Norwegian composers

Started by Lethevich, January 08, 2011, 06:06:42 PM

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Moz

If you're into choral music(I am): Knut Nystedt and Trond Kverno(Contemporary, 70's->).

//M

Elnimio

Oops, I guess I could've talked about Saeverud in here. He has a huge output though, I think he deserves his own thread.


I'm also in love with Ludvig Igers-Jensen's music. Too bad so little of it is recorded. The Passacaglia, is in my opinion, one of the greatest works of the early 20th century.

Lethevich

Peanut butter, flour and sugar do not make cookies. They make FIRE.

jlaurson

Quote from: Moz on November 03, 2011, 02:52:47 PM
If you're into choral music(I am): Knut Nystedt and Trond Kverno(Contemporary, 70's->).
//M

I heard the World Premiere of a Trond Kverno piece ("Lukaspasjonen" - St.Luke's Passion) just last night.

Meanwhile:




Musical Journey Through Norway

QuoteApril in Oslo. Celebratory sunshine & blue skies, weather made for a train trip across the Hardangerviddato mountain plateau...
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2012/03/musical-journey-through-norway.html[/url]

mc ukrneal

Be kind to your fellow posters!!

Scion7

MaCready: "Any you Swedes in there?"

Dr. Cooper: "They're Norwegians, Mac."
When, a few months before his death, Rachmaninov lamented that he no longer had the "strength and fire" to compose, friends reminded him of the Symphonic Dances, so charged with fire and strength. "Yes," he admitted. "I don't know how that happened. That was probably my last flicker."

calyptorhynchus

I've just been listening to Toccata's new release of organ, choral and orchestral works by Leif Solberg (1914 - ) (yes he's still alive!)

What a find! Solberg is a brilliant organist and a master of counterpoint, but he had a busy life as a music teacher and church organist in Lillehammer and didn't compose much. Listening to this CD it's hard not to feel sorry he didn't write more.

The symphony (composed in 1950) is a half-hour work, and although Solberg's harmonic style is quite old fashioned it's a powerful piece. It sounds a bit like Nielsen of the First Symphony, but says more. It is said to composed in memory of his brother killed in WW2 and the motto theme has a tragic appoggiatura  which reminds me of Pettersen. The music is by turns sad and vigorous (sometimes sad and vigorous), the slow movement is an elegy and the last movement has a remarkable contrapuntal ending.

The other pieces on the disk are also of very high quality, and the disk made me immediately buy the only other work of his recorded, a String Quartet, which I'm about to listen to.
'Many men are melancholy by hearing music, but it is a pleasing melancholy that it causeth.' Robert Burton

vandermolen

Quote from: calyptorhynchus on March 27, 2015, 05:29:19 PM
I've just been listening to Toccata's new release of organ, choral and orchestral works by Leif Solberg (1914 - ) (yes he's still alive!)

What a find! Solberg is a brilliant organist and a master of counterpoint, but he had a busy life as a music teacher and church organist in Lillehammer and didn't compose much. Listening to this CD it's hard not to feel sorry he didn't write more.

The symphony (composed in 1950) is a half-hour work, and although Solberg's harmonic style is quite old fashioned it's a powerful piece. It sounds a bit like Nielsen of the First Symphony, but says more. It is said to composed in memory of his brother killed in WW2 and the motto theme has a tragic appoggiatura  which reminds me of Pettersen. The music is by turns sad and vigorous (sometimes sad and vigorous), the slow movement is an elegy and the last movement has a remarkable contrapuntal ending.

The other pieces on the disk are also of very high quality, and the disk made me immediately buy the only other work of his recorded, a String Quartet, which I'm about to listen to.

How interesting! Thank you for alerting us to this release which I shall investigate.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

calyptorhynchus

Martin Anderson (head of Toccata) tells me they intend another two Solberg disks, one of chamber music, another of organ music.
'Many men are melancholy by hearing music, but it is a pleasing melancholy that it causeth.' Robert Burton

vandermolen

Quote from: calyptorhynchus on March 27, 2015, 05:29:19 PM
I've just been listening to Toccata's new release of organ, choral and orchestral works by Leif Solberg (1914 - ) (yes he's still alive!)

What a find! Solberg is a brilliant organist and a master of counterpoint, but he had a busy life as a music teacher and church organist in Lillehammer and didn't compose much. Listening to this CD it's hard not to feel sorry he didn't write more.

