Chopin & Schumann by Sveinung Bjelland

Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann

Sveinung Bjelland

Chopin & Schumann

Format: CD
Label: Lawo Classics
UPC: 7090020181714
Catnr: LWC 1149
Release date: 01 June 2018
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Label
Lawo Classics

UPC
7090020181714

Catalogue number
LWC 1149

Release date
01 June 2018

"...The E minor concerto recorded here, which carries the No. 1 but is in fact his second concerto for piano and orchestra, embodies Chopin's early mastery. The pianist Sveinung Bjelland proves brilliantly to be an excellent Chopin interpreter through his handling of the graceful ornamentation of the style. The transparency of the figurations, the singability of the bel canto bows in the slow movement, his soulful agogics and, last but not least, his sovereign virtuosity - all these are qualities with which Bjelland captivates the listener. He succeeds in a unique way in sharing his affinity for Chopin with the audience. The Norwegian Radio Orchestra under the baton of Christian Eggen also contributes to the high quality of the recording..."

Pianonews, 11-4-2019

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

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About the album

CHOPIN & SCHUMANN
Chopin’s E minor Concerto and Schumann’s Opus 92 remain as two of the finest of all works for piano and orchestra by composers from the early part of the Romantic era — the universal spirit of these compositions being equally relevant in the early decades of the 21st century as they were when they first appeared.

Sveinung is one of The Norwegian Radio Orchestra’s preferred partners, both as soloist, which he has been numerous times, and in its chamber music series. With an ear for detail in sound and phrasing and content only after achieving his intended nuances at the micro level, he is, at the same time, a pianist with the power and authority needed to be heard over the orchestra. In these works, the interplay between soloist and orchestra is especially important, and it may be noted that the conductor on this recording is also a pianist.

The award-winning pianist Sveinung Bjelland from Stavanger is Professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music and the University of Agder. Bjelland can look back on an extensive career as soloist, both on international concert stages and on numerous recordings. His previous release on the LAWO Classics label, “Rachmaninoff/ Shostakovich: Cello Sonatas” (LWC1131) with cellist Audun Sandvik, received glowing reviews in Norway and abroad.

The Norwegian Radio Orchestra is known and cherished throughout the land and regarded by music-loving Norwegians with a unique combination of respect and affection. The orchestra is comprised of highly talented classical instrumentalists and its musical philosophy is distinguished by a light-hearted approach, a curiosity for all kinds of music, and an unwillingness to pigeonhole musical styles.

Conductor, composer and pianist Christian Eggen is one of the most influential figures on the Norwegian music scene. His field of expertise ranges from contemporary music via genre-merging projects, installations, television and radio drama productions to film, theatre, jazz, opera and classical music.

Chopins E-Moll-Konzert und Schumanns Opus 92 sind als zwei der schönsten Werke für Klavier und Orchester von Komponisten aus der Frühzeit der Romantik erhalten - der universelle Geist dieser Kompositionen ist in den frühen Jahrzehnten des 21. Jahrhunderts ebenso relevant wie zu ihrem Erscheinen.
Sveinung ist einer der bevorzugten Partner des Norwegischen Rundfunkorchesters, sowohl als Solist, als auch in der Kammermusikreihe. Mit einem Ohr für Details in Klang, Phrasierung und Inhalt erst nach Erreichen der gewünschten Nuancen auf Mikroebene ist er gleichzeitig ein Pianist mit der nötigen Kraft und Autorität, um im Orchester gehört zu werden. In diesen Werken ist das Zusammenspiel zwischen Solist und Orchester besonders wichtig und es ist anzumerken, dass der Dirigent dieser Aufnahme auch Pianist ist.
Die preisgekrönte Pianistin Sveinung Bjelland aus Stavanger ist Professorin an der Norwegischen Musikakademie und der Universität Agder. Bjelland kann auf eine lange Karriere als Solistin zurückblicken, sowohl auf internationalen Konzertbühnen als auch auf zahlreichen Aufnahmen. Ihre vorherige Veröffentlichung bei LAWO Classics, "Rachmaninoff/ Schostakowitsch: Cellosonaten" (LWC1131) mit dem Cellisten Audun Sandvik, erhielt glänzende Kritiken in Norwegen und im Ausland.
Das Norwegische Rundfunkorchester ist im ganzen Land bekannt und geschätzt und wird von musikbegeisterten Norwegern mit einer einzigartigen Kombination aus Respekt und Zuneigung gewürdigt. Das Orchester besteht aus hochbegabten klassischen Instrumentalisten und seine musikalische Philosophie zeichnet sich durch eine unbeschwerte Herangehensweise, eine Neugierde für alle Arten von Musik und eine mangelnde Bereitschaft, Musikstile einzuordnen aus.
Der Dirigent, Komponist und Pianist Christian Eggen ist eine der einflussreichsten Persönlichkeiten der norwegischen Musikszene. Sein Spezialgebiet reicht von zeitgenössischer Musik über genreübergreifende Projekte, Installationen, Fernseh- und Hörspielproduktionen bis hin zu Film, Theater, Jazz, Oper und Klassik.

