Dancing Suite to Suite is a unique rendezvous between Johann Sebastian Bach’s classical Partita No. 2 in D minor for solo violin and Ole Pullar Saxe´s Dance Suite for Solo Violin. Karen Bentley, a popular violinist from the San Francisco Bay area, performs these dances actually dancing suite to suite, with hip movements, violin slapping and foot stomping in Saxe’s Flamenco, Ziga (Balkan), Rhumba (viola), Jig, Tango and Salsa.

She expresses a warm and flowing tone and a wild sense of rhythmic abandon in a passionate interpretation of this Dance Suite as well as a divine bliss and tender subtlety in Bach’s Partita through the dances of the Baroque era: Allemanda, Corrente, Sarabanda, Giga, culminating with the legendary Ciaccona. These two Suites flow together in a natural conjunction of timelessness.

Karen has performed this music at numerous concerts, both as solo violinist and with multi-percussionist Ian Dogole, and she premiered the Dance Suite for Solo Violin and Orchestra composed by Ole Pullar Saxe especially for Redwood Symphony in California, directed by Eric Kujawsky on April 21, 2002.

Whenever Karen is on stage, dancing and playing her violin, the audience is thrilled to standing ovations. This album is very close to a live music experience at its best, recorded at Skywalker Ranch Soundstage to bring you a very warm and living quality of musical presence and vitality. On the last track Karen grabs her Norwegian Hardangerfele in a lively rendition of the epic tune Fanitullen by Odd Bakkerud, to join the mythic creature Noekken in search of her ancestral roots.

 

Dancing Suite to Suite is the fruition of the search for roots musical and genealogical. I first set foot on my ancestral land of Norway in July 1998. Landing in Oslo, I was greeted by my cousin Jens Moe who whisked me straight away to Telemark to meet the hardangerfele player Tarjei Romtveit at his bucolic home in Vijne where we fiddled for most of the afternoon. Lodgings were in a hytte with a sod roof by a rolling stream in Mjonoy where we resumed the fiddlefest the following day.

I had been yearning for a hardangerfele lesson since my childhood, intrigued by the intricately inlaid Norwegian violin with five sympathetically vibrating strings underneath the bridge. Tarjei taught me his favorite tunes, which I preserved on DAT tape for future practice sessions. Jens and I searched for Noekken and other trolls during our midnight hikes in the rustic forest. After several days in Oslo, I made the pilgrimage to the family island near Kragero where I met more cousins, and slept in the same bed as my great uncle Tillman Breiseth had years ago while on vacation from teaching Ibsen at the University of Oslo. I gathered enough Nordic inspiration for the trek to Denmark where I was engaged to play several solo violin recitals at Klint, a community which gathers each summer to study the writings of the Danish cosmologist Martinus. I played the concerts at Klint for an enthusiastic audience.

After the second concert, Ole Saxe invited me to jam with him on drums and piano on any evening after dinner, but I was far too interested in hiking along the coast of Nykoebing Sjaelland at midnight. So our musicmaking did not begin until I received the gift of the score Salsa for Karenin September 1998. The notes leapt off the page, demanding violinistic interpretation. I learned the gem in a week and it quickly became a staple of my repertoire as an encore, or by adding Nigerian clay pot (udu) played by Ian Dogole during our duo recitals. I was elated to have such a dynamic piece in my arsenal.

Following the suggestions of a friend, I requested an entire suite from Ole Saxe based on the model established by Johann Sebastian Bach: multinational dances related by key comprising an organic whole. Within several weeks Jig for Alan appeared as a gif file on my computer. Then followed the Ziga Dance, Rhumba de la Luna, Redhaired Tango, and finally the Flamenco Alojera, all composed by the end of March 2000. These dances reflect Ole’s background in folk themes and rhythms and are vivacious and intoxicating to practice and perform. We finally premiered theDance Suite in its entirety in Palo Alto, California on December 8, 2000 at 8:45 pm, following a performance of Bach’s D minor Partita. Ole was present for the premiere and the subsequent performance at Anna and Frank Pope’s ballroom in San Francisco. We were further encouraged by a grant from the Community Foundation of Silicon Valley as well as Maestro Eric Kujawsky requesting Ole to orchestrate the Dance Suite for a performance with Redwood Symphony in April 2002.

