Overview of the latest released recordings (CD, LP, EP, single, SACD, Blu-ray, DVD, MP3 etc.) where music of Geirr Tveitt is included.
Thomas Jensen (1898-1962) was a Danish conductor and cellist. Danacord has released a series of historical recordings where he conducts mainly the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, but also the Tivoli Symphony Orchestra.
This album includes 14 of the 15 tunes from A Hundred Hardanger Tunes, Suite 1, Op. 151, recorded in Copenhagen 8. April 1962. Geirr Tveitt was present at the concert and sung and told about each tune in advance of the orchestral versions. This part is not included. Number 15. Siste farvel (The last farewell) is not included either. If it was played or left out is unclear.
The concerts on this album are recorded in 1942 (Eric Coates), 1961 and mainly 1962, just a year before Thomas Jensen passed away. There are music from known and less known composers. The sound quality is good and the 2CD can definitely be recommended. Released on Danacord (DACOCD 931) 3. May 2024. These are the works included:
Julie Ye is a young pianist (b. 1992) living in Oslo, Norway. This is her debut album which "is a tribute to lesser-known gems of Norwegian classical piano music. It features the world premiere of Pauline Hall's Piano Sonata - a stunning late-Romantic work composed in 1916 and recently discovered in the archives of the Norwegian National Library. After its premiere, the sonata likely went unheard for over a century, until Julie revived it in 2022. The album also includes Piano Sonata No. 29 by Geirr Tveitt, a rare large-scale work from the late 1950s with a unique soundscape and otherworldly atmosphere.The charming miniatures of Edvard Grieg's Lyric Pieces Op. 43 are also included as a contribution from Julie's own personal archive" (text from www.julieye.no)
A small correction: Tveitt's Piano Sonata No. 29 was printed in 1950 and most probably written in 1943 and had it's premiere in Paris 25. January 1947.
The piano works by Pauline Hall, Geirr Tveitt and Edvard Grieg on the CD are:
Skimra released this MP3 single 3rd of July 2024.
The soprano Liv Elise Nordskog and the pianist Signe Bakke, has 26th of June 2024 released the album Tveitt Songs. The album is available on MP3 and FLAC, and the CD version will be released 25.10.2024. It contains premiere recordings of the ten Songs by Arnulf Øverland and five of the Songs by Johan Falkberget. In addition the album contains six Songs by Olav H. Hauge and one by Per Sivle.
Not all of these songs were written for soprano, many of them are transcribed from the originally baritone voice. In the radio programs Geirr Tveitt made about the poets Arnulf Øverland and Johan Falkberget in 1965, many of the songs were accompanied by the National Broadcasting Orchestra (KORK) conducted by Geirr Tveitt. Both the piano and orchestra arrangements have eccentricity and are refined and subtle, and brings the lyrics and music to a higher unity.
Compared with the original radio recordings, some of the songs are played faster and in a higher pitch with vibrato. Sometimes it is hard to hear the lyrics. The magic of these great songs are not always fullfilled. There are some errors in the titles and the numbering of the songs, at least on the downloadable FLAC/MP3 files available now. Hopefully this is corrected when the CD is released.
Sometimes Øverland is written Överland, and some titles also uses the Swedish "ö" instead of the Norwegian "ø". Arnulf Øverland and Olav H. Hauge is written with their first names, while Johan Falkberget and Per Sivle (not Sivje!) is mentioned only with their last names.
"...."
Anita Skorgan released 13. November a box with 16 CD's from the periode 1973 to 2001. Rubbel og bit (The Whole Lot) 1973-2001 is the title and it contains 14 studioalbums, singles and bonus material. On CD 11 there is a version of Geirr Tveitt's Velkomne med æra (Welcome with honour) with Anita Skorgan on piano and Lars Klevstrand on guitar. This was recorded in 1994 and was included on Julenatt (Christmas Night) that year. The record came in a revised version in 2000. These are the CD's in the box:
CD 1: Til en venn (1975) - CD 2: Du er nær meg (1976) - CD 3: Young Girl (1977) - CD 4: Anita Skorgan (1978) - CD 5: Ingen vei tilbake (1979) - CD 6: Pastell (1981) - CD 7: Cheek to Cheek (1983) - CD 8: Karma (1985) - CD 9: White Magic (1986) - CD10 Basic (1990) - CD11: Julenatt (1994) - CD 12: Gull (2001) - CD 13: Julebonuser - CD 14: 70-tallbonuser - CD 15: 1980-2001 bonuser - CD 16: Anita på svensk - bonuser
Leif Ove Andsnes released 13. October a box with 36 CD's from the periode 1990 til 2010. The Warner Classics Edition 1990-2010 is the title and it contains the complete recordings he did on EMI Classics and Virgin Classics as the label then was branded. The CD's are not in chronological order, but mainly listed alphabetically after the names of the composers.
CD 1: Bartok - CD 2-3: Brahms (+ Schumann) - CD 4-5: Chopin - CD 6: Dvorak - CD 7-10: Grieg (+ Schumann) - CD 11-12: Haydn - CD 13-14: Janacêk (+ Debussy, Ravel, & Nielsen) - CD 15: Liszt - CD 16-17: Mozart - CD18 Mussorgsky (+ Schumann) - CD19: Nielsen - CD 20-23: Rachmaninov - CD 24-28: Schubert - CD 29-32: Schumann (+ Brahms) - CD 33: Britten - CD 34: Horizons (21 ulike komponistar) - CD 34: Sørensen, Lutoslawski, Kurtag & Dalbavie - CD 36: Grieg, Tveitt, Johansen, Valen & Sæverud. The last CD in the box has the title: The long, long winter night (Dan långje långje vettranåttæ) after Geirr Tveitts Opus 150, No. 37. It includes 7 of the piano pieces from Fifty Folktunes from Hardanger:
Sonja Anderson & Roslyn Wilson released this FLAC/MP3 single 10th of October 2024.
