Soprano Linda ØvrebØ and pianiSt KriStin Fossheim treat us to a delicious flower bouquet of romances and songs by Norwegian composer Johannes Haarklou (1847–1925). Haarklou’s compositional output reflects his love for substantial musical forms like operas, oratorios, symphonies and concertos with solo instruments, where as the smaller works presented on this CD represent a just as creative branch of his oeuvre; many of them set to lyrics by some of the most important poets of the day. These are inspired settings, unpretentious but of shimmering beauty – feelings of joy in contrast to profound melancholy, nature and love, nocturnal moods and a Fairy-dance. Linda ØvrebØ og KriStin Fossheim presenterer en vakker bukett med utvalgte romanser og sanger komponert av Johannes Haarklou (1847–1925). Haarklou kom po nerte helst i de store former – opera og oratorium, symfonier og solokonserter. Av hans ca. 130 verker inntar romansene og sangene derfor en relativt beskjeden plass. Flere av dem til tekster av sin samtids kjente diktere, tekster som har inspirert Haarklou til en enkel, men likevel musikalsk helstøpt form. Her er spontan livsglede og dypeste vemod, natur og kjærlighet, nattstemning og alvedans. Sommernatt - sanger av Johannes Haarklou Hybrid e+q EAN13: 7041888514329 62 5.1 surround + STEREO *!0E1I8I-fbedcj! 2L-062-SACD made in Norway 20©10 Lindberg Lyd AS 01 • Ved Havet (t: Welhaven) • 03:02 02 • Træet (t: Bjørnson) • 01:39 03 • Haukeligauken (t: Rosenkrantz Johnsen) • 02:00 Johannes haarklou and the romances 04 • Vaar-von (t: Sivle) • 02:28 05 • Sommernat (t: Bødker) • 02:09 ohannes Haarklou (1847–1925) came from a desire to bring musical experiences to a wider 06 • Tonen (t: Bjørnson) • 02:26 family of fiddlers from Jølster and Haukedalen in audience. This was also his motivation for several Western Norway. He was born on the farm- popular concerts he held in 1883 in cooperation with 07 • Te kjærasten min (t: Sivle) • 02:14 J stead Haarklou in Haukedalen, just below the the board of the Kristiania Workers’ Association. 08 • Hel mig mine strenge (t: Krag) • 02:24 Jostedal glacier. His father was a farmer, teacher and He knew how to get politicians in parliament to precentor. After finishing teacher training Haarklou appreciate the value of what he was doing. When he 09 • Hvad suser i natten? (t: Hamsun) • 04:06 studied organ and music theory under Christian applied for support for symphony concerts for the 10 • Med røde roser (t: Hamsun) • 02:17 Cappelen and L.M. Lindeman. An inheritance of working class, he argued that if parliament was so 4000 crowns gave him the opportunity to study at interested in an extinct culture that it was willing to 11 • Sommernat (t: Rosenkrantz Johnsen) • 01:44 Conservatorium der Musik in Leipzig for two years establish a professorship in Egyptology, it could not 12 • Tora synger (t: Hamsun) • 01:57 from 1873. Thanks to a scholarship he was able to possibly deny support to “the development of a liv- extend his studies for a short period. ing art form among living people”. 13 • Synnøves sang (t: Bjørnson) • 02:58 In Bergen Haarklou had great success as a In addition to his modest salary as an organist 14 • Og solen går op (t: Hamsun) • 01:21 composer and conductor, and, by way of thanks for Haarklou made a living as a forthright and know- his services, some wealthy citizens of the town ledgeable music critic. But his aim was to live from 15 • Efter afskjeden (t: Hamsun) • 02:12 donated him a year’s study at Hochscule für Musik composing. 16 • Gyngevise (t: Krag) • 02:18 in Berlin. In 1880 Haarklou left Bergen and settled As well as piano and organ works, choral works, in Kristiania as organist for the parish of Sagene. cantatas, concertos for piano and violin and four 17 • Mainat (t: Krag) • 03:47 He had become a skilled organist and periodically symphonies, Haarklou composed the first 18 • Minde (t: Krag) • 02:27 toured the country giving organ recitals. This was Norwegian oratorio, Skapelsen og Mennesket not particularly remunerative but reflects his strong (Creation and Man), to a text by Henrik Wergeland. Haarklou also had ambitions as a composer of following year he was appointed Knight of 1st class Per Sivle (1857–1904) and Knut Hamsun (1859– the piano conjures up the purring cat. In the opera. Unlike many of his colleagues, he managed of the Order of St. Olav, and in the last years of his 1952) provided Haarklou with poems about nature piano introduction to “Mainat” (May Night), the to get most of them performed, but not without life he finally achieved recognition for his contribu- and love. nocturnal atmosphere is depicted with dark and a struggle. The opera Væringene i Miklagard tion as a conductor, organist, critic and writer. Haarklou’s published works are numbered in sombre chords, while the