Tag: Norwegen

Norland Music Festival – SPIRE

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Nordland Music Festival Chamber Music – Academy Program

SPIRE is a mentoring program presented within Norland Music Festival, specifically designed for talents within the classical music sphere that facilitates self-development in several areas. SPIRE´s focus is to support musicians in development of artistry both on their instrument as well as in the process of developing their career. Participating musicians will be working in close collaboration with Eldbjørg Hemsing, who is taking the role of Artistic director and Mentor of the program.

Nordland Music Festival is one of the oldest music festivals in the Northern Arctic part of Norway,
celebrating 40th anniversary in 2020. Apart from presenting some of the biggest artistic names during a 2 week festival program, SPIRE is an edition to the festival core that aims to look at stimulating and building a much stronger young artistic base in the city of Bodø and in the Arctic region.


SPIRE has been initiated as part of the artistic projects leading towards the Bodø 2024
The European Capital of Culture and has been also endorsed by the leading music foundation Dextra Musica DNB Savings Banks Foundation. Eldbjørg Hemsing is proud to be named the Artistic director of this chamber music academy program.

“ Most important for young musicians is to know that there is no set path someone should
follow they should be evolving curiosity and stimulate their experimentation to not become
only musicians, but also thinkers, leaders, entrepreneurs and agents of change. We have
the responsibility of shaping a more future oriented generations of classical musicians,
where artists are the driving force towards a society with culture at its core, not afraid of
experiments and possible failures.”

Guest faculty members:

Dorran Alibaud, cello

Sveinung Bjelland, piano

Julia Kaiser, guest lecture – masterclass

Manuel Dengler, guest lecture – masterclass

Alexa Smith, guest lecture – masterclass

Eldbjørg Hemsing with new recording release ‘Grieg – The Violin Sonatas’

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Credits: Photography by Nikolaj Lund

Following the acclaimed recordings of concertos by Borgström and Shostakovich, Dvořák and Suk, and by Tan Dun, Eldbjørg Hemsing is following in the footsteps of her great-great-grandfather, who once inspired Edvard Grieg to compose one of his most famous works. Joint by Macedonian pianist Simon Trpčeski, Eldbjørg is embarks the journey of Grieg violin sonatas on her latest release on BIS Records.

As a celebrated ambassador of Norwegian cultural heritage, Eldbjørg Hemsing was always going to turn to Edvard Grieg eventually – a composer who is central to both Norwegian music history and the Romantic era in general. Hemsing’s new recording of Grieg’s three violin sonatas on BIS Records also has a much more personal biographic background, however.  

In 1848, Ludvig Mathias Lindeman received funding from the Collegium academicum of Christiania (Oslo) University to collect folk tunes for Edvard Grieg. During his travels across Norway, he stayed in Valdres and met Hemsing’s great-great-grandfather Anders Nielsen Pelesteinbakken, who sang a tune to him. Lindeman noted it down and Grieg later found it in the collection. The small fragment of the folk tune must have caught the composer’s attention and he subsequently used the melody as the inspiration and main theme of one of his greatest works for solo piano, the Ballade, Op. 24. 

Over 170 years later, Eldbjørg Hemsing is presenting her own interpretation of Grieg’s three sonatas for violin and piano. The sonatas are considered to be representative of different stages in Grieg’s artistic development and were composed over a period of 20 years. The second violin sonata can be seen as one of Grieg’s great successes in capturing the musical identity of his native country, particularly in the sequences based on peasants’ dances. Because of her passion for preserving Norway’s rich folk music heritage – as demonstrated in her previous projects such as the second ever recording of Hjalmar Borgström’s violin concerto – Hemsing was keen to explore the compositions of her famous fellow countryman, who so profoundly shaped the Norwegian cultural identity. 

Alongside the Grieg sonatas, Eldbjørg Hemsing is also presenting her first original composition „Homecoming – Varitations on the folk tune from Valdres“ as a testament to the personal significance of this new recording and its history. Moreover, in pianist Simon Trpčeski Hemsing has found a strong musical partner, an internationally acclaimed artist praised for celebrating the rich folk traditions of his own native country, Macedonia.  