On October 23 and 24, 2001 we recorded Dancing Suite to Suite at Skywalker Ranch. We added Odd Bakkerud’s epic hardangerfele tuneFanitullen as a spice to this recording which celebrates the joy released by the chance encounters that led to this Swedish American collaboration. It is purported in Scandinavian mythology that a fiddler must spend time in the water to achieve excellence and inspiration. The cover photo represents a fiddler seated on a rock in a stream at the base of Mount Shasta, absorbing fluidity and virtuosity from Noekken the water spirit.

— Karen Bentley

Dance Suite for Solo Violin, by Ole Pullar Saxe

Salsa for Karen, dedicated to my special violin muse, is the origin of the whole suite. From a concert in Klint in Denmark, where Karen played part of the Sibelius violin concerto, as well as the Flight of the Bumblebee by Rimsky-Korsakov, came the idea to write a salsa, especially for Karen. I understood that it would be possible to catch both rhythm and spirit in the salsa music through her capacity, and felt a certain excitement building up inside. We never talked about this at the time, but later I suggested the idea by email, and received the reply “Go for it!” From this point musical scores went to and fro between Sweden and San Francisco, and the suite came to life. The Afro-Cuban music is very much my musical identity. In our world music band “Mondo Muziko” we often play both salsa and Afro music for multicultural dancing. This is music for joy and togetherness that crosses borders and limitations, and offers a generous and warm experience of love. Salsa music moves your feet and hips and it was not until my 40-year crisis made me buy a drum set that I fully found this joy as a musician.

Flamenco Alojera emanates from a strange recognition of the Spanish temperament and culture within me. Maybe the contrasts in the dramatic mountain view over the little village Alojera, on the Canarian island Gomera, is similar to the ups and downs of this music. So the music was formed after a holiday in the Gomeran mountains. Another association is from a period of my life where I lived in a flat in Stockholm, with an American blues singer Eric Bibb and his Spanish wife Magalida in the flat below, and a Spanish flamenco singer Rogelio in the flat above. So the music was all around, and the rhythm of the flamenco clapped and tapped through the floor with the heartbreaking improvisations of Rogelio’s voice on top and Eric’s below, shaping my dreams at night and growing seeds of hot passion and mellow blues into my cool Scandinavian blood. Often when I play some lyric Scandinavian folk music, I suddenly find the music changing into burning Spanish rhythms and scales. Where did this Spanish blood come from? Ziga danceis dedicated to my Bosnian friends Enes Ziga (folk musician) and his wife, Elsa Ziga (folk dancer). Enes has a beautiful voice and can sing mellow ballads from the Balkans all night. These folk songs are influenced by Arabic scales, and the 7-beat rhythm is common in this music. We have made several concerts together (one at the Siljan festival) where the audience would dance in circles, the Swedes trying to get their hambo and polska feet to catch up with the elegant Bosnian dancers. Sometimes beautiful belly dancers from Iraq would join the musicians on stage (very difficult for musicians to concentrate on playing though). The light theme is inspired by a Macedonian folksong. This fusion of international music and dance in the Leksand community has meant a lot for the integration of 150 Bosnian refugees in our little Swedish society during the period of war in Yugoslavia.

Jig for Alan is dedicated to my father in law, half British, quarter Scottish and quarter Irish, with a deep interest in music. The Jig is inspired by a magical evening in Danish Skagen. Landing with our little sailing boat on a nice summer evening after sailing all day from Gothenborg, Sweden, we went to a music bar, Visekrogen, to see if some Danish folksingers were on stage. To our surprise it was an Irish evening, with an Irish singer and his band of banjo, violin and pennywhistles. Being the first long trip for Alan in a time of deep personal crisis due to serious illness in near family, this was like paradise. The jigs and reels moved faster and higher and the Danish beer moved down in the warm, family-like atmosphere. This was the climax of a wonderful sailing holiday between Sweden and Denmark that even musically took us way out west to the greens of Ireland.

Redhaired Tango emanates from a childhood memory of a school dance in the huge school auditorium. I was eight years old, deeply in love with the redhaired girl in the class. Gathering courage, it took several hours before I dared go across the endless floor to ask her for a dance. She said “Yes.” And guess what the band played? TANGO! My dance lessons had not reached beyond valse and jitterbug, so I struggled through the dance, to the sacrifice of my partner’s feet. My childhood’s many unhappy but passionate romantic feelings are well symbolized by the temperament of the tango music.

