“When you sing, the sun rises,” Pat Metheny said to Viktoria Tolstoy.
The new album “Stealing Moments” (ACT/Naxos) is tied together by Viktoria Tolstoy’s powerful and dynamic, crystal clear voice and temperament. Shimmering lightness and sparkling energy meet in an irresistible way. This is combined in the repertoire on the new record, where longtime colleagues from ACT Records, among others Nils Landgren, Ida Sand, Caecilie Norby, Lars Danielsson and Jan Lundgren, have written specially for Viktoria.
Crystal clear, dynamic, vibrating, earthy and not always completely tame, Viktoria Tolstoy is perhaps the most brilliant of all Scandinavian vocalists. When she sings, it’s not just a song she interprets – Viktoria creates something new, shapes it and makes it her own.
There is an artistic streak in Viktoria Tolstoy’s family. Her maternal grandfather was the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. The young Viktoria hit like a bomb in Stockholm’s jazz life with leading musicians such as Svante Thuresson and Putte Wickman.
In 1994, at the age of 20, she made her first record. Two years later, with the album För Älskad, she became Sweden’s big pop sensation overnight. She went on to start a collaboration with Esbjörn Svensson, who produced and wrote the music for White Russian, the first Scandinavian album released on the legendary Blue Note. At that time Viktoria also collaborated with Nils Landgren and in 2003 Viktoria followed Nils and Esbjörn as an exclusive artist for ACT Records. Since then, she has established herself internationally as one of the leading voices in today’s jazz.
Viktoria Tolstoy – song
Krister Jonsson – guitar
Joel Lyssarides – piano
Mattias Svensson – bass
Rasmus Kihlberg – drums
