The Crown Princess Sonja International Piano Competition 1988 – Nigel Hill

The first international music competition on Norwegian soil

The Crown Princess Sonja International Music Competition was the first international music competition on Norwegian soil. The competition, which took place in Oslo, August 11th -19th, 1988, was open to pianists the world over, born between 1958 and 1969. The reasons behind the idea to arrange such a competition were amongst other to establish it as a meeting place for Norwegian and international music, where recent developments on the Norwegian musical front could reach a wider public, and have a competition with a Norwegian profile. To achieve this Edvard Grieg´s “Ballade, Op. 24” was chosen as the obligatory piece for the semifinal, together with a selection of contemporary Norwegian music. Nigel Hill, on this album represented with an interpretation of Folke Strömholm´s “Water, a phenomenological study”, took pole position.

This album, which is the first in a two-part series, is not just a music historical curiosity, but an important contribution to put Norway on the musical world map, and not least a fantastic collection of piano pieces by some of the world´s leading musicians.