BERGEN’S scenery—snowy peaks and aquamarine fjords—has inspired musicians and artists throughout the ages: Edvard Grieg composed Wedding Day at Troldhaugen and, more recently, the Norwegian city became the basis for the fictional Kingdom of Arendelle in Disney’s ‘Frozen’ films.
Resident ensemble the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO) is one of the oldest of its kind. It was established more than 250 years ago—and once led by Grieg himself. Today, there’s a Briton at the helm: Edward Gardner, chief conductor since 2015.
Although artistic compatriots Edvard Munch and violinist composer Ole Bull feature heavily in tourist itineraries, Grieg is still Bergen’s most famous cultural export. Visitors make pilgrimages to neighbouring Troldhaugen, where the composer’s former home has been turned into a living museum. The Steinway piano he received as a silver-wedding anniversary present in 1892 is still in use, played in private concerts and events during the Bergen International Festival.
‘You get a real sense of Grieg’s spirit in those hills,’ says Mr. Gardner. ‘His music is so centered in the green and blue of Bergen; the dark winters and beautiful summers. You can really feel the impact of the natural surroundings in his music.’
Norwegians may tire of hearing Grieg—the Piano Concerto, in particular, is at risk of overexposure—but Mr. Gardner is pleased to have him as a musical anchor. ‘I remind the orchestra how lucky we are to have this great composer as an emblem. Many of them may have played that concerto hundreds of times, but I still can’t get enough of it.’
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة December 11-18, 2019 من Country Life UK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة December 11-18, 2019 من Country Life UK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds