Photo: Eva Brandin
New album out 2025-05-23
Order CD at Bengans record store
The highly anticipated debut album from Klara Ahlersten and Harald Svensson, Mitt liv (My life). Featuring 14 intimate songs for voice and piano, the album brings together Harald’s evocative compositions with texts by renowned writers such as Emily Dickinson, Ebba Lindqvist, and Rainer Maria Rilke. It also includes songs by Klara Ahlersten, Victor Jara, Claudio Monteverdi, and Soledad Bravo, along with an anonymous 15th-century ballad.
Sung in Swedish, English, Spanish, and Italian, the album’s texts explore themes of everyday life, love, and the existential. Emily Dickinson’s Me from myself — to banish contemplates the struggle with the self, while Autumn, the album’s opening track, captures small moments from daily life. Music, set to Rilke’s words, is a layered tribute to music itself — and what lies beyond it.
A beautifully crafted album where poetry and music meet in a deeply personal, expressive space.
"Singer Klara Ahlersten and pianist/composer Harald Svensson are now releasing their debut album as a duo—an album of impressive breadth and diversity (…) Harald Svensson impresses with a resonant and convincing musical confidence and freedom. Together with Klara Ahlersten, he creates a musically organic whole. A duo of distinction. The vocals carry a truly unique character—a fragility and delicacy, but not weakness. An engaged intimacy."
– Bo Bjelvehammar - LIRA
__________________________________________________________________
"Genre-defying (...) are Klara Ahlersten and Harald Svensson, who move in a borderland between art song and classical music, with touches of jazz-tinged piano. Svensson brings a fifty-year career as an improviser rooted in jazz. (…) Ahlersten’s voice is clear, bright, and somewhat youthful, and most of the album is lyrical, slightly melancholic, and elegiac. One can easily imagine church venues as fitting concert settings for the duo. Every detail is beautifully rendered. (…) In short, everything is so finely tuned and sensitive that I almost feel like a brute for admitting I long for something a little rougher around the edges—something gritty amid all the purity. But it is, undeniably, achingly beautiful."
– Sten Wistran - Kulturdelen
Photo: Eva Brandin
"Their chamber concert, performed in two sets, was warmly received by a large and attentively listening audience. The duo offers an intimate sound with a distinctive aesthetic, the kind of refined expression typically associated with chamber music festivals or sacred spaces. (…) In his accompaniment—and even more so in instrumental interludes—it became clear what a versatile pianist Harald Svensson is. Despite the generally structured form, some melodies were embellished with avant-garde elements, driving beats, and at times a sense of openness to improvisation.
An enriching performance by a fascinating duo!"
- Mats Hallgren
Photo: Donovan von Martens
Me from Myself to Banish is the second single from Klara Ahlersten & Harald Svensson’s upcoming album Mitt liv, to be released on May 23rd. The song portrays an inner conflict — the attempt to build an invulnerable wall against emotions and external influences, while the greatest threat proves to come from within, from the self.
The lyrics, written by Emily Dickinson, are an existential meditation on self-awareness, inner struggle, and the loss of self-control. The composition and piano performance are by Harald Svensson. Vocalist Klara Ahlersten moves skillfully and seamlessly between vocal styles, capturing the essence of the composition with virtuosic precision.
Eros Triumphans is the first single from Klara Ahlersten & Harald Svensson’s upcoming debut album Mitt liv, set for release on May 23. The song revolves around memories, carrying a sense of closure and reflection on what has been, while also hinting at a new beginning. The poem’s imagery, with the light of dawn and the darkness of night, reinforces the theme of time’s passage and transformation.
The music, composed by pianist and composer Harald Svensson, is set to a text by the Swedish theologian and poet Anita Nathorst. With Harald’s delicate melody and gentle accompaniment, Klara conveys the essence of the lyrics with a deep sensitivity to both melodic beauty and poetic depth.
Photo: Donovan von Martens
Klara Ahlersten & Harald Svensson formed their duo in 2023. They were immediately highly appreciated after their debut, receiving a warm reception from audiences. Not least for their close interplay, Klara's unique voice and almost sublime interpretation of text and music.
The repertoire primarily consists of poems set to music by Harald with a focus on female poets such as Emily Dickinson, Ebba Lindqvist, Anita Nathorst, Delmira Agustini and of songs composed by Klara.
Harald, pianist, composer, and one of Sweden's most prominent jazz musicians. Since his debut with the jazz group EGBA and his collaboration with trombonist Eje Thelin in the 1970s, he has established himself as one of the country's leading improvisers on his instrument. He was also one of the founders of the legendary cult band ENTRA.
Harald's musical versatility is remarkable. He has played funk with Nils Landgren, reggae with Peps Blodsband, and accompanied everything from choirs and folk musicians to singer-songwriters. His compositions span a wide range of genres, including jazz, choral music, chamber music, performance pieces, and songs.
In 1998, he was named Jazz Musician of the Year, and in 2012, he was the guest of honor at the Umeå Jazz Festival.
Klara is recognized for her expressive delivery of lyrics, her distinctive emotional depth, and her blend of improvisation with vocal techniques drawn from folk music. Her compositions are like living poetry, where both lyrics and music intertwine in harmonious symbiosis. With a profoundly personal signature that permeates every piece, she has established herself as a unique voice on the music scene. Her artistry is characterized by a deep sense of both melodic beauty and lyrical depth, leaving a lasting impression on both audiences and critics alike.
For this outstanding work, she has been awarded both 2023 and 2024 by STIM (Swedish Composers’ International Music Bureau) – a recognition that attests to her significant contributions to music culture and her ability to create works that deeply resonate. Her music speaks directly to the heart, and through her personal style, she has crafted a musical universe that is both timeless and profoundly original.