Album: Ketil Bjornstad, Vinding's Music (ECM)

Pianist and composer Bjornstad is also one of Norway's leading writers and this double CD represents a musical response to his trilogy of novels about a young piano student, Aksel Vinding.

The first disc consists of nine solo sketches and it's light and lovely, while the second (on which Bjornstad neither plays nor composes) features the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and three different pianists on a nostalgic repertoire. It should be cheesy, but it's absolutely great.