Peer Gynt Ragnhild Hemsing & Trondheim Soloists

• Edvard Grieg (1843 - 1907): Peer Gynt, Op. 23:
• 1Grieg: Peer Gynt, Op. 23: Morning Mood (Arr. for Hardanger Fiddle & String Orchestra)05:56
• 2Grieg: Peer Gynt, Op. 23: Anitra's Dance (Arr. for Hardanger Fiddle & String Orchestra)03:23
• 3Grieg: Peer Gynt, Op. 23: Solveig's Song (Arr. for Vviolin & String Orchestra)04:33
• 4Grieg: Peer Gynt, Op. 23: The Abduction - Ingrid's Lament (Arr. for Violin & String Orchestra)04:39
• 5Grieg: Peer Gynt, Op. 23: Halling (Arr. for Hardanger Fiddle & String Orchestra)01:45
• 6Grieg: Peer Gynt, Op. 23: Arabian Dance (Arr. for Violin & String Orchestra)04:44
• 7Grieg: Peer Gynt, Op. 23: Peer Gynt's Homecoming (Arr. for Violin & String Orchestra)02:22
• 8Grieg: Peer Gynt, Op. 23: Springar (Arr. for Hardanger Fiddle & String Orchestra)02:17
• 9Grieg: Peer Gynt, Op. 23: Solveig's Cradle Song (Arr. for Violin & String Orchestra)04:25
• Scenes of Country Life, Op. 19:
• 10Grieg: Scenes of Country Life, Op. 19: Norwegian Bridal Procession in Passing (Arr. for Hardanger Fiddle & String Orchestra)03:25
• Peer Gynt, Op. 23:
• 11Grieg: Peer Gynt, Op. 23: The Death of Åse (Arr. for Hardanger Fiddle & String Orchestra)06:50
• 12Grieg: Peer Gynt, Op. 23: In the Hall of the Mountain King (Arr. for Hardanger Fiddle & String Orchestra)03:47
• Total Runtime48:06

Info for Peer Gynt

The spirit of adventure, braggadocio and tall stories … for her second album on the Berlin Classics label, the Norwegian violinist and Hardanger fiddler Ragnhild Hemsing has chosen to focus on one of Norway’s best known and most legendary characters: Peer Gynt. Although her solo instruments are not part of the original orchestra formation, she chose various sections of the incidental music to the stage play of Peer Gynt op. 23 and had them arranged for her Hardanger fiddle and the violin with string orchestra accompaniment – thereby creating a link to the traditional story of Peer Gynt in the context of Norwegian folk music.

Ragnhild Hemsing had long wished to arrange the music to Peer Gynt for the Hardanger fiddle: “I thought that sections of the music were perfectly suited to the Hardanger fiddle in combination with a solo violin and string orchestra. That said, I wanted to delve deeper into the material, to make it fully clear that folk music and the Hardanger fiddle were the source of inspiration for it.” The fact that Grieg was indeed influenced by both Norwegian folk music and the traditional Hardanger fiddle when composing this music comes out especially clearly in the title “Morgenstemning” (morning mood): The first notes of the work mirror exactly the Hardanger fiddle’s sympathetic strings: A F♯ E D E F♯.

Peer Gynt was not originally conceived for the stage, but as a dramatic poem by Norway’s national poet Henrik Ibsen. It tells the tale of the eponymous protagonist, who leaves his homeland in search of love and adventure. After many years of living in the wild and travelling the world, he returns to Norway, a broken old man – where his beloved Solveig greets him with open arms and forgives him his misdemeanours. Written in 1867, Ibsen was addressing the romantic nationalism in Norway at the time. He wrote a stage version of the story some years later at the behest of the director of the theatre in Christiania (now Oslo). Edvard Grieg was commissioned to write the incidental music for it, a task which he struggled with. In 1876, when the stage music was finally premiered, it was a huge success in Norway; however, Grieg doubted that it would enjoy the same success outside his homeland and he therefore published two shorter Peer Gynt Suites in 1888 and 1893. They went on to become his most popular works worldwide.

On her new album, Ragnhild Hemsing has brought together the Peer Gynt story with her Hardanger fiddle and has also integrated a further aspect of folk music into the mix: improvisation. “Folk music is part of my roots and so it belongs quite naturally to my music. We did not notate it. When improvising I reflect the freedom that I feel when making music, and the tradition that I wish to integrate into the classical genre.” As a result, Ragnhild Hemsing’s music and her re-interpretation of Grieg’s work depicts Peer Gynt’s life: in his longing for freedom and new horizons he discovers his bond with his homeland and its traditions. Ultimately he reflects on his origins and returns to his home – and yet he has been influenced by the impression he has gathered along the course of his journey through the world.