Grieg Violin Sonatas will be available exclusively on Apple Music from February 21st 2020. The album will be released globally from March 6th 2020 on all streaming platforms as well as in physical format in your closest CD shop.

Features on Hemsing Festival 2019

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Hemsing Festival is an international chamber music festival in Aurdal in Valdres, and the artistic leaders are Eldbjørg and Ragnhild Hemsing. The two sister founded the festival in their hometown in 2013 and it takes place each year in week 8.

Eldbjørg Hemsing and her sister Ragnhild Hemsing are Artistic Directors of the Hemsing Festival. The festival´s goal is to facilitate “intimate encounters with great music”. The magical mood created by close contact between the audience and the musicians means a lot.

Please see following features from journals and radio which have been released on Hemsing Festival 2019:

WDR 3 Ton Art | Germany (DE): Das Hemsing Festival in Norwegen

BR Klassik | Germany (DE): Skitour beim Hemsing Festival

BR Klassik | Germany: Kein Fest ohne Hardanger Fiddel (DE)

Deutschlandfunk | Germany (DE): Mit Langlauf zu Debussy

SWR2 Treffpunkt Klassik| Germany (DE): Hemsing Festival in Norwegen

Radio klassik Stephansdom | Austria (DE): Kammermusik in Aurdal

Radio klassik Stephansdom | Austria (DE): Eldbjørg Hemsing

Review: Dvořák & Suk Recording in Concerti (DE)

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Effortless Intensity

Eckhard Weber | Concerti | 8. November 2018

She practically grew up with this work, she says. Indeed, young violinist Eldbjørg Hemsing feels noticeably at home in Dvořák’s Violin Concerto. The way she makes her instrument sing with an amazingly nuanced and beguiling tone full of vibrancy has compelling intensity. Nothing sounds laboured here, everything seems to happen spontaneously in this music. The Antwerp Symphony Orchestra under Alan Buribayev is extremely present and sensitive in this interaction and unfolds a tremendously broad spectrum of colours. The folkloristically inspired finale of the Violin Concerto impresses with light-footed verve and shimmering airiness. A new benchmark recording has been achieved here in every respect. The longingly agitated modernity of the fantasy of Dvořák’s pupil and son-in-law Josef Suk with its subtle shades and surprising changes additionally shows the great potential of Hemsing and her colllaborators.

DEBUT CD REVIEW IN PIZZICATO

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“PIZZICATO SUPERSONIC AWARD: An excellent interpretation of Shostakovich’s first Violin Concerto is paired with the almost unknown, yet interesting concerto written by Norwegian composer Hjalmar Borgström, which equally experiences a more than adequate performance.”

Uwe Krusch | Pizzicato | 7th May 2018

Eröffnet wird diese CD mit dem Violinkonzert von Hjalmar Bjorgström. Wie so viele Norweger hatte er seine Ausbildung in Deutschland, in seinem Fall in Leipzig erhalten. Fand er auch das Studium an und für sich wenig als bereichernd, so inspirierte ihn die reiche Musikkultur, weswegen er lange verweilte. Als er dann endlich nach Norwegen zurückkehrte, war er so in dieser Welt verfangen, dass er dem hochromantischen Stil treu blieb und sich auch nicht darum bemühte, Elemente der norwegischen Musik in sein Wirken aufzunehmen. Das registrierte Grieg mit Verwunderung.

Das Violinkonzert von Borgström ist also diesem romantischen Stil verbunden und, wie der neutrale Titel anzeigt, auch ohne programmatischen Hintergrund, wenn es auch einen narrativen Charakter hat.

Klassisch ist die dreisätzige Form und man hat immer wieder den Eindruck, alte Bekannte wie Brahms, Mendelssohns, Schumann zu treffen, da es die Sprache seiner berühmten Vorgänger intuitiv übernimmt. Dennoch kann man ihm kein Plagiat vorwerfen. Das Stück entwickelt durchaus einen eigenen Charme und ist handwerklich nach allen Regeln meisterhaft gestaltet. Nur hinkt es den neuen musikalischen Entwicklungen zur Entstehungszeit 1914 hinterher.

