Arvid Kleven – Norwegian Radio Orchestra

A courageous composer

Arvid Kleven, with his all too early death, came to symbolize everything that was new but that never reached fruition during the conservative inter-war period in Norway. At a time when music in the nationalist tradition was the ideal in Norway, Kleven had the courage, as had few others, to draw inspiration from the latest influences from continental Europe. His colourful, refined music and bold use of dissonance met with little appreciation, yet most people in Norwegian musical circles were agreed on his talent, in particular as regards instrumentation. Nevertheless, Kleven managed to compose several works of significance. His first composition appeared in 1922: “Lotusland”, an orchestral work in the French, impressionistic style. Gradually his compositions became more expressive, a development which can be traced through works such as “Skogens Søvn” (“The Sleeping Forest”) and the Violin Sonata.

The Norwegian Broadcast Orchestra, under conductor Christian Eggen, opens this album with the Debussy-inspired symphonic poems “Lotusland”. The work´s dreamy mood is divided into static first and third sections which have about them an aura of improvisation, and a more rhythmical middle passage in which motifs are easily discernible. Following this piece is another symphonic poem, “Skogens søvn”, accprding to the composer inspired by an experience of Nature, “the overwhelming silence of the forest.” The piece has a coarser harmony than his earlier works, a more linear structure, and greater variety of intensity and colour. Violinist Ole Bøhn and pianist Geir Henning Braaten close this album with Kleven´s Violin Sonata, a work within the classical sonata form, but with even more challenging and courageous harmonies than before. In terms of intensity and expressiveness this sonata merits a place among the foremost works written for the violin.