Rhumba de la Luna was actually composed during a night of full moon. I’m not sure of the origin of the inspiration, but I guess the mellow tone is about loneliness in the night. But there is hope and love in the air as well. The secret of the moon resides deep in our subconscious, with our roots and shadows of the past. Maybe these roots go way back in time to our common African roots: the origin of man. So the Afro-Cuban rhythmic glow gives a sharp edge to the lunar softness.

Ole Pullar Saxe

Recorded on October 23 and 24, 2001 at Skywalker Sound Scoring Stage, San Rafael, CA
Mark Willsher: Producer, Engineer
Dann Thompson: Assistant Engineer

Microphones: 2 X handbuilt Didrik Degeer tube microphones, 2 X B&K 4003
Microphone Preamplifiers: Avalon and GML
Mixer: Neve VXS with fader direct input
AD Converter: Pacific Microsonics Model Two HDCD Processor
Recorder: Sonic Solutions Digital Audio Workstation
Monitoring: B&W 802 Nautilus with Chord Amplifiers

Photo credit and art: Lani Phillips, Mount Shasta, CA; Irelock Imaging, Medford, OR
Back photo credit: Sylvia Michiels Photography, Belmont, CA
Ole Saxe by Ingrid Pullar, Sweden
Karen Bentley plays on a violin by Paolo Antonio Testore, Milano 1729; a viola by
William Whedbee, Chicago 1987; and a hardangerfele by Erling Aaning, Oslo 2000.

We wish to give special thanks to Stefan Perneborg for finding Karen in Smoky Joe’s café
in Berkeley, CA and inviting her to Klint, Anthony Guneratne for the idea that sparked
the entire suite, Kathryn and George Gould for their enthusiastic support, and Nan
Bentley for her infinite encouragement.

Reviews

Hans Theodor Wohlfahrt on Music Web

The outstanding American violinist Karen Bentley, a native of Palo Alto, California, and a pupil of among others of Josef Gingold, Yuval Yaron and Nathan Milstein is always a surprise soloist, be it in concert, in collaboration with the widest possible range of musicians or on CD. In the States, she is well known as a champion of contemporary music; I had the honour of experiencing her playing contemporary pieces of great beauty, but also of utter rubbish, and always with her usual flair and sense of duty firmly believing that every composition has to be heard. But she also feels free to tackle any musical style from the classics to jazz and rock – and she always succeeds a hundred per cent. Next to her endless activities as a performer, conductor and composer she is currently the violinist in the Paul Dresher Electro Acoustic Band.

Her latest CD is another shining example of her incredible versatility as a soloist and as a vibrant musician. In the accompanying booklet she writes: “Dancing Suite is the fruition of the search of roots musical and genealogical. I first set foot on my ancestral land of Norway in July 1998.” Finally, one childhood wish got fulfilled; she learned to play Norway´s national instrument, the hardangerfele, with its five sympathetically vibrating strings underneath the bridge. The final piece on this CD only gives a short impression of the sound of this beautiful instrument and one wished for an entire Karen Bentley CD devoted to this extraordinary fiddle. From Norway she went on to Denmark, to play several solo recitals. Here, she met the Danish composer Ole Sax. It did not seem to be love at first sight; he invited her `to jam with him on drums and piano´, but she was far more interested in discovering the beautiful coast around Nykoeping.

Back in the States, she suddenly received a present from him, the score for Salsa for Karen – now the last movement of the Dance Suite. It turned out to be a gem and she added it to her repertoire. “Following the suggestion of a friend, I requested an entire suite from Ole Saxe based on the model established by Johann Sebastian Bach: multinational dances related by key comprising an organic work”, Karen Bentley writes. The outcome is an incredibly demanding virtuoso suite, which successfully mixes various Afro- Cuban idioms with the rhythmic passion and spirit of European folk tunes, while Bach is also constantly in the air. The six movements are called ‘Flamenco Alojera’, ‘Ziga Dance’ (Balkan rhythm), ‘Rhumba de la Luna for Viola’, ‘Jig for Alan’, ‘Redhaired Tango’ and finally ‘Salsa for Karen’. It is a substantial work of nearly 40 minutes duration and demands not only extreme technical skills, but also asks for colour, unrestrained rhythmical fluidity and precision. Karen Bentley proves to be the ideal interpreter of a composition which is deeply emotional, which constantly crosses musical boundaries, but which is never tasteless – a work, in fact, which is full of energy and, despite its contemporary conception, one deeply rooted in tradition.

