Den Bortkomne Sauen
The weather has been much colder for the past few days, which is probably why this piece of music popped into my head and I thought I’d share it here. It’s a Norwegian folk song called Den Bortkomne Sauen (“The Lost Sheep”) and it’s played by Annbjørg Lien on Hardanger fiddle and Iver Kleive on pipe organ. In case you weren’t away the Hardanger fiddle is similar to a normal violin, which has four strings, but underneath them there are four or five others to produce sympathetic vibrations when the main strings are bowed. This makes for a very unique sound, and adds to the haunting atmosphere evoked by this piece.
The theme music for one of my all-time favourite movies, Fargo, released 30 years ago in 1996, was based on this tune which was originally written by the person who wrote all the best tunes, Trad…
P.S. I like this track so much I bought the whole album, Felefeber, which is wonderful!
In the Dark 
January 6, 2026 at 3:59 pm
I’d like to hear Bach’s unaccompanied violin music played on one of these.
January 6, 2026 at 5:22 pm
Another thing about the Hardanger fiddle is that, unlike the normal violin, it is a transposing instrument. That means the music sounds in a different key from that in which it is written. On top of that there are various possible tunings, but Bach wasn’t averse to a bit of scordatura now and again.
I would very much like to hear the Biber Mystery Sonatas – each of which has uses different tuning – played on a Hardanger fiddle.
January 6, 2026 at 5:09 pm
Neat organ accompaniment. One of my late friends – a fine accompanist and arranger – used to include tiny snippets of JSB into his choral arrangements for people to find and identify. Except that once in a while they weren’t Bach, just sound-alikes. He had a well-developed sense of humour. I suspect that Mr Kleive might be of the same mould.