden das ‘Ssens Trio’, das 2014 gegründet wurde. Die spielerische Freude hört man in jedem Moment. Der ‘Trialog’ ist hervorragend, jeder hört und spürt den anderen. Durch dieses interaktive Musizieren, das im den Adagio- und Menuett-Sätzen gar innige Stimmungen hervorzaubert, gewinnen Beethovens Werke an Tiefe und Sinnlichkeit. Und kombiniert man dieses gefühlvolle Spiel mit einer wunderbar eloquenten Virtuosität, dann steht dem Hörvergnügen nichts mehr im Wege. Und mehr braucht man über diese wunderbare CD auch nicht zu sagen. In den CD-Player und einfach nur genießen!

The Ssens Trio is completely inside the idiom here, and the sensitivity and the imagination lead to truly appealing performances. Just put the disc in the player and enjoy!"

FANFARE Magazine (Jan/Feb 2018)

BEETHOVEN String Trio in E♭, op. 3. Serenade in D, op. 8 • Ssens Tr • LAWO 1122 (71:23) String Trio 3 & Serenade 8

"Among Beethoven’s earliest published works are five string trios for violin, viola, and cello, “published” being the operative word, since there is a ton of juvenilia without opus numbers, and several not juvenile works with opus numbers, such as the three piano trios of op. 1, that predate the string trios. The Trio in E♭ Major, op. 3, was composed between 1792 and 1794, but may have been sketched out earlier while Beethoven was still in Bonn. Its six-movement, divertimento-like layout, with two Menuetto movements enclosing a central Adagio, is an obvious nod to Mozart’s great string trio, the Divertimento in E♭ Major, K 563. The so-titled Serenade in D Major, op. 8, was Beethoven’s second go at a string trio. Composed in 1796–97, it’s a strange work, perhaps even unprecedented in terms of form. It’s laid out in seven movements, but lacks the expected second Menuetto typical of serenade and divertimento-type works. Instead, it begins and ends with a short march, framing an Adagio and a Menuetto, followed by a movement that’s almost a self-contained work within itself (Adagio–Scherzo–Allegro molto–Adagio–Allegro molto–Adagio), then an Allegretto alla polacca, and finally a theme and variations movement, before reprising the opening march. These are the two trios on this disc. More than likely, the Ssens Trio will give us a follow-up release containing the three remaining string trios grouped together under op. 9. They were composed in 1797–98, and all three of them are in the expected “normal” Classical form, with a sonata-allegro first movement, a slow movement in second place, a scherzo or menuetto in third place, and a fast, high-spirited, concluding movement. Of the three, however, the Trio in C Minor, op. 9/3, in Beethoven’s tragic-heroic key, is very agitated, foretelling the composer’s Sturm und Drang mode to come. Even by the measure of recent chamber group hatchlings, the Norway-based Ssens Trio is a newborn, formed in 2014 by three veteran musicians whose names may be familiar in other contexts. Violinist Sølve Sigerland is a member of the Grieg Trio and has appeared as a soloist with leading Scandinavian orchestras. Henninge Landaas is co-principal viola of the Oslo Philharmonic and a former member of the internationally renowned Vertavo String Quartet. Cellist Ellen Margrete Flesjø was a founding member of the Grieg Trio in 1987. Constituted as the Ssens Trio—whose name I’m not sure how to pronounce—this is the players’ debut album; and with absolutely no hesitation I will say that it goes right to the top of my Beethoven string trios list. Heretofore, I’ve enjoyed listening to these works performed by the Leopold Trio on Hyperion, though I still reserve a special liking for a set of the trios on Denon not listed by ArkivMusic, performed by the Mozart String Trio (Jean-Jacques Kantorow, violin; Vladimir Mendelssohn, viola; and Mari Fujiwara, cello). The Mozart Trio’s technical precision, combined with its bold and forthright readings, comes across as more sharply focused than the comparatively looser or laidback sound of the Leopold Trio. But the performances here by the Ssens Trio are something else. The beauty of tone, nuanced dynamics, sensitivity to the subtleties of phrasing, and rhythmic lift are really quite spellbinding. There’s always one passage in particular I zero in on as a test of an ensemble’s expressive acumen, and that’s the second half of the first Menuetto in the E♭-Major Trio. Here we encounter one of the earliest examples of what I call Beethoven’s “music by suggestion.” The first half of the Menuetto’s Trio section contains a lovely and quite touching lyrical tune played by the violin. When the time comes for Beethoven to repeat it in the second half of the Trio section, he doesn’t, at least not literally. Instead, he outlines and embroiders around it, so that the ear thinks it’s hearing the tune as previously heard, even though it’s not. It’s an aural illusion, and it’s one of the secrets of the powerful effect that Beethoven’s music has on us. By manipulating us into hearing what we want to hear, we personalize the music and ascribe our own meaning to it, which pulls at and touches the heartstrings in a way that no other music does. Listen to Sølve Sigerland play this passage. Your heart will simultaneously ache and leap for joy. When the performance history of this period is written, the chapter on string playing will be titled “The Golden Age.” Do not wait for the companion disc with the three op. 9 Trios on it to arrive, as I’m sure it will in due time. This is an imperative purchase. Jerry Dubins This article originally appeared in Issue 41:3 (Jan/Feb 2018) of Fanfare Magazine."

CONTACT

ellenflesjoe@live.no
henninge@lawo.no
solve@ssenstrio.com

Europe (excl. Norway):

Granvig Artists v/ Marianne Granvig
Pantheonsgade 12 st, DK—5000 Odense C, Danmark

P: +45 2829 7927
M: mg@granvigartists.dk

CVR—nummer: 38 18 64 93

FACEBOOK

https://www.facebook.com/Ssens123/