On 15. September Sinikka Langeland released her new album Wind and Sun on ECM Records. The lyrics on the album are written by Jon Fosse. Sinikka Langeland has composed the tunes, except track 6 an 10; A Child who exists, where Geirr Tveitt's tune Welcome by Honour (Velkomne med æra) is used. The songs has english titles, but are sung in Norwegian. A Child who exists is the poem Eit barn som finst. Wind and Sun on track 2 is instrumental, while lyrics are included on track 11.
On the album Sinikka Langeland sings and plays Kantele (5-string, 15-string and 39 string versions) and Jew's harp (metal and wood versions), Trygve Seim plays Tenor Saxophone and Soprano Saxophone, Mathias Eick plays trumpet, Mats Eilertsen plays double bass and Thomas Strønen plays drums. The album was recorded June 2022 at Rainbow Studios in Oslo and mixed at Bavaria Musikstudios in Munich. Produced by Guiso Goma. Recording engineer Martin Abrahamsen. Photo by Dag Alveng and design by Sascha Kleis.
Ivar Medaas released in the beginning of 1965 the LP Trubaduren kommer (The Trubadour is arriving). This was his first LP as solo artist som soloartist, but had together with his wife Kari released the LPen: Holiday in Norway/Come and dance with us as Vestlandsduoen (The duo from the Western Norway). Befor these LP's Vestlandsduen and him alone had recorded several singles and one EP together with Geirr Tveitt. This April the album was released on CD for the first time. The series Norske Albumklassikere (Norwegian Album Classics) has remastred the album. Geirr Tveitt has composed 4 of the songs and plays piano on the two last tracks. Those are taken from the EP Old Norwegian Folktunes (1961). The other songs were recorded in February 1965:
Ragnhild Hemsing, together with Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Eivind Aadland, has 31th of March 2023 released the album BRUCH+TVEITT. Ragnhild plays both the violin and the Hardanger fiddle as the cover indicate. The works on the album are:
Max Bruch: Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 26 (24:23),
1. No. 1 Introduktion. Allegro moderato (8:18),
2. No. 2 Adagio (8:24),
3. No. 3 Finale. Allegro energico (7:39)
Johan Svendsen: Romance for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 26;
4. Romance for Violin and Orchestra (8:57)
Sigurd Lie: Concert Piece for Violin and Orchestra,
5. Concert Piece "Huldra Aa'n Elland" for Violin and Orchestra (8:57),
Geirr Tveitt: Hardanger Fiddle Concerto No. 2, "Three Fjords", Op. 252 (19:34).
6. No.1 Hardangerfjord: Tempo tranquillo e decisio (4:59),
7. No. 2 Sognefjord: Mest maestoso - Danza determinale e lenta - Tempo 1 (5:00)
8. No. 3 Nordfjord: Giocoso (9:45)
Total playing time: 61:14
REVIEWS:
Tord Gustavsen Trio, with Tord Gustavsen on piano, Steinar Raknes on bass and Jarle Vespestad on drums, released the album Opening in the beginning of April. It is published on the renowned label ECM and is produced by Manfred Eicher. The record contains an instrumental version of Geirr Tveitt's Fløytelåt. The melody was written to Jakob Sande's poem with the same title. The norwegian composer Egil Hovland is represented with "Vær sterk, min sjel" (Be strong, my soul). The other tracks are written by Tord Gustavsen, except Findings/Visa från Rättvik" (trad.).
"Tord Gustavsens piano is singing, and it is this song that elevates the music on his new trio album."
"... Then there is "Fløytelåt/The Flute", which is written by Geirr Tveitt. This is a composition Gustavsen can fill with his own, with Vespestad and Raknes with supporting, dynamic beats."
Arild R. Andersen in review of Opening in Aftenposten 16. april 2022. (Character 5/6)
Ellis released this FLAC/MP3 single 17th of June 2022.
" Lovely about our own songbook ... The songbook is an excellent example of how a national treasures should be preserved and continued. Espen Eriksen and Gunnar Halle tell us that they are capable of in a very great way."
Tor Hammerø in review of Sangboka in Nettavisen 18. februar 2022. (Karakter 5/6)
"Tradition has no own value as long as it is not cultivated
...Sangboka s dedicated to eight songs in a benevolent way, in a floating duel with acoustic instruments, supplemented by annotating effects. Large reverb expands the space, electronics and live sampling provide a discrete exterior. Eriksen refers to Jan Johansson's idiom of folk-jazz's simplicity, but also makes his way over to blues and ornamental modern jazz. Halle leads a velvet soft, bound tone in the middle vocal register, selective virtuoso but over-the-top narrative. A songbook with cheerful nostalgia"
Ralf Dombrowski in review of Sangboka in Jazz thing 142 (www.jazzthing.de) 28. februar 2022.
The new SACD recording from pianist Christian Grøvlen, called Eventyr (Adventure Fairy-tale) contains a world premiere recording of the tone poem for piano called; Eolsharpa (Aeolian harp). This version is based on the musical notation from 1946. This version is slightly different and longer (16:06) than the one Geirr Tveitt plays himself in 1949, released on the album named: Geirr Tveitt plays Geirr Tveitt (08:37) in 1994.
In addition to Eolsharpa, Grøvlen plays Christian Sinding: Sonata, op. 91, Alf Hurum: Wonderland, op. 16 and Edvard Grieg: Ballad, Op. 24. The album is released on the well-reputed label 2L.
" Well worth the record alone"
Olav Egil Aune about Eolsharpa in review of Eventyr, Vårt Land 12. June 2021