The symphony (composed in 1950) is a half-hour work, and although Solberg's harmonic style is quite old fashioned it's a powerful piece. It sounds a bit like Nielsen of the First Symphony, but says more. It is said to composed in memory of his brother killed in WW2 and the motto theme has a tragic appoggiatura  which reminds me of Pettersen. The music is by turns sad and vigorous (sometimes sad and vigorous), the slow movement is an elegy and the last movement has a remarkable contrapuntal ending.

The other pieces on the disk are also of very high quality, and the disk made me immediately buy the only other work of his recorded, a String Quartet, which I'm about to listen to.

You are quite right about this disc which I have just listened to with much enjoyment. I am now listening again to the beautiful and memorable 'Pastorale' of 1930, 1954/55, which I would have thought had the potential for wide appeal. The Symphony is a great discovery, with a profoundly moving slow movement and inspiriting finale. Ver Sacrum, in its string transcription, is also a soulful and moving piece. I liked all the photos of Solberg and his wife in the booklet as well as the one of him having his portrait sculpted. So many thanks for alerting us to this great disc and worthwhile composer. Good that he has lived to see this disc appear - it has clearly pleased him!
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Zeus

I can't believe I can't find a Geirr Tveitt thread on this site.  Hello?!  I guess I'll have to start one.

Anyway, here is a nice collection of Norwegian music which I can recommend:



"There is no progress in art, any more than there is progress in making love. There are simply different ways of doing it." – Emmanuel Radnitzky (Man Ray)

Cato

Quote from: Cato on January 10, 2011, 09:25:12 AM

Fartein Valen is my nominee to be (one of the) greatest Norwegian composer(s) of the 20th Century!

An update:

https://www.youtube.com/v/oi-zeoTezz4



"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

North Star

Quote from: Judge Fish on March 17, 2017, 02:33:04 PM
I can't believe I can't find a Geirr Tveitt thread on this site.  Hello?!  I guess I'll have to start one.

Anyway, here is a nice collection of Norwegian music which I can recommend:

Tveitt thread: http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,20746.0.html
"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

My photographs on Flickr

Zeus

"There is no progress in art, any more than there is progress in making love. There are simply different ways of doing it." – Emmanuel Radnitzky (Man Ray)

vandermolen

#54
Thought I'd flag up Kleiberg's wonderful (IMO) Symphony 1 'The Bell Reef' a hauntingly atmospheric work and one of innumerable discoveries that I have made through the kindness and generosity of members of this forum ('J' in this case). It is a rather Baxian seascape but in places rather reminded me of Nystroem's 'Sinfonia del Mare'. The story behind the work is interesting. The work is from 1991. The Bell Reef is off the coast of Norway and the story is from one told by the composer's grandfather (a writer). After the Reformation, in 1537, a Danish ship arrived at Stavanger to collect valuables, including five church bells from Stavanger Cathedral. On its return journey the ship ran into the reef and sank. In later years it was said that the bells could occasionally be heard sounding from the bottom of the sea. Kleiberg's work also commemorates another grandfather whose ship hit a mine of the Bell Reef on Christmas Eve 1916 and was drowned. As the notes say 'The Debussyan image of bells sounding through huge masses of water evoked very specific musical ideas for Kleiberg. I am also discovering how good the 2nd Symphony is on the same CD. It is always great to find music, written by a contemporary composer, which is both memorable, moving, appealing and approachable:
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

André

Looks like a great find, Jeffrey (and J !). Thanks for the post. Will attempt to locate and purchase.

A couple of years ago (?) I went through my norwegian section. Can't recall if I posted about it, maybe in the WAYL thread. I'll see if I can locate the posts and copy them here. I have the bad habit of writing everything in the 'main' thread and not bother to check for the specialized ones  ::).

Roy Bland

About Tveitt and his troubled orchestral catalogue.Which part of his works hasn't still recorded?

Biffo

Quote from: Roy Bland on June 19, 2019, 06:16:37 AM
About Tveitt and his troubled orchestral catalogue.Which part of his works hasn't still recorded?

Most of Tveitt's works were destroyed in a catastrophic fire at his home. Some works have been reconstructed from the charred remains, orchestral parts of works that were performed and even from recordings. I get the impression that there is not a lot left that hasn't already been published or recorded. I suppose there is always the chance a work may turn up in an archive somewhere.

vandermolen

Quote from: André on June 19, 2019, 05:45:05 AM
Looks like a great find, Jeffrey (and J !). Thanks for the post. Will attempt to locate and purchase.

A couple of years ago (?) I went through my norwegian section. Can't recall if I posted about it, maybe in the WAYL thread. I'll see if I can locate the posts and copy them here. I have the bad habit of writing everything in the 'main' thread and not bother to check for the specialized ones  ::).

I suspect that you'd enjoy it Andre.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

André