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.