Ragnhild Hemsing is accompanied on her second album by the Trondheim Soloists, an ensemble with which she has already enjoyed a long and fruitful collaboration. The arrangements were written – like those on Hemsing’s first album Røta – by Tormod Tvete Vik. “The Peer Gynt Suites can now be heard in a new guise and with a new sound. A collective, exciting and rewarding exploratory process” as the musician underlines.

Ragnhild Hemsing, violin, hardanger fiddle Trondheim Soloists

Ragnhild Hemsing
stands out amongst the rising stars in Norway as a remarkably poised artist.

Her unique upbringing, deeply immersed in the rich folk music traditions of Norway, enables her to be one of the first artists to successfully merge the instantly identifiable characteristics of Norwegian folk music and classical performance in a young, fresh and entirely contemporary fashion.

At only 14 years of age Ragnhild made her debut performing the Mendelssohn Concerto with both, the Bergen Philharmonic and the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra. Since then she has performed with all major Norwegian orchestras.

She supplements her large repertoire of standard solo classical works for violin with more unusual and complex works written for the Hardanger Fiddle.

The 2020/21 season marks the beginning of Ragnhild Hemsing's exclusive collaboration with the CD Label Berlin Classics. Her debut album at Berlin Classics will be recorded as a co-production with WDR (West German Broadcasting Cologne) at the end of August 2020 and released in early 2021. Together with pianist Mario Häring and cellist Benedict Klöckner she grants deep insights into her Norwegian roots with a recital program including works by Edvard Grieg, Johan Halvorsen, Ole Bull, Johan S. Svendsen and traditional Norwegian folk music on the Hardanger fiddle.

Ragnhild ́s latest recording Northern Timbre was released in 2017 on 2L label together with the pianist Tor Espen Aspaas with works by Grieg, Sibelius and Nielsen.

Her album YR - named after a piece by the Norwegian composer Lasse Thoresen, which was performed by Ragnhild Hemsing 17 years after its origin - was enthusiastically received by the international press. The 2020/21 season is characterized by appearances as a soloist with renowned German and international orchestras such as the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, the Munich Symphony Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Weimar and the Göttingen Symphony Orchestra. Moreover, Ragnhild Hemsing is a guest at several important festivals such as the Kissinger Sommer, the Weilburger Schlosskonzerte, the Hohenloher Kultursommer and the MDR Musiksommer.

Ragnhild Hemsing’s recording of Halvorsen’s Fossegrimen op. 21 with the Bergen Philharmonic and Neeme Järvi received outstanding critical acclaim. Since then, the two have worked closely together. For instance, Neeme Järvi subsequently invited Ragnhild to debut with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra.

Other important debuts of the last years include a.o. the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., the Gothenburg Symphony, the NDR Radio Philharmonic Hannover, the Beethovenfest Bonn, the Nürnberger Symphoniker, the Freiburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Residentie Orkest The Hague, the Tampere Philharmonic (Santtu-Matias Rouvali), the MDR Radio Symphony Orchestra Leipzig (Kristjan Järvi), the Risør Chamber Music Festival, the National Orchestra of Belgium, the Düsseldorf Symphony at the Tonhalle Düsseldorf, the Schwetzingen SWR Festival and the Tonhalle Zürich. She has performed the world premiere of Lasse Thoresen’s “Sprang”, together with her sister Eldbjørg and the Trondheim Soloists at the Bergen International Festival with further performances at St Petersburg’s Marinsky Concert Hall, the Bashmet Festival in Omsk, the Moravian Autumn in Brno, and at Trondheim celebrating the Trondheim Soloists’ 25th anniversary.

Ragnhild has given guest appearances at all major festivals of Norway, and she is a well-known artist on Norwegian radio and TV. Together with her sister, Eldbjørg Hemsing she recorded a one-hour documentary on the life of the famous Norwegian violinist Ole Bull which received an EBU award.

After her most successful debut at the Beethovenfest Bonn 2013, Ragnhild Hemsing was awarded the Beethoven- Ring of the “Citizens for Beethoven”.

Ragnhild is the artistic leader of the Hemsing Festival together with her sister Eldbjørg. They established the festival in 2013, which takes place in their hometown Valdres week 8 every year. For more info, see www.hemsingfestival.com

Ragnhild was born in 1988 into the heart of the Norwegian folk region, Valdres. She began to play the violin at 5 years of age and continued her studies at the prestigious Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo, followed by studies with Boris Kuschnir in Vienna. She plays on a Francesco Ruggeri Violin (Cremona, 1694) kindly on loan from the Dextra Musica Foundation.

This album contains no booklet.