Artist(s)

Sveinung Bjelland (piano)

The award-winning pianist Sveinung Bjelland from Stavanger studied with Professor Hans Leygraf at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts (Mozarteum) in Salzburg and at the Berlin University of the Arts, from which he graduated with highest honors. In 1999 he was the recipient of Concerts Norway’s “Young Soloist of the Year” award. In the international press he is described as an outstanding lieder pianist. He is Professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music and the University of Agder. Bjelland can look back on an extensive career as soloist, on international concert stages as well as on numerous recordings. His album of sonatas of Scarlatti and Mendelssohn is testimony to his exquisite sense of style and sound. His previous release...

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The Norwegian Radio Orchestra

THE NORWEGIAN RADIO ORCHESTRA is known and cherished throughout the land and regarded by music-loving Norwegians with a unique combination of respect and affection. Owing to its remarkably diverse repertoire, it is doubtless the orchestra heard most often — on radio, television, and the internet, and at its many and diverse venues around the country. It is a flexible orchestra, playing everything from symphonic and contemporary classical music to pop, rock, folk and jazz. Every year the orchestra performs together with internationally acclaimed artists at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert, which is aired to millions of viewers worldwide. Among those with whom it has collaborated in recent years are Kaizers Orchestra, Mari Boine, Jarle Bernhoft, Diamanda Galàs, René Fleming, Andrew Manze,...

THE NORWEGIAN RADIO ORCHESTRA is known and cherished throughout the land and regarded by music-loving Norwegians with a unique combination of respect and affection. Owing to its remarkably diverse repertoire, it is doubtless the orchestra heard most often — on radio, television, and the internet, and at its many and diverse venues around the country.
It is a flexible orchestra, playing everything from symphonic and contemporary classical music to pop, rock, folk and jazz. Every year the orchestra performs together with internationally acclaimed artists at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert, which is aired to millions of viewers worldwide. Among those with whom it has collaborated in recent years are Kaizers Orchestra, Mari Boine, Jarle Bernhoft, Diamanda Galàs, René Fleming, Andrew Manze, Anna Netrebko, and Gregory Porter.
The Norwegian Radio Orchestra was founded by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation in 1946. Its first conductor, Øivind Bergh, led the ensemble in a series of concerts from the main studio that established the basis of its popularity and its status as a national treasure. The orchestra continues to perform in the context of important media events. It is comprised of highly talented classical instrumentalists, yet its musical philosophy has remained the same: versatility, a light-hearted approach, a curiosity for all kinds of music, and an unwillingness to pigeonhole musical styles.

