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Edvard Grieg
(1843-1907)
Prelude to Act I: At the Wedding, from Peer Gynt, op. 23 (1876)
Grieg was and is a national hero in Norway, for he used the folk music of his nation to create a national pride in its heritage and in its identity. His preoccupation with the folk element seems to be evident in virtually everything he wrote excepting some very early works which still reflect the influence of German academic composition. The incidental music which he provided for a production of Henrik Ibsen’s very difficult and intricate drama Peer Gynt represents a synthesis of the qualities he derived from his sensitivity to the music of his country. In all, he composed some twenty-two musical sequences to accompany the action of the play, but it is the two suites in which he orchestrated eight of these episodes which have achieved to widest popularity, especially the sequences of “Morning” and “In the Hall of the Mountain King.” These have long been familiar to audiences who recall them from animated cartoons and from Fritz Lang’s chilling use of the Mountain King theme in his classic film “M.”
The Prelude to Act I is included in neither of the Suites, although its two themes – the energetic, even brash opening motif which represents the boastful character of Peer and the yearningly poignant theme which represent Solveig – do appear more fully developed in the Suites. Also featured are fragments of two Norwegian dances which are the Halling and Springar, two dances heard in full in the wedding scene.
Grieg
Norwegian Dances, op. 35 (1881)
Allegro marcato
Allegro tranquillo e grazioso
Allegro moderato alla Marcia
Allegro molto
The Norwegian Dances were first composed in 1881 for piano duet, and are based on tunes from a huge collection of folk music called “Mountain melodies old and new” made by Ludwig Mathias Lindeman (1812-1887) which Grieg encountered when he was in his twenties. Later, Grieg orchestrated them with the intention of filling in some sections of Peer Gynt necessitated by the technical demands of Ibsen’s technically complicated drama and the limitations of stage machinery. The dances convey the rhythmic vitality and charm of Norwegian folk melodies. The theme of one of them, the “Allegro tranquillo,” became the basis of the song “Freddy and his fiddle” in “Song of Norway,” a musical written in 1944 by Robert Wright and George Forrest and adapted from the music of Grieg.
Ola Gjeilo (b. 1978)
The Identity Triad (2005)
Notes by the composer, Ola Gjeilo
"The Identity Triad is a piece for orchestra divided into three interconnected parts. All three parts have in common that they describe a personal form of energy that has to do with warmth, or fire. Warmth is connected to our heart center, and it is lively, shifting and passionate in an emotional way. The three parts of this piece describe three different ways of expressing emotional fire energy; the first aspect is focused on clarity and inward-oriented still feeling, the second aspect is describing outward-oriented, expansive, lively warmth. The third aspect brings in something new, a more solid rhythm with less flowing emotion than in the preceding part, creating a deeper synthesis of the first two.
These three aspects of energy are parts of a more comprehensive system where nine types of energies are described. In addition to the three emotional types there are three types of perceptual clarity and three types of solid action. The whole system describes the building blocks of all nature. One can find this understanding of the three-part unity of nature throughout the history of human ideas about reality, from the ideas of early philosophers such as Plato and Plotinus, to Christian, Buddhist and Hindu sacred thinking, through the research of modern day physicists and the depth psychology version of the personality system called the Enneagram. It is interesting to me to write in alliance with this understanding, because I feel that the primary motive for creating music and art is to develop our contact with our deepest nature.
Psychologists who work with this kind of thinking believe that types of energy are linked to stages in a child’s development. The kinds of heart energies I depict in this composition are associated with a state of a child’s development that occurs from around 1 ½ to 3 years when the child develops an emotional identity; it cannot act in many useful ways yet, create or work, but it discovers its ability to assert itself emotionally in a more conscious and enduring way. That is why I call this piece The Identity Triad. This stage in a child’s development also corresponds in some ways with the romantic era in the history of music, when the artist became fully aware of its power and identity and reached centre stage, and composers such as Beethoven and Wagner would forcefully let people know that ’ they were the creators, they were the artists.’ This as opposed to J.S. Bach, who perhaps had less of an ego, and felt that his inspiration was a gift from God and wrote everything in the honor of God.
In this piece for orchestra, I have attempted to create a free flow of musical energy, while maintaining traditional styles of melody and harmony."
Grieg
Piano Concerto in A minor, op. 16 (1868)
Allegro molto moderato
Adagio
Allegro moderato molto e marcato
Next to the two Peer Gynt suites, Grieg’s best known work is the A minor piano concerto. It is his largest and most ambitious work and because of its beautiful themes a favorite of pianists and audiences alike. Grieg seems never to have been totally satisfied with the concerto and kept revising it until his final year.
After an introductory drum roll and descending chords in the piano, the main theme appears quietly in the woodwinds and then is taken up by the piano. The second theme is a moving dialogue for the cellos and woodwinds which again is taken up by the piano with even greater feeling. Both of these primary themes form the development section until the cadenza and coda, both of which are built out of the main theme.
The second movement begins with muted strings singing a plaintive and melancholy song. The lyricism which was such a strong suit of Grieg’s gives a special beauty to the improvisational quality of the piano in its dialogue first with the strings and then with the woodwinds. After the opening song is loudly repeated, the movement dies away. Early in his musical studies, Grieg contended that Chopin was his favorite composer and the influence of Chopin is clearly evident in this movement. In fact, Hans von Bulow described Grieg as “the Chopin of the North.”
The third movement is highly redolent of the Norwegian folk dances for which Grieg had such an interest. Two dance melodies form the first section and a more lyrical second section is likewise identified with Norwegian folk song with its theme played first by the flute and then worked out with piano and orchestra. The melodies are repeated forcefully bringing the concerto to its triumphant conclusion.
Johan Halvorsen (1864-1935)
Norway’s Greeting to Theodore Roosevelt, op. 31 (1910)
Halvorsen was a Norwegian violinist and composer who in 1892 became conductor of the theatre in Bergen and from 1899-1929 of the Christiania National Theatre where he conducted more than 25 operas and gave regular concerts. Although he has a distinctive style and a deft orchestral style, his compositions continued to develop the national Romantic tradition established by Grieg and other Norwegian composers.
This unusual piece is being played for only the second time in this country, its first being in a concert of Norwegian music on November 8, 2005 at Alice Tully Hall in New York and conducted by Maestro Brevig who was described by Anthony Tommasini in THE NEW YORK TIMES as “a longtime champion of Norwegian music and an enterprising musician.”
The following notes are by Oyvin Dybsand.
"Almost four years after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, and having recently left office, American president Theodore Roosevelt held a lecture at the National Theater in Oslo on May 5, 1910. The Nobel committee commissioned Halvorsen to compose a work ‘commemorating the Norwegian association with America.’ After a colorful opening, employing thematic material from the American national anthem, a Hardanger fiddle soloist enters with halling-motifs that are gradually intertwined with the American folk tune Yankee doodle. Further musical Norwegian-American fraternization follows in the middle section, in which an adaptation of The Star Spangled Banner is played together with the Norwegian folk tune ‘Last year I went herding the goats.’ The halling passage returns once more before the circle is closed with a new quotation of the American national anthem, now played in its entirety, ‘as the audience rises to a signal given by the conductor,’ as the Norwegian daily paper AFTENPOSTEN wrote at the premiere. Though the work is in many ways a typical occasional piece, bearing strong evidence of the event it celebrates, Halvorsen shows himself from his best side. Above all, the composition evinces an outstanding ability to incorporate disparate material into a unified musical context."
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