Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
CULTURAL ICON: EDVARD GRIEG
Norway's renowned composer Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) was so disappointed with his
first symphony that he scrawled across the score that it must never be performed!
Thankfully, his wishes were ignored. Grieg was greatly influenced by Norway's folk music
and melodies and his first great signature work,Piano Concerto in A minor,has come to
represent Norway as no other work before or since.
Two years after the concerto, Grieg, encouraged by luminaries such as Franz Liszt, col-
laborated with Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, setting the latter's poetry and writing to music. The
results -Before a Southern Convent, BergliotandSigurd Jorsalfar -established Grieg as
the musical voice of Norway. This was followed by a project with Henrik Ibsen, setting to
music Ibsen's wonderful novelPeer Gynt. The score found international acclaim and be-
came Grieg's - and Norway's - best-remembered classical work. According to his bio-
grapher, Aimer Grøvald, it was impossible to listen to Grieg without sensing a light, fresh
breeze from the blue waters, a glimpse of grand glaciers and a recollection of the moun-
tains of western Norway's fjords.
Edvard Grieg Experiences
Edvard Grieg Museum
,
Bergen
Open-air concerts
,
Bergen
Grieghallen
, Bergen
Folk Music
Folk music is a central pillar of Norwegian music, and the Hardanger fiddle - which de-
rives its distinctive sound from four or five sympathetic strings stretched out beneath the
usual four strings - is one of Europe's best-loved folk instruments.
Some of the hottest folk acts include Tore Bruvoll and Jon Anders Halvorsen, who per-
form traditional Telemark songs
(Nattsang);
the live Norwegian performances of Bukkene
Bruse (heavy on the Hardanger fiddle;
Spel
); Rusk's impressively wide repertoire of music
from southeastern Norway
(Rusk);
Sigrid Moldestad and Liv Merete Kroken, who bring
classical training to bear on the traditional fiddle
(Spindel);
and Sinikka Langeland, whose
Runoja
draws on ancient runic music. In 2009, Alexander Rybak, a Norwegian composer,
fiddler and pianist of Belorussian descent won the Eurovision Song Contest.