The sheer tonal beauty of her violin playing, her clarity, her phrasing, her ability to give each movement a special quality of its own captivates. Surely, this work should soon be part of every violinist’s repertoire. It is interesting that Ole Pullar Saxe, born in Copenhagen in 1952, but living in Sweden since 1973, is also head of the School of Holistic Therapy and is giving classes in alternative medicine, relaxation therapy and drama as well as playing the drums in a jazz trio and in a world music band. The Dance Suite had its world premier in Palo Alto on December 8th, 2000 in a concert followed by Bach´s D-Minor Partita for solo violin, which is also included on this recording. Karen Bentley possesses the integrity and the spirit to play such a well-known work without any artistic arrogance and she lets Bach’s musical superiority dominate her interpretation of the work. The technical quality of this CD is excellent and matches its contents.

Hans-Theodor Wohlfahrt

 

Bentley to the Bow PHILLIP GEORGE

21st Century Music page 10

Karen Bentley. Dancing Suite to Suite [Ole Pullar Saxe. Dance Suite for Solo Violin]. Neptunus/Ariel.

Stuart Diamond. Konzerto. Succubus. Karen Bentley and Kerry Walsh. Electronic Artists.

“Grand Ole Saxe” is what came to mind listening to Karen Bentley’s grand violin playing in Ole Pullar Saxe’s Dancing Suite for Solo Violin [Neptunus/Ariel], dedicated to the performer.

The William Burroughs character “Old Bull Lee,” from Jack Kerouac’s On the Road also came to mind, for this is sprightly music that might have roused the old drug addict from his revels.

Written in the spirit of a J.S. Bach unaccompanied dance suite, this music is similarly rich in contrapuntal and multicultural implications. Just as the old baroque composer made the rounds of English, French, German, and Italian dances — so Ole Saxe takes a world tour that includes flamenco, jig, rhumba, salsa, tango, and ziga (the latter Bosnian). This is engaging music that never touches on the tedium sometimes encountered in unaccompanied contexts.

About the opposite end of the accessible-contemporary music spectrum, in terms of density, is Bentley’s collaborations with composer Stuart Diamond in Konzerto / Succubus (Electronic Artists Records). The music of the first title is very cinematic / new age in lush textures of electric violin and synthesizer orchestra. Romantic, upbeat, this is a work that pulls no punches in its melodramatic effects. A darker, yet related world is evoked in Succubus (a medieval female demon), with ethereal soprano solos delivered by Kerry Walsh.

Watch yourself, or you’ll get carried away by the music to mysterious lands. Bentley is at her virtuosic best in both of these albums, which are very listenable.

Reviewer: David O. Brown, Journal of the American Viola Society, Vol. 19, No. 1

Another instrumentalist new to me as I believe that this is her first issued disc. Scandinavian composer Ole Saxe has written a superb suite of dances for solo violin and viola. Although the viola has just a short section of the Dance Suite, I so thoroughly enjoyed the disc and the talents of Ms. Bentley that I just had to review the record for the Journal. Her tone, phrasing, and technique provide all the background she needs to impress any music lover. I have been in touch with Ms. Bentley and she promises a disc devoted to the viola in the not too distant future. Brava!

Karen Bentley has offered a brilliant recording of solo violin music to discerning music listeners. This is truly One on One on One Concertizing as she plays solo pieces with her instruments giving you the feeling that she is performing “just for you.”

This is a woman who loves her instruments and Guess What, “She knows how to use them.”

The listener is offered a sumptuous feast of music that touches both old and new dance idioms found in the two solo works. Ole Pullar Saxe has created a delightful work of six movements that portray established world dance forms that have evolved into today’s socially diverse dance music circles. Karen handles these so well that you can almost picture her dancing to these pieces.

As the feast continues we are transported back to 1720 and into one of J. S. Bach’s solo violin works, “Partita No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004” which was written during Bach’s Kothen period, a time when he wrote his most famous chamber music works.

The Suite derives its themes from the popular dance forms found in the 17th and 18th centuries. Karen breathes life into these five dances to create a masterful blend of music that bonds the 18th century to the current new millennium giving us a time mirror into the essence of the dance; both then and now.

As with all feasts we come to the dessert that completes the whole experience of this sonic banquet. Karen plays an authentic Norwegian folk tune on her Hardanger fiddle, “Fanitullen” in a setting by Odd Bakkerud. Sumptuous sound fills you with delight and you’ll be craving for more, more!

