Johan Halvorsen: Stage music, vol 1 – Latvia National Symph. Orchestra

Adventurous music stories by Johan Halvorsen

Terje Mikkelsen and the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra takes us back to the Norwegian National Theatre’s golden age, and shows us the musical treasures of the foremost composer of dramatic music: Johan Halvorsen (1864-1935).

For 20 years, until 1919, Johan Halvorsen conducted Norway’s largest professional Symphony Orchestra at the Norwegian National Theatre. Among his approximately 170 compositions, theater music therefore takes a great place. The disc contains three suites of music that Halvorsen wrote to the productions of Gurre, Askeladden and the merchant of Venice, and is the only recording that exists of these suites, which, despite much praise from contemporary music critics are little known today.

With thematic ingenuity, spicy details, dramatic effects and exotic moods Halvorsen’s music leads us through the legendary love story Gurre, and Shakespeare drama The Merchant of Venice. The suite Askeladden stylistically spans a wide field that in many ways be said to sum up Halvorsen’s long career as the leading composer of incidental music for almost any occasion.