E;dbjorg Hemsing

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 is thus not only an interpreter and representative of Norwegian musical tradition, but also preserves it and leads it into the modern age. In keeping with the pre-Christmas season, she dives deep into the musical tradition of her home region of Valdres on her new album "Vetra". Winter is the central theme in all her works. The word "Vetra" comes from the dialect spoken in Valdes and means winter. In addition, she has gathered a group of outstanding musicians around her, all of whom are also very familiar with Norwegian musical history.

Fire Ritual, the concerto that lends its name to the present disc, was composed with Hemsing in mind. With it Tan Dun has created a musical ceremony for the victims of war, building on four themes: Cruel Wars, Innocent People, Mantras of the Heavenly Birds and Eternity. The concerto was premièred in September 2018 by Hemsing and the Oslo Philharmonic, conducted by the composer. For Eldbjørg Hemsing, Tan Dun has also created the concerto that opens the disc, Rhapsody and Fantasia, based on earlier works. Both works reflect the composer’s memories of growing up barefoot in the countryside, and his later experiences of bringing together the shamanistic and spiritual world of his childhood with the discipline and philosophy of Peking Opera. Or in the composers own words: ‘a reflection of those early memories of my youth, but through the lens of my current musical soundscape’.

Eldbjørg Hemsing has been a household name in her native Norway since childhood and made her solo debut with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 11. During and after her studies in Vienna, she has absorbed repertoire ranging from Beethoven to Tan Dun, a composer she has collaborated with on several projects in both Europe and Asia. The present disc marks Eldbjørg Hemsing s first appearance on BIS, and is also her début CD. For the occasion she has chosen to highlight an all but forgotten work by a countryman, Harald Borgström. Like Grieg in the preceding generation, and indeed like many Nordic composers in the late nineteenth century, Borgström went to Germany to study. However, in contrast to Grieg who returned from Germany firmly resolved to carve out an authentic, Norwegian idiom, Borgström came back a staunch proponent of new German symphonic music.

At the occasion of the 70th birthday of Swedish contemporary composer Anders Hillborg, the award-winning conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra release an album with some of his most recognizable works. Together with violinist Eldbjorg Hemsing and soprano Hannah Holgersson they have recorded Hillborg's compositions: 'Liquid Marble', 'Kvall' and 'Violin Concerto No. 2'. Anders Hillborg has become one of the leading contemporary classical composers of our time with works commissioned and performed by Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall or Royal Stockholm Philharmonic. Notable musicians he's worked with include clarinetist Martin Frost, soprano Renee Fleming, violinist Lisa Batiashvili, violist Lawrence Power or such renown conductors as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Alan Gilbert, Gustavo Dudamel and David Zinman.