angel dance is illustrated (The Varangians in Mikla gard), for example, was In Haarklou’s oeuvre of nearly 130 works, his order of publication. In his biography of Haarklou in light and lively interludes. Haarklou seems at turned down several times by the National Theatre. romances and songs have a relatively modest place. (1961) Finn Benestad has therefore compiled a his best here and in “Hva suser i Natten?” (What He argued convin cingly that Norway needed They appeared in collections at intervals of several chronological list of works which is used in this sighs in the Night?) when depicting nocturnal a national opera, and in 1908 he used an opera years, and it is obvious that he has tried to find his CD in addition to the original opus number. atmospheres and loneliness. pamphlet to chastise the National Theatre for its own style, independently of Halfdan Kjerulf and It was Haarklou’s ambition that the songs It was Haarklou’s intention that the music lack of responsibility towards Norwegian opera. Edvard Grieg, whom posterity remembers as should also be sung outside Norway and he should follow the lyrical content closely. His Haarklou was prolific and composed in the major Norway’s most significant composers of romances. therefore published them with German lyrics by songs therefore vary between strophic and more genres, but this was still not enough to persuade Most of Haarklou’s songs were composed in the Eugen von Enzberg (1858–1908), who translated integrated, non-strophic form. parliament to grant him a state salary. In a fiery 1890s and the early 1900s. For lyrics he chose well- a number of Norwegian poems into German. In his songs from the early 1890s Haarklou parliamentary debate it was argued that he was a known contemporary poets, as well as Bjørnson and The melodies in Haarklou’s songs flow easily is searching for new harmonic effects which can farmer’s son who “had worked his way out of the Welhaven. Sigurd Bødtker (1866–1928) was a and shift between recitative and more prosodic sometimes be explained as an emphasis of the lyrical straitened circumstances that are the result of being lawyer and theatre critic whose collection of poems, forms. The piano accompaniment often has an content (as in the strange song “Tonen”). By the born and bred in an isolated hamlet, and had forged entitled Elskov (Love), created such a furore that independent role, and it is easy to hear that the beginning of the 1900s Haarklou has arrived at ahead on the difficult paths that an artist in this he was excluded from the university for one year. piano introductions, figurations and underlying a more serene and unified form. Particularly poor country must travel if he is to achieve the Peter Johnsen (1857–1929), a journalist and author, ambience are rooted in the content and atmosphere Knut Hamsun’s texts inspired to a simple, but position, acknowledged by all, of master”. It was published a collection of poems in 1891. Wilhelm of the poems. In some of the songs the tonal colour nevertheless musically consummate form. to no avail. Haarklou received stipends from year to Krag (1871–1933) was a fashionable poet and well- of the piano is especially noticeable, as for example Harald HerrestHal year, but it was not until 1910 that he secured known intellectual of his time whose poetry often in the folk music-inspired introduction to a state salary. By that time he was 63 year old. The shifts from spontaneous joy to deepest sadness. “Haukeligauken” (The Haukeli Cuckoo) and the way Kristin Fossheim made her first piano studies at the Norwegian Academy of Music. She continued her studies in the Netherlands, where she received her Diploma in 1990. In 1991 she obtained position with the Østlandets Musikkonservatorium. From 1996 she has been employed at the Norwegian State Academy of Music. She has performed chambermusic with many of the most outstanding norwegian musicians, both in Norway and abroad. In later years she has specialized in classical music performed on the fortepiano, especially music by Beethoven. Kristin Fossheim has appeared as soloist with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. Linda ØvrebØ has her formal musical background from the Musical Academies of Bergen and Oslo. She has been awarded several prizes and scholarships, among them the Ingrid Bjoner scholarship, the “Rikskonsertene” Debut fund and the Kirsten Flagstad Award. Between 1996 and 1998 she was appointed scholarship holder at the Norwegian State Opera house, where she sang several lead opera parts in the years to follow, like Frasquita (Carmen), Pamina (Magic Flute), Zerlina (don Giovanni), Adele (Fledermaus), Oscar (un Bal Masqué), Stasi (Czardasfürstin), Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Najaden (Ariadne auf Naxos), and Adina (l’Elisir d’Amore).