Knut Reiersrud and Geir Sundstøl have known each other since the early nineties. Yet the two string masters have hardly ever played together. On the 25th September 2026, they will release the album Purcell, sannhet, løgn og dårlig hukommelse [Purcell, Truth, Lies and Bad Memory] on CD, LP and digital via Elevator/
The single, Dido’s Lament, one of Purcell’s most well-known compositions, is a taste of what we can expect from their album. The beauty and formal symmetry of Purcell is still there, but there’s no slavish imitation of the original themes. “ With this project I thought we should limit ourselves somehow, so I came up with the idea of reproducing or reinterpreting the work of a particular composer, and Geir responded with Purcell”, says Knut. “The way we play comes mainly from folk traditions and blues from America. It’s so easy to play from that setting in a guitar duo, but it’s been done so well before. I was a little anxious about doing another one”. Geir: «We didn’t study Purcell very intensely. We went through his catalogue and picked out particular pieces and thought “We can do something with this!» In many cases we used only a ten-second sequence from a piece of three or four minutes, whereas in others like Dido’s Lament, we copied the whole melody. Knut picked some pieces, and I picked some pieces, and it came together quite naturally. Basically, we are like elephants in a warehouse full of rare china, trying not to trample all over everything.”
KNUT REIERSRUD & GEIR SUNDSTØL Purcell, sannhet, løgn og dårlig hukommelse
If the grand themes and stately measures of one of England’s greatest classical composers, Henry Purcell (1659-1695), might seem an unlikely basis for the down-home, front porch-style duets of noted Norwegian guitarists Knut Reiersrud and Geir Sundstol, so much the better. This is the squeaky fingertips version of the classical tradition, not a worthy but slightly boring transcription of musical notes from one genre to another. It’s also the entry point to a whole new sound-world, where the mathematics of the well-tempered scale are given a microtonal spin thanks to pedal steel, dobro and bottleneck slide guitar. As you listen, you can imagine tumbleweed rolling across thewide open spaces of a curiously Nordic western landscape, where saloons with hitching posts stand next to baroque arcades and palaces. The beauty and formal symmetry of Purcell is still there, but there’s no slavish imitation of the original themes, which Knut and Geir have chosen from records and learned by ear, reinterpreting and recomposing as they go. The result is endearingly humble yet intensely satisfying music. Purcell’s grandeur is brought down from its royalist heights to a more human, everyday level by the chiming purity of ringing strings. Dido, Queen of Carthage comes to Paris, Texas.
The album is also the story of a long relationship between the two players, who have known each other for thirty years or more but performed together only very rarely. They could have made a more conventional “Plays Purcell” type album, but didn’t want to. “With this project I thought we should limit ourselves somehow, so I came up with the idea of reproducing or reinterpreting the work of a particular composer, and Geir responded with Purcell”, says Knut. “The way we play comes mainly from folk traditions and blues from America. It’s so easy to play from that setting in a guitar duo, but it’s been done so well before. I was a little anxious about doing another one. We didn’t study Purcell very intensely. We went through his catalogue and picked out particular pieces and thought “We can do something with this.” There were a lot of pieces of paper involved, swapping ideas. We also play with the idea that we might miss the original intention. Sometimes we lost the tune but continued because that was more interesting.”
“We only take snippets and then make them into something else”, says Geir, whose choice of Purcell came from a perhaps unusual angle: his familiarity with the use of ‘Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary’ by the synthesiser wizard Walter (later Wendy) Carlos, in the opening title sequence of Stanley Kubrick’s ‘A Clockwork Orange’ from 1971. “I first saw the film in my youth and later bought the soundtrack album. How it’s created, with synthesised sounds faking the tympani is so disturbing, and so bleak.” Intriguingly, the bleakness Geir recognises – and also the process of recomposition that the Purcell project represents – is echoed in one of his most celebrated solo pieces, the inspired amalgam of David Bowie and Brian Eno’s ‘Warszaw’ and John Coltrane’s ‘Alabama’ on his acclaimed ‘Brodlos’ album from 2018. “We don’t read music so we would play through sections of Purcell recordings. In many cases we used only a ten second sequence from a piece of three or four minutes, whereas in others like Dido’s Lament and the Clockwork Orange piece we copied the whole melody. Knut picked some pieces and I picked some pieces and it came
together quite naturally, But basically, we are like elephants in a warehouse full of rare china, trying not to trample all over everything.”
Recording the album created another interesting compromise. As Knut cycled down to Geir’s home studio, Studio Intim, in the centre of Oslo, from his house in the suburbs, he was able to carry onlyone instrument with him each time, while Geir had the entire contents of his collection to work from, plus the ability to overdub if he wished. “I had an advantage as I could add things like tympani and pedal steel, so I could steer the recording where I wanted”, Geir says, with humour. “Knut is a few years older than me so I was always very respectful, asking if he was ok with what I’d done.” The instrument Knut carried down the most was his Lowden acoustic guitar. “Later I switched instruments and took my harmonica, my resonator guitar and an oud I brought back from Turkey, but I was still restricted to one instrument each time,and sometimes we swapped.” In the end, the list of instruments used was relatively extensive, including mini-moog, bass guitar and mandolin as well as various guitars, including what’s described as a CooderCaster, named after the venerable Ry Cooder, an inevitable influence on both players.
The recording set-up was also very down-home, with two stereo microphones placed at either end of the kitchen table, further enhancing the intimacy of Intim. Ultimately, however, despite the guitar-nerd appeal of the instruments or the relaxed domesticity of the setting, the real test of the duo’s collaboration, and of dear old Henry Purcell, is the quality of the music itself. In this regard, listening to the beautifully jangling measures of ‘Sorgemarsj’ (Queen Mary’s Funeral Music), to the theme of ‘Dido’ transformed into a lonesome cowboy’s slide guitar lament, or to the delicious melancholy of ‘Gift i Bo’ (The Married Beau) – to any, in fact, of the nine impeccably conceived and played selections – the proof is in the Purcell pudding. It works.
— Phil Johnson
Music Programmer & Producer
Monmouth, Wales, 28th of May 2026
***
artist: Knut Reiersrud & Geir Sundstøl
title: Purcell, sannhet, løgn og dårlig hukommelse / Purcell, Truth, Lies and Bad Memory
release date: 25th September 2026
label: Elevator Music
formats: CD / LP / Digital
Catalogue number: EMCD6115
Tracklisting :
A1/1 Den Gordiske Knut 2:41
B2/2 Didos lament 3:34
A3/3 Sørgemarsj 6:01
A4/4 Timon fra Athen 6:46
B1/5 Passacaglia 4:11
B2/6 Jerusalem 4:45
B3/7 Eventyrdronningen 1:58
B4/8 Maurernes hevn 4:27
B5/9 Gift i Bø 3:34
Recorded June, 2025 at Studio Intim, Oslo.
Mixed by Bård Ingebrigtsen at Ekkoko studio
Mastered by Helge Sten i Audio Virus LAB
Tape transfer by Vegard Sleipnes at Subsonic Society
Design by Håvard Winther Gjelseth
Photos by Marthe Amanda Vannebo