The Kitchen Counter Experiments And Other Electronic Works 1959-1984

For over sixty years Maj Sønstevold (1917-1996) and Gunnar Sønstevold (1912-1991) were a driving force in the Norwegian music scene. The couple became famous for their sonic adventures into genres such as jazz, contemporary and screen music, writing some of the most well-known soundtracks and theme songs of their times. This 2LP focuses on the electronic experiments conducted by the two composers – ranging from drone music, electroacoustics, minimalism and improvised electronics – firmly establishing Maj and Gunnar Sønstevold as pioneers within the field of Scandinavian electronic music.

In 1973 the composer Arne Nordheim made a series of radio programs about the history of electronic music. Here he presented Gunnar Sønstevold’s The Tempest/Stormen from 1959 as the first example in a Norwegian context and pointed to the fact that the composition was made using the “kitchen counter technique” – literally meaning that the sounds were produced at home or done in a simple studio. In an interview from 1966, Gunnar Sønstevold himself described the kitchen counter technique as: “We tumble together a tape recorder here, and then some other equipment there, and trick ourselves into the laboratory and borrow a generator and the like.” When asked if his dream was a full-fledged electronic music studio, Sønstevold answered the reporter without hesitation: “Yes, that’s for sure! To me the mixing console is the same as the organ console is to the organist.”

This album consists of previously unreleased electronic music by Maj & Gunnar Sønstevold, presented for the first time on vinyl. The compositions were made for different stage plays, radio plays and television theatre between the years 1959-1984. OGM have gotten hold of the original mastertapes and chosen the tracks and excerpts that sounded the most radical and interesting to our ears.

Available as limited edition double vinyl LP and digital. Gatefold cover with liner notes by Lars Mørch Finborud and Knut Sønstevold.

O. Gudmundsen Minde is a record label run by Lars Mørch Finborud and Lasse Marhaug.