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.’
Denne historien er fra December 11-18, 2019-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra December 11-18, 2019-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Save our family farms
IT Tremains to be seen whether the Government will listen to the more than 20,000 farming people who thronged Whitehall in central London on November 19 to protest against changes to inheritance tax that could destroy countless family farms, but the impact of the good-hearted, sombre crowds was immediate and positive.
A very good dog
THE Spanish Pointer (1766–68) by Stubbs, a landmark painting in that it is the artist’s first depiction of a dog, has only been exhibited once in the 250 years since it was painted.
The great astral sneeze
Aurora Borealis, linked to celestial reindeer, firefoxes and assassinations, is one of Nature's most mesmerising, if fickle displays and has made headlines this year. Harry Pearson finds out why
'What a good boy am I'
We think of them as the stuff of childhood, but nursery rhymes such as Little Jack Horner tell tales of decidedly adult carryings-on, discovers Ian Morton
Forever a chorister
The music-and way of living-of the cabaret performer Kit Hesketh-Harvey was rooted in his upbringing as a cathedral chorister, as his sister, Sarah Sands, discovered after his death
Best of British
In this collection of short (5,000-6,000-word) pen portraits, writes the author, 'I wanted to present a number of \"Great British Commanders\" as individuals; not because I am a devotee of the \"great man, or woman, school of history\", but simply because the task is interesting.' It is, and so are Michael Clarke's choices.
Old habits die hard
Once an antique dealer, always an antique dealer, even well into retirement age, as a crop of interesting sales past and future proves
It takes the biscuit
Biscuit tins, with their whimsical shapes and delightful motifs, spark nostalgic memories of grandmother's sweet tea, but they are a remarkably recent invention. Matthew Dennison pays tribute to the ingenious Victorians who devised them
It's always darkest before the dawn
After witnessing a particularly lacklustre and insipid dawn on a leaden November day, John Lewis-Stempel takes solace in the fleeting appearance of a rare black fox and a kestrel in hot pursuit of a pipistrelle bat
Tarrying in the mulberry shade
On a visit to the Gainsborough Museum in Sudbury, Suffolk, in August, I lost my husband for half an hour and began to get nervous. Fortunately, an attendant had spotted him vanishing under the cloak of the old mulberry tree in the garden.