Eldbjorg Hemsing kann geigerisch aus dem Vollen schöpfen. Ihr Spiel strahlt Souveränität aus, es ist temperamentvoll und bietet dem Hörer einen klaren und schlackenlosen Ton. Dadurch kann sie diese Rarität im Repertoire so ausleuchten, dass das vielleicht ein wenig biedere Werk trotzdem erstrahlt und man mit Interesse bei der Stange bleibt. Ihre hochentwickelten gestalterischen Fertigkeiten setzt sie danach für eine durch und durch überzeugende Darstellung von Shostakovichs erstem Konzert ein. Dieses eine breite Palette von Stimmungen abbildende Werk durchdringt sie mit derartiger Tiefe der Darstellung, dass es eine reine Freude ist. Besonders die Passacaglia lebt von der auch die kleinsten Nuancen auslotenden und herauskitzelnden Ruhe, bevor sie die Burlesque kunstvoll ausgetanzt.

Gemeinsam mit den galant zupackenden Wiener Symphonikern unter Olari Elts werden alle Farben der beiden Werke effektvoll zur Geltung gebracht. Die ausgezeichnete Technik der Aufnahme vervollständigt die positiv zu benennenden Punkte.

DEBUT CD REVIEW IN CRESCENDO

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Eldbjørg Hemsing: Der verschollene Norweger

“…jointly with Wiener Symphoniker and Conductor Olari Elts, Eldbjørg Hemsing presents an interpretation which is convincing, rich of colors and personal. With consistently brilliant sound and flexible expression, Eldbjørg Hemsing makes this album absolutely worth listening to.”

Crescendo | Sina Kleinedler | 20 February 2018

Zwei Entdeckungen auf einem Album: Die norwegische Violinistin Eldbjørg Hemsing und das Violinkonzert ihres Landsmannes Hjalmar Borgström (1864–1925). Borgström war zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts als Kritiker und Komponist bekannt. In Vergessenheit geriet seine Musik höchstwahrscheinlich dadurch, dass er sich weigerte, eine typisch skandinavische Klangsprache zu adaptieren – wie Grieg es getan hatte. Dennoch zog das 1914 geschriebenes Violinkonzert Hemsing sofort in seinen Bann, auch weil dessen Klangsprache sie an ihre Heimat erinnerte. Im Kontrast zu Borgströms romantischem Werk steht Dmitri Shostakovichs erstes Violinkonzert. Seine Klangsprache ist weniger pastoral, eher dramatisch und schmerzerfüllt, doch auch hier schafft Hemsing es gemeinsam mit den Wiener Symphonikern und Olari Elts eine überzeugende, farbenreiche und persönliche Interpretation zu präsentieren. Mit durchweg brillierendem Klang und flexiblem Ausdruck macht Eldbjørg Hemsing dieses Album absolut hörenswert.

ELDBJØRG HEMSING EXCITES WITH PERFECTION

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Norwegian violinist Eldbjørg Hemsing and “das junge orchester NRW” (djoNRW) under Ingo Ernst Reihl – review from concert at the Historic City Hall Wuppertal on 8 October 2017

WZ | Christian Oscar Gazsi Laki | 9 Oct 2017: “…it’s different with the violin concerto no. 4 of Henri Vieuxtemps, the jewel of the evening. This virtuosic sparkling work was performed by no one less than Norwegian Eldbjørg Hemsing. By fortunate situation Reihl succeeded in winning this phenomenal young violinist. She did not only impress with her impeccable technical perfection, which however is not exhausting itself in cool virtuosity, but also by her unrestrained joy for melodic expression. The highly ambitious passages are flying both, light-footed as well as energy-loaded. One looks and is in amazement. She charms with the sound from her Guadagnini from 1754 heart-melting cantilenas, yet without being at anytime overdrawn. The orchestra was a powerful companion, as it succeeded also gentle shimmering passages, thanks to the lyric sensitivity of the orchestra musicians.”