Vilde Frang. PHOTO: LILLIAN BIRNBAUM
The legendary violinist Ida Haendel remains active, both as a soloist and teacher, in her 83rd year. In this gala concert, she meets several generations of Norwegian performers in a string repertoire with both Norwegian and European flavours.
Joining Haendel will be Arve Tellefsen and two young violinists – Vilde Frang Bjærke and Guro Kleven Hagen – who will immerse themselves in Antonio Vivaldi’s Concerto for four violins from 1711. This concerto is one of the works that made a serious name for Vivaldi in Europe. The title L'estro armonico is difficult to translate, but is usually paraphrased as "harmonic inspiration."
Earlier this year, cellist Truls Mørk received a fantastic response to his first concert after a long break. He brings Joseph Haydn's first cello concerto to the festival. For nearly two centuries it was believed that the notation for this concerto was lost, until a copy of the score was found at the National Museum of Prague in 1961. The work stands with one leg in the Baroque and the other in Classicism; it also has features of both ritornello form and classical sonata. The piece has the reputation of being both technically and stylistically demanding.
From Haydn the programme takes a long leap through time and tradition, to a composer who opened the doors to musical modernism in Norway. Arne Nordheim’s Nachruf for strings is an early work, first written in 1956, and then revised twenty years later. In both his orchestral and electronic music, Nordheim often worked with the sounds of chiming bells. The stationary, shimmering chimes in Nachruf can also be reminiscent of ringing bells, the way they unfold in languishing movements, with small variations on the surface. The work opens up a huge sonic space for the listener to explore. Nachruf means, ‘legacy’ and the music can be thought of as the slow reverberation of past events.
From Nachruf’s shimmering audial spaces, the concert draws a line back to another Norwegian with close ties to Europe, the violin virtuoso Ole Bull. Throughout the 1800s, during the evolution of Hardanger fiddle music’s use in concert pieces, it was popular to put together a potpourri of familiar melodies, almost like contemporary compilations or playlists. Ole Bull’s A Mountain Vision (Et Sæterbesøk) is a combination of folk melodies and tunes, Ole Bull's own melody The Herdgirl’s Sunday (Sæterjentens søndag) and long, virtuosic passages.
The festival culminates in Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante in E flat major, written when Mozart was 23 years old. The concerto has three movements and a hybrid form that sits somewhere between a symphony and a concert. A visit to the Mannheim-orchestra gave Mozart inspiration with regard for both the development of this form and the concerto’s lively and varied dynamics.
Text: Hild Borchgrevink
English version: Alistair Spalding