It doesn’t often get better than this, but don’t just take my word. Go partake of the feast for yourself and you’ll be fulfilled.

I give this CD the top most rating for both performance and concept from a brilliant young virtuoso performer who is headed for great musical destinies.

William Ashley Cooper, October 23, 2002

A Soulful Journey transported upon the Spirit of the Wind
December 27, 2002

Reviewer: William Ashley Cooper Allentown, PA United States

Karen Bentley is one of America’s most multi-talented young woman musicians active in the world today. Whether it be as a dynamic soloist performing with symphony orchestras, or as an energetic participant in ensembles, she has the savvy and enthusiasm to challenge all forms of music. She is equally at home in classical music forms from virtually all periods and equally in demand for all sorts of other genres including the worlds of fusion, jazz, and multi-cultural ethnic based ensembles. She has performed all over the world in various capacities and is highly in demand as both a concertmaster, conductor and educator of young people’s music groups. With her solid ground in musical education and study with world renowned teachers she has emerged from her performing debut at age 16 with violin concerto work to become a popular choice for both composers who want her enterprising heartfelt dedication to performing new works and for orchestras and chamber ensembles who know she will add depth and dimension to their programming and recording activities. Her multi-talents can be heard in her masterful violin performances as well as on viola, piano, and the various duties required of a conductor or concertmaster.

All this said we now come to the work on this CD and find her giving us a masterpiece performance of works that require only one thing. This one thing is her “solo violin” embracing us in a world of sonority that touches the very depths of our fervor for musical fulfillment. Here she stands completely on “Her merit and terms with the music she brings to life”.

“DANCING SUITE TO SUITE” is a brilliant conceptual music experience that will leave you breathless and you’ll come to realize the soloist and instrument have bonded into one cohesive unity. You really understand what the power of music is all about when the soul of a performer like Karen takes the notes from a piece of paper and animates them into living, vibrating experiences of musical embodiment. Karen has the heart and the soulpower to move the listener into a whole new world where the notes now send electricity into the ozone and charge our minds with visions of the universal illuminations dancing within us.

The two major works here and the delightful encore final piece become a feast for the ears and yes “the eyes”! Karen provides vivid dance movements into the solo interpretations of Ole Pullar Saxe’s six movement DANCE SUITE for SOLO VIOLIN. Mr. Saxe composed the last movement “Salsa for Karen” as a gift for his new found friend when she visited Norway and Denmark in July 1998. He came to call her “his special violin muse” and sent her that first piece at a later date. Soon he began to write the other pieces for her and the result is this wonderful suite of world dances that give Karen a great centerstage showcase to delight concert audiences everywhere. The liner notes for this CD are so well written and detailed that I need not go into my views of the pieces other than to say I enjoyed each style offered and would love to see a live performance someday.

Now the really creative drive to make this CD work is the offering of another Suite for solo violin. This second work is none other than one of J. S. Bach’s brilliant solo violin partitas dating from 1720. The Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV-1004 is one of several chamber solo works at a time when Bach was writing all of his great chamber works including the Brandenburg Concertos. This work is one of the great showcase pieces for any violinist to have in the solo performance category and Karen’s performance is a surefire success that ties the element of the dance together with the other dance suite. Over two centuries separate the two works but the common denominator of dance form here makes for a convincing mix of musical programming. The placement of Ole Pullar Saxe’s opus works ideally to catch the listener’s attention and wows them into the fascinating world of the baroque counterpoint of Bach’s music.

The conclusion of this CD is a very special encore performance of a Norwegian derived folk idiom in an arrangement by Odd Bakkerud. The FANITULLEN for Norwegian Hardangerfele is performed on Karen’s own hardangerfele which was custom made for her.

She received the instrument while on the 1998 vacation to Norway where she met relatives for the first time and searched the roots of her Norwegian heritage. This tune played on the hardanger fiddle sounds really unique due to the instrument’s special five resonating strings found below the bridge of the four regular stings. The sound is at once hypnotic and pulls you into a feeling of trance that surely can take you into states of mind leaning on the otherworldly. Read the liner notes for more on this fascinating national instrument of Norway. You’ll definitely want to hear more of this type of music. The title of the tune in translation usually refers it as “The Devil’s Tune”.

Karen will leave you spellbound with this CD. Close your eyes and envision this lovely, talented muse of the violin as she twirls and propels the notes into a experience of the love of music, the love of emotional motion and the all aspiring love of life itself.