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Christian Eggen (conductor)

Conductor, composer, and pianist Christian Eggen (b. 1957) is one of the most influential figures on the Norwegian music scene. His field of expertise ranges from contemporary music via genre-merging projects, installations, television and radio drama productions to film, theatre, jazz, opera, and classical music.
As a conductor, he is known as one of Europe’s finest interpreters of contemporary music and has worked closely with composers such as Morton Feldman, John Cage, and Helmut Lachenmann. As a conductor of the Ny Musikk Ensemble, The Norwegian Radio Orchestra, and later as permanent conductor and artistic director of Cikada and Oslo Sinfonietta, he has developed Norwegian sinfonietta repertoire since the early eighties and regularly appears on the European contemporary music scene with groups such as the Ensemble MusikFabrik and Ensemble InterContemporain. He has worked with many orchestras including the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala in Milan, and the Royal Philharmonic in London.
He has written music for a vast range of formations and settings. His first opera, Franz Kafka Pictures, received its complete world premiere at the Norwegian National Opera in the autumn of 2013. Sections of the opera have been performed since 2009. As a pianist, Eggen is internationally renowned for his interpretations of Mozart and Carl Nielsen, the latter presented on the recording Carl Nielsen: Piano Music on the Victoria label.
Christian Eggen has collaborated on a multitude of recordings within all aspects of his faceted musical career. He was the Festival Artist of the Year at the Bergen International Festival in 2007 and was appointed Commander of The Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav for his contribution to contemporary music in Norway and abroad.

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Composer(s)

Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann was a German composer and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career as a virtuoso pianist. He had been assured by his teacher Friedrich Wieck that he could become the finest pianist in Europe, but a hand injury ended this dream. Schumann then focused his musical energies on composing.
Schumann's published compositions were written exclusively for the piano until 1840; he later composed works for piano and orchestra; many Lieder (songs for voice and piano); four symphonies; an opera; and other orchestral, choral, and chamber works. Works such as Carnaval, Symphonic Studies, Kinderszenen, Kreisleriana, and the Fantasie in C are among his most famous. His writings about music appeared mostly in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (New Journal for Music), a Leipzig-based publication which he jointly founded.
In 1840, Schumann married Friedrich Wieck's daughter Clara, against the wishes of her father, following a long and acrimonious legal battle, which found in favour of Clara and Robert. Clara also composed music and had a considerable concert career as a pianist, the earnings from which, before her marriage, formed a substantial part of her father's fortune.
Schumann suffered from a mental disorder, first manifesting itself in 1833 as a severe melancholic depressive episode, which recurred several times alternating with phases of ‘exaltation’ and increasingly also delusional ideas of being poisoned or threatened with metallic items. After a suicide attempt in 1854, Schumann was admitted to a mental asylum, at his own request, in Endenich near Bonn. Diagnosed with "psychotic melancholia", Schumann died two years later in 1856 without having recovered from his mental illness.

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Frédéric Chopin

Frédéric Chopin is one of the greatest composers of the Romantic piano tradition. He was a master in making the small form great. His ballades, mazurkas, polonaises, preludes, etudes and nocturnes all belong to the most popular standard works for piano ever written. As a child prodigy, Chopin grew up in a middle class family, who lived among the literati of Warsaw. When in 1830 the November Uprising broke out in Poland, the twenty year old Chopin stayed in Vienna. He became an exile and never returned to his mother country. He eventually settled in Paris. He avoided public concerts, but he did like performing in small settings, such as salons and at home for his friends. This way, Chopin built a reputation as an exceptional pianist, teacher and composer.
Chopin brought a unique synthesis between the Viennese bravado and the French/English lyric style. Even though his pieces often are technically very demanding, the focus was always on creating a lyric expression and poetic atmosphere. He invented the instrumental ballade, and brought salongenres to a higher level with his many innovations and refinements.

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Press

...The E minor concerto recorded here, which carries the No. 1 but is in fact his second concerto for piano and orchestra, embodies Chopin's early mastery. The pianist Sveinung Bjelland proves brilliantly to be an excellent Chopin interpreter through his handling of the graceful ornamentation of the style. The transparency of the figurations, the singability of the bel canto bows in the slow movement, his soulful agogics and, last but not least, his sovereign virtuosity - all these are qualities with which Bjelland captivates the listener. He succeeds in a unique way in sharing his affinity for Chopin with the audience. The Norwegian Radio Orchestra under the baton of Christian Eggen also contributes to the high quality of the recording...
Pianonews, 11-4-2019