Geirr Tveitt - Piano Music Vol. 1 (Håvard Gimse)

Information

Composer: Geirr Tveitt

• 50 Folk-Tunes from Hardanger, Op. 150, Nos. 1-37

Håvard Gimse, piano
Date: 1997
Label: Marco Polo
https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.225055

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Review

The Norwegian pianist-composer Geirr Tveitt (1908-81) was something of a cultural recluse, living most of his life on a farm in his native Hardanger. In his youth, though, he had studied in Leipzig, Paris and Vienna, receiving encouragement and tuition from – among others – Sinding, Honegger, Villa-Lobos and Wellesz. Most of his music was never published, so when his home burned to the ground in 1970, some 80 per cent of his output was irretrievably lost. He lived another 11 years, a broken man, but since his death several of his lost scores have been recovered from copies, or painstakingly reconstructed from recordings, an enterprise as commendable as it seems ultimately doomed to heart-rendingly partial success.

Often dismissed in his lifetime for being a nationalist conservative, Tveitt was quietly rather more original than he was given credit for. The 50 Folk-tunes from Hardanger (published privately in 1953) – of which the first 37 are included here, Nos. 38-50 will follow in Vol. 2 – are typical of his output of smaller pieces (his larger works include five concertos for piano, and two for Hardanger fiddle). The pieces range in expression from martial grandeur to delicate lyricism, from the pastoral to the burlesque. Havard Gimse is an eloquent – if at times excessively diffident – exponent of these gentle pieces. The recording – made in St Martin’s Church, East Woodhay, Hampshire – is faithful and among the best I have heard from Marco Polo (always inconsistent in quality). A delightful disc.

-- Gramophone

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Geirr Tveitt, born Nils Tveit (October 19, 1908 – February 1, 1981) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. Tveitt was a central figure of the national movement in Norwegian cultural life during the 1930s. His music draws from many styles and traditions, most notably Stravinsky, Bartók, Debussy and Ravel, always underpinned by idioms derived from Norwegian folk-music. In 1970, Tveitt's house in Kvam was burned to the ground, with almost 300 opuses of his manuscripts. 80% of Tveitt's production was gone forever. Most of Tveitt's remaining music is now commercially available on records.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geirr_Tveitt

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Håvard Gimse (born 15 September 1966) is a Norwegian classical pianist. Earning his diploma at the Hochschule der Künste Berlin in 1995, Gimse is described as one of Norway's leading musicians, with a bold and expansive repertoire, and an impressive list of 30 performed piano concertos. He is much sought after as a concert pianist, as well as an accompanist for many of Scandinavia's finest artists. He has received the Griegprisen (1996) and the Steinway Award (1995). Gimse has done several recordings for Naim Audio, Naxos Records, Sony Classical Records, Chandos Records and Simax.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A5vard_Gimse

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