LAWO Classics
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Valen, Egge & Hvoslef
HVOSLEF Piano Trio. VALEN Piano Trio. EGGE Piano Trio • Valen Tr • LAWO 1037 (67:55)
The Valen Trio’s CD covers the music of three generations of Norwegian composers, two of whom wrote in the 20th century: Fartein Valen (1887–1952) and Klaus Egge (1906–1979). The third, Ketil Hvoslef (b. 1939), not only composed in the past century, but also continues his work today. Although their works are not in date order on the disc, at some point, you might want to listen to them that way in order to get a better understanding of the progression.
Born in Stavanger, Fartein Valen studied organ before moving to Berlin in the hope of studying with Max Bruch. There, he worked on tonal and atonal counterpoint that involved dissonance. His music eventually bore similarities to the works of Bach and Schoenberg. Glenn Gould, who admired Valen’s compositions, found them distinctive and said, “For the first time in many years I have found a looming personality in the 20th century’s music.” For those of us listening in 2014, Valen is an interesting way station on the musical timeline. The Valen Trio—composed of Ricardo Odriozola, violin; John Ehde, cello; and Einar Røttingen, piano—play his rhythmic, energetic music with love and great attention to detail. Their excellent rendition of the composer’s work transports us back to the first part of the previous century when his kind of writing was revolutionary. Egge, who wrote in the middle of the century, was first inspired by folk music and wrote in a tonal language for some years before he began to explore atonalism. Having become a student of Valen, he was present at the premiere of the latter’s Trio. His works show the progress of Norwegian music at this time and they are of both musical and historical importance. The Valen Trio plays his op. 14 Trio with the stylistic knowledge that comes from a serious study of the composer and knowledge of the culture in which he worked.
The most modern composer whose music is recorded on this disc is Ketil Hvoslef. His Trio was first heard in 2011. Like Valen, Hvoslef first studied organ in Norway. Later, he moved to Stockholm and then to London to study composition. His compositional style has often varied with the makeup of the group for which he was writing. Beginning as a neo-Classicist, he has developed a personal musical language that shows his rhythmic ingenuity. The Trio begins with sustained string tones and rhythmic incursions by the piano. It continues with a dialogue between the strings and the piano followed by a languid slow section. For the Finale, Hvoslef returns to rhythm and music that makes the listener want to dance. The sound on this recording is well balanced among the three instruments. The ambience will make the listener feel that he or she is sitting in an appropriately sized hall for chamber music while hearing the Valen Trio play this music. Since this CD takes the listener on a historic tour of Norwegian chamber music, it will probably be of greatest interest to lovers of trios and the music of Scandinavia.
FANFARE: Maria Nockin
Con cierto toque de tango
The Mission / Bennett, Norwegian Wind Ensemble, Nordic Voices
Mark Bennett - conductor
Nordic Voices
Arrangements by Stian Aareskjold
The point of departure for the Norwegian Wind Ensemble’s new CD is the meeting of serious European music and indigenous traditional music of the 17th and 18th centuries. The result is a vibrant mixture of lovely music, spirited dance rhythms, and Latin American temperament. The Norwegian Wind Ensemble is a professional orchestra based in Halden. With its 280-year history, it is Norway’s oldest orchestra.
DIVERTIMENTO K. 563
Voices of Women
Colores
Totally Telemann: Music for Orchestra
Elisabeth Holmertz / Fredrik Bock ?– Love Songs Re-spelled
Nordraak: Songs & Piano Music / Wold, Asti
With but a handful of songs, a few piano pieces and some incidental music, Ricard Nordraak, at the age of twenty-three, succeeded in achieving mythical status in Norwegian cultural life. He lived at a time when an early death had led to such a status, from Goethe's ''Sorrows of Young Werther'' via Mozart, Schubert and Mendelssohn, to our own Henrik Wergeland. There is so much that remains unexpressed and unrealized in the figure of Rikard Nordraak, so much that has to do with what he could have accomplished. Would he have composed the lofty Norwegian opera of which Bjornson had dreamed? Might he have written the great Norwegian Romantic Symphony? Or, owing to his rather easy-going disposition, might he have slipped steadily into obscurity?
Kjell Mørk Karlsen: St. Luke Passion, Op. 153
MAZURKA REMAKING CHOPIN
Historia Sancti Olavi / Schweitzer, Consortium Vocale Oslo
Millom Rosor
Mozart: Prussian String Quartets
Eyvind Alnæs - Piano Concerto & Symphony
Norwegian Opera Overtures / Bergby, Norwegian National Opera Orchestra
The Norwegian opera literature is a well concealed and all too little known gem in our national cultural heritage. There is general agreement that it begins with the Waldemar Thrane/Henrik Bjerregaard Singspiel The Mountain Story from 1824. And throughout the nineteenth century there were a number of Norwegian composers who wrote operas, most of them now long forgotten. With this release we wish to make the music accessible to listeners in the hope of generating new interest in and discussion about why this part of our cultural heritage has been left to lie untouched.
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 6 - Myaskovsky: Symphony No. 27
Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953) composed his Symphony No 6 in E flat minor, Opus 111 between 1945 and February 1947, though his sketches date from 1944 - before his completion of the Fifth Symphony. The scoring is for large orchestra including piccolo, cor anglais, E flat clarinet, contrabassoon, harp, piano, celesta and an array of percussion. Although the key of E flat minor is extremely rare in the symphonic literature, Myaskovsky also wrote a sixth symphony in that key. On this release, Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 6 is paired with Myaskovsky’s Symphony No. 27 in C minor. The works are performed by the Oslo Philharmonic.
Chanson et Danses / Oslo Kammerakademi
| Flutist, composer, and teacher Paul Taffanel (1844-1908) was to have a decisive influence on the development of chamber music for winds in France. In 1879 he founded the Société de musique de chambre pour instruments à vent (Society of Chamber Music for Wind Instruments). The organization’s objective was to expand and promote chamber music repertoire for winds. On this recording, the Oslo Kammerakademi performs chamber works for winds by composers Charles Gounod, Charles Koechlin, Florent Schmitt, Théodore Gouvy, and Vincent d’Indy, several of which were composed for the Société de musique de chambre pour instruments à vent. |
Whispering Mozart
STRING QUARTETS K421, 428, 465
Bach: Cello Suites
Portraying Passion
