Havard 6 Feet Shelf

Håvard Svendsrud, from Sysle på Modum, is known as one of Scandinavia's most active accordion players. He has been a professional freelance musician for 25 years, and is known from a wide range of music projects, both as a soloist and in various collaborations.

Jean Sibelius - Piano Music Vol. 1 - Håvard Gimse (1999) {Naxos 8.553899}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 191 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 164 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 21 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1999 Naxos / HNH International | 8.553899
Classical / Late Romantic / Early Modern / Piano

The Sonata and Impromptus are early and come from the year in which the first version of En Saga was composed. The Sonata has a genuine sense of forward movement and some of its ideas are appealing. The Op. 24 Pieces were written at various times between 1894 and 1903. The Norwegian pianist Håvard Gimse has consistent tonal beauty and unfailing musicianship. He is imaginative and has the kind of natural eloquence which allows the music to speak for itself yet still makes it sound fresh and unsentimental. This is distinguished playing and a strong recommendation at any price level.

Jean Sibelius - Piano Music Vol. 2 - Håvard Gimse (2000) {Naxos 8.554808}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 187 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 149 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 20 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2000 Naxos / HNH International | 8.554808
Classical / Late Romantic / Early Modern / Piano

The Norwegian pianist Håvard Gimse here includes two important sets of the piano pieces, Opp. 34 and 40, and the 6 Finnish Folk Songs, fifth of which, Fratricide, is slightly Bartókian. Sibelius’s contemporary and countryman Selim Palmgren put it perfectly when he wrote that ‘even in what for him were alien regions, [Sibelius] moves with an unfailing responsiveness to tone colour’, and Gimse brings finesse and distinction to this repertoire. This and the companion disc are first recommendations.

On this recording, they perform a comprehensive selection of Overtures by Francis Poulenc. Francis Poulenc (1899–1963) is not an easy composer to relate to. Not the man himself perhaps – though possibly that too – but his music. It is somehow dated. Here is a composer who produced his best works, all more or less completely tonal, at a time when Arnold Schoenberg was writing twelve-tone music and Poulenc’s countrymen Oliver Messiaen (1908–1992) and Pierre Boulez (1925–2016) were into innovative rhythms, scales and techniques to lift the music out of the realm of subjective emotionalism. One of Poulenc’s most splendid works, Gloria, from 1959, was composed two years after Boulez’s third piano sonata. The two works have nothing in common other than that they both consist of notes and belong to what is called the European music tradition. What’s more, I am reasonably certain that Gloria has many more listeners than the third piano sonata of Boulez, quite simply because this melodious choral work is more accessible…

Håvard Svendsrud, from Sysle på Modum, is known as one of Scandinavia's most active accordion players. He has been a professional freelance musician for 25 years, and is known from a wide range of music projects, both as a soloist and in various collaborations.

''The Bad And The Beautiful'' marks the second installment of unique, intellectually stimulating and very emotional musical vignettes from saxophonist Håkon Kornstad and pianist Håvard Wiik, after Eight Tunes We Like (Moserobie, 2005).

Jean Sibelius - Piano Music Vol. 3 - Håvard Gimse (2001) {Naxos 8.554814}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 170 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 142 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 16 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2001 Naxos / HNH International | 8.554814
Classical / Late Romantic / Early Modern / Piano

The Ten Pieces of Op. 58 date from 1909, the year of the String Quartet (Voces intimae). They are delightful and by no means just trivial. Each has its own sobriquet and shows real keyboard character. The final rather solemn Summer Song is memorable, as is the wistful mood of the first of the Two Rondinos, written two years later; the second sparkles most pianistically. The three Sonatinas, written together in the summer of 1912, are also full of charming ideas, giving the impressions of a composer relaxing in holiday mood. Håvard Gimse plays all this music freshly, and this Naxos disc more than bears out the promise of its companions.