Scandinavian Festival

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Cat No: 8550090

Release Date: 12 January 2000

Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 4891030500907

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: Scandinavian Festival

Description
Scandinavian Festival The second half of the 19th centurybrought a development of national feeling in many parts of Europe, coupled withan interest in folk music, which for some became a source of inspiration. InSweden a period in which the classical model of Vienna held sway was followedby the growing influence of German Romanticism and of the developing nationalmusic of Denmark and Norway. Hugo Alfven was one of the most important Swedishcomposers at the turn of the century. He was born in Stockholm in 1872 andstudied composition and the violin in the Conservatory there, and made a careerfor himself as a choral conductor and as director of music at UppsalaUniversity. The first of his three Swedish Rhapsodies, Midsommarvaka (MidsummerVigil), was written in 1903 and has remained among his most popularcompositions. The work is based on Swedish folk music and draws furtherinspiration from a peasant wedding.Edvard Grieg, Scottish by remoter paternalancestry but completely Norwegian in sentiment and culture, was born in Bergenin 1843 into a family with a keen amateur interest in music. It was on theadvice of the violinist Ole Bull that he was sent, as a boy of fifteen, tostudy at Leipzig Conservatory, where initial disappointment at conservativemusical attitudes was tempered by the wealth of music to which he was nowexposed. It was through the encouragement of the Danish composer Niels Gadeand, more particularly, through his friendship with the young Norwegiancomposer Rikard Nordraak and the enthusiasm of Ole Bull that he turned hisattention to the folk music of Norway. He was to become the leading Romanticnationalist composer of his country, combining his career as a composer withthat of a pianist, and collaborating with the leading dramatists of the day,Bj?©rnson and Ibsen. The Norwegian Dances, Opus 33, were written in 1881 forpiano duet and later arranged for solo piano. The Lyric Pieces, Opus 54, formedthe fifth of ten such collections that Grieg wrote during the course of hislife, the first in 1867 and the last in 1901. Opus 54, written in 1891,consists of five short piano pieces, the first four of which Grieg orchestratedand published in 1904 as Lyrische Suite. They are characteristic of hishandling of harmonic and orchestral colour, using melodies and rhythms of clearnational origin. The four Symphonic Dances, published in 1898 and also arrangedby the composer for piano duet, again provided an opportunity for daringharmonic treatment of melodic material drawn from folk music.Like his compatriot Grieg, ChristianSinding too studied at Leipzig Conservatory, in preparation, in his case, for acareer as a violinist. This initial aim he abandoned in favour of composition,enjoying at home, at least, a reputation only second to that of Grieg. He was aprolific composer, but for many his name is associated only with The Rustle ofSpring, a piano piece that he wrote in 1896 and published as one of a set ofsix such sketches, music that in orchestral arrang
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