Ludvig Irgens-Jensen (1894-1969)

[Scion7]

Born in Oslo in 1894, died in Sicily in 1969.  Romantic neo-classical in style. 
He stated that he admired Bach, Palestrina, Chopin, Brahms - any who "wrote music of real importance." Although he studied at the University of Oslo, it was in the field of literature and languages - as a composer, he is self-taught.  He did have formal training on the piano.
He won a couple of prizes for his compositions.  Some of his works during Nazi Germany's occupation of Norway were considered patriotic, and therefore illegal, and had to be distributed through clandestine channels.  He was awarded a stipend from the Norwegian government in 1945, and in 1947 was elected to the Swedish Royal Academy of Music.

   Chamber music
=======================
Rondo, vn, pf, 1924;
Sonate in b-flat, vn, pf, 1924;
Pf Qnt, 1926;
Bols vise, vn, pf, 1938;
Altar, vn, pf, 1939;
I blodethans blømde, str qt, 1939;
Pastorale religioso, str qt, 1939;
Duo, 2 vn, 1943
various piano pieces

  Orchestral pieces
================================
Tema con variazioni, 1925;
Passacaglia, 1928;
Bols vise, vn, orch, 1938;
Altar, vn, str orch, 1939, rev. 1963;
Kong Baldvines Armring, suite, small orch, 1939 [from incid music to play];
Partitasinfonica, sym. suite, 1939, rev. 1951 [from Driftekaren];
Pastorale religioso, small orch, 1939, rev. 1944, rev. 1963;
Rondomarziale, 1942;
Sinfonie, d, 1942;
Canto d'omaggio, 1950;
Air, small orch, ?1959


Quote from: Lilas Pastia on December 02, 2009, 06:29:26 PM

    Ludvig Irgens Jensen (1894-1969); norwegian composer. Tema con Variazioni (1925, 20:32), Oslo PO, Odd Gruner-Hegge ; Passacaglia (1927, 21:07) and Partita sinfonica (1938, 18:31), both with Oslo PO, Ole Kristian Ruud

    All of the above works are of surprising stature. The composer may be practically unknown, but he is definitely of the front rank among the huge second tier. I enjoyed all the many hearings I gave these works.

Quote from: erato on December 04, 2009, 06:25:52 AM

    I believe Jensen (commonly regarded as the strongest Norwegian composer in the period between the wars) is currently being recoed by the Trondeim symphony for Naxos.

[Scion7]

moving this over from another section:

the Piano Quintet by Irgens-Jensen (1894-1969) - recording?
« on: November 03, 2014, 10:10:28 PM Scion7 posted »

I've heard a couple of mentions about this piece on the radio,  and found this from The Independent from 1999:

The work that should have been brought to London was the Piano Quintet by Ludvig Irgens Jensen (1894-1969), Norway's greatest composer; it was performed in Risor this year for the first time anywhere since 1944. Instead, the Wigmore series closed with the Schumann Quintet, played by Julian Rachlin, Kuusisto, Tomter and Jan-Erik Gustafsson, with Enrico Pace at the piano. All week I had resented the Schumann its usurpation of Irgens Jensen's place on the programme -

Has anyone seen a recording of the work?
Heard if one is in the works and scheduled for release?
 

Re: the Piano Quintet by Irgens-Jensen - some notes from his Biography
« Reply #1 on: November 04, 2014, 08:30:56 AM Scion7 posted: »

 

PIANO QUINTET

After the success of the Violin Sonata and the Variations and Fugue, I-J was doubtless relieved to find public interest dying down again.  And by 1927 he was working on his Piano Quintet.  The date of its completion is unknown; it was not premiered until Feb 2, 1932, by the pianist Ivar Johnsen and the string quartet of the Oslo Philharmonic (Ernst Glaser, Oscar Holst, Bjarne Brustad and Guillaume Hesse). In the programme notes for that performance, he gave a succinct description of the work:

   The style is polyphonic and has a serious character.  The chorale which the material leads into, is the basic idea of the work, which all the thematic material is related to and derived from. The first movement is kept in sonata form.  The main theme is strictly delineated and is frequently used as a cantus firmus, but the 2nd theme is syncopated and has a more lively character. The coda is formed as a rapidly moving fugato. The siciliano-lik middle movement leads directly into the last section, which is introduced by the chorale. This gives way to an impetuous motif which is developed in a restless hurry; later a ponderous march theme also turns up.  The finale gradually brings in all the earlier material.


In the company of Brustad's  Capricii  for violin and viola and Svendsen's Octet, the Quintet was so well received that the concert had to be repeated a week later.  The same spring (in May) the Quintet and its musicians scored a success also at the Scandinavian Music Days in Helsinki.
The Piano Quintet was performed at a private concert during WW2, but more than half a century passed before it was heard again, whtn the Risor Chamber Music Festival programmed it in 1999, in a performance by pianist Gonzalo Moreno and an all-female quartet:  Elise Batnes & Katrin Buvarp-violins, Nora Taksdal-viola, and Ellen Flesjo-cello.  The concert was broadcast on NRK and some minor stations in the USA. Ther performance was very well received by the public.
Criti Idar Karevold wrote:  "This is a vigorous work written in the best classical tradition and with a wide-ranging and demanding piano part ... It is lamentable that it has not found a standard place in the repertoire, at least for Norwegian ensembles. The genre of piano quintet is a rarity in the worklists of Norwegian composers, and I-J's contribution is unique in its kind."
Now that the first performance of the Piano Quintet outside Norway has taken place*, and the first commercial recording is under discussion, it seems certain that this work will live on and enjoy further performances.

*Concert Hall of the Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music, Sofia, Bulgaria; Oyvind Aase and the Frosch String Quartet, Oct 3, 2012

In the larger works (the Piano Quintet, the Violin Sonata, the Symphony in D-minor, even Heimferd) he makes much use of sonata and rondo form.

- - - - -

So, I'm interested.   

[Scion7]

[Scion7]

from Amazon, Classicsonline, CD Universe, etc. - some are technically OOP so you may have to dig in the trenches:

   

 
 

[Scion7]

 

[Scion7]

Some enterprising, thoughtful, foward-looking record company out there should get a recording out of the Piano Quintet paired with the Violin Sonata.  Like, this year.  Do you hear me, NAXOS?  Hey, you!  CPO!  Wake up, Hyperion!  Prods Deutsche Grammophon. Taps Philips. Kicks Teldec.

[aligreto]

Ludvig Irgens-Jensen is a composer that I have only recently "discovered". I have bought two of the CDs listed above and found the music to be very appealing; the Symphony in D minor and the Passacaglia were wonderful, powerful works. He is definitely one that I will further explore in the future. Good subject for a thread 

[Scion7]

Yes, he's a good (lesser) composer of Romantic richness - the CPO disc and the Naxos have the orchestral stuff pretty covered - now we need a good disc or two containing the chamber music.  I really want that Piano Quintet!

[vandermolen]

I have the Naxos disc and the Oslo PO one at the end - both excellent.

[Rons_talking]

The Symphony is really nice. Some of the earlier works I've heard are a little too 19th C sounding. But I haven't yet heard much of his music.