Fiona Talkington bids goodbye to the mountains of Molde.

Sunday morning after the last night of Moldejazz and I take a last lingering look at the blue mountains and the clear waters of the fjord before heading south. At Oslo I say goodbye to some of the musicians and head for Gate 51 and the flight home to London.

Sitting there gives me plenty of time to remember some of the great music I've heard. The mountains are home to the legendary guitarist Terje Rypdal and I had the pleasure of sharing the ferry ride from Molde across the fjord with him. Even in this year of Moldejazz's 50th anniversary, Terje is fired up about future projects. Sitting in the front row at his trio's concert at Molde (Terje; Miroslav Vitous: bass; Gerald Cleaver:drummer ) was magical. As ever with his playing there are sounds which are unlike no others, sounds to hold on to in my memory. "If Mountains Could Sing" is the title of one of his abums. Where Terje comes from they do.

The final night inlcuded a sublimely beautiful concert by another Nordic piano trio, the Espen Eriksen Trio (Espen Eriksen: piano; Lars Tormod Jenset: bass; Andreas Bye: drums) whose recent release "You Had Me At Goodbye" revealed music of great beauty with wit and a spirit of adventure. And then one of the reasons I'd stayed so long in Molde and missed Womad, the duo of guitarist Stian Westerhus and vocalist Sidsel Endresen. Sidsel's mastery of vocal techniques and her profound instinct for making music which is engaging, challenging, mesmerising and so often heartbreakingly beautiful has earned her the highest respect in Norwegian music and worldwide. If this had been a tennis match it would have been the breathtaking assuredness of Bjorn Borg versus perhaps a young Goran Ivanisovic, eyes sparkling with sportsmanlike danger. But this wasn't a competition, it was a first step on a journey of musical minds and hearts which promises so much. At least I'll get another chance to hear them at Punkt in September.

But, sitting in the airport's departure lounge, if I needed any solace in leaving Norway, it was in thinking about pianist and composer Ketil Bjornstad's Antonioni Project from earlier in the week. Everything Ketil touches turns to beauty, and sitting behind him that evening, watching his joy in directing such a stellar line up - Arild Andersen on bass, Marilyn Mazur on drums, Andy Shepard playing sax, Anja Lechner on cello and Eivind Aarset playing guitar - the tears rolled down my cheeks.

Picture of Ketil Bjornstad courtesy John Kelman.