“Radka Toneff: Live in Hamburg” must be one of the finest Norwegian concert albums ever made – regardless of genre. Now this classic is being released on vinyl for the first time, in a 180 g 2LP edition with a gatefold cover. At the same time a new CD edition with an updated cover is being released.
Onkel Pös Carnegie Hall
The material on the album comes from a concert the Radka Toneff Quartet held at the legendary jazz club Onkel Pös Carnegie Hall in Hamburg on 10 March 1981. The German radio station NDR broadcast an hour of the concert live, and an edited version of the recording became this album, a modern classic. In addition to Radka, the quartet consisted at the time of pianist Steve Dobrogosz, drummer Alex Riel and, as always, bassist Arild Andersen.
A welcome and unsentimental snapshot of a unique artist’s voice
It was Andersen who was Radka’s closest musical collaborator throughout her entire professional career, as a musician, composer and record producer. He remembers that evening in Hamburg: “We came down with the Kiel ferry for this one gig. Radka had played at Onkel Pö before, and I think it was the people from NDR who had heard her then and wanted her to come back to do the radio programme,” he recalls. Arild has fond memories of the club. “Onkel Pö was a very small club, which would have been full with 150 people, but they often packed it with twice as many. That evening it was pretty full, and the atmosphere was good. I had brought a small cassette player with a radio, and recorded the live broadcast. In the car on the way back to Kiel the next day we listened to the recording, and all of us, but especially Radka, were very satisfied with how it sounded. Radka had sung really well that night.” Arild Andersen and sound technician Jan Erik Kongshaug went through the tapes from NDR and edited the record, which was released in 1993 as the fourth recording released under Radka Toneff’s name. “Live in Hamburg” provides a welcome and unsentimental snapshot of a unique artist’s voice that became silent too soon, but that had a profound impact on Norwegian music history.
About the re-release
The first release on vinyl. Vinyl mastering: Jan Erik Kongshaug. Lacquers for the 2LP edition cut at SST in Germany. 180 g vinyl with gatefold cover. The design of the CD edition has been updated, but it is otherwise identical with the previous version. Liner notes by Terje Mosnes. Also includes an interview with Radka Toneff from the book “Kvinne og Kunstnar” (“Woman and Artist”) by Karin Moe (ed.), Samlaget 1983.
