Terje Isungset's instruments all have a tale to tell. The Norwegian composer's mouthharp is made of metal taken from a second world war German bomber. His double-bass was bought off a barfly for two beers. Then there's the instrument with the longest story of all, an instrument that has to be kept in a freezer. So what does a trumpet carved from a 2,500-year-old glacier sound like? "Very warm," says Isungset, rummaging in the deep freeze at the lockup near his house in Bergen. He keeps some ice shards in there, too; they're played like tubular bells. "They have deep, rich tones. When I first heard them, I was eager to experiment."

Isungset is in the UK this Christmas, for a rather unlikely gig: he's performing his music in an adaptation of Cinderella at the Lyric in London. To bring out the story's mystical ice element, his on-stage arsenal includes a glass drumkit, waterphone (an arrangement of brass rods and water that is drummed or bowed), ram's horn, the ice trumpet (which has been treated so as not to melt, or freeze to his lips) and bicycle wheel, as well as stones, wood, mouth harp and piano frame. "We try to create music, magic moments together. We try and tune in to each other," says Isungset of his relationship with the cast.

How Isungset came to play and record with ice is a long story that began two decades ago, when he was in his mid-20s. After working with 14 bands, he decided to completely "dismantle" his life as a drummer.

"I had this feeling I wasn't giving music something that wasn't already there," he says. "I started to search, working hard at the idea of balance with the body - making the instrument and myself a unit. Trying, for instance, to hit the drum with my hands, without hurting myself. I abandoned all musical rules. Just pure expression: trying to lose the ego and the thoughts."

Isungset realised that if he truly wanted to escape musical traditions, he would have to transform his instruments. He started tinkering with the "found" sounds of stone and glass, building them into what became totally improvised performances. Today, he works with bands as diverse as Enslaved (prog metal) and Groupa (traditional Swedish songs), but this time the deal is clear: "They don't ask me to play like any other drummer. They know my sound." It's a sound that seems to take you outdoors and into the elements, wherever you are. Stone and metal give off long, primal resonances, while ice adds warmth.

Some years ago, Isungset was commissioned to write a work for the Frozen Water Fall festival in Lillehammer, a lakeside town ringed by mountains. Keen to use materials from the surrounding area, he tried ice - and got hooked. Since then, he has recorded five "ice" albums, including Iceman Is, which features a number of great Scandinavian jazz players: Arve Henriksen on ice trumpet, Iro Haarla on ice harp, trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg and vocalist Lena Willemark. In 2007, Isungset's album Igloo was nominated for a Norwegian Grammy.

"We build igloos to record in," he explains. "The nice thing about them is the total silence inside. Some of the ice sounds are so delicate, I have problems with noises my stomach makes: you can hear it grumbling. At least you know when to stop for lunch."

The normal logistics of performing music are tricky enough; Isungset's approach, requiring him to be a slave to nature, adds quite an extra burden - but it's one that he relishes: "We travel to a place, find ice, then carve the instruments there, play the concerts, and then give the instruments back to nature where they belong. You can have 100 pieces of ice; they will all sound different. Perhaps three will sound fantastic. Nature decides whether it's possible to play or not: if it's too mild or windy, we can't."

Climbing back up to his house, which backs on to the woods embracing Bergen, Isungset stops and says: "I come here and listen to the distant city. There's a big orchestra going on down there, with different soloists." A woodpecker gives a call. "Birds - great jazz musicians. I did a concert using birdsong once."

Next year, Isungset will be playing at an architectural conference, making music out of building materials, "wearing a hard hat, of course". In the meantime, if he comes across Cinderella's glass slipper, chances are he'll get a tune out of it.

Cinderella is at the Lyric Hammersmith, London W6, until January 3. Box office: 0871 221 1729.