<\/p>\n
Grieg found inspiation in beautiful Hardanger<\/p>\n
Hardanger constitutes a long and important chapter in Edvard Grieg\u00b4s biography. Here, between the mountains and the fjords, his creative powers were set free after a lengthy period of artistic barrenness. On numerous occasions Grieg gave expression to how much Hardanger meant to him as both artist and person. He had been overwhelmed by the grandeur of the scenery, and between the mountains and the fjord he found the peace he needed to release the musical ideas that he had long felt were being bottled up inside him. But it was not only the Hardanger scenery that stimulated him. It was here he came to know the fiddlers who could play folk music as it should be played. Hearing folk music in a district that was the home of the Hardanger fiddle must have strengthened him in his belief in the value of this very folk music as a means of breathing new life into Norwegian music in general. <\/p>\n
During his time in Hardanger, Grieg would write and complete several works, not least the \u201cAndantino serioso\u201d from \u201cFour Album Leaves\u201d, one of his most felicitous piano compositions with its stylized and very Norwegian rhythmical accentuation, the \u201cImprovisations on 2 Norwegian Folksongs\u201d and the catchy \u201cNorwegian Dances for Four Hands\u201d, all performed by Geir Botnen on this recording \u2013 with helping hands from Jens Harald Bratlie on the latter. Furthermore, the experienced pianist, with folk music flowing through his veins, performs the fresh and atmospheric Holberg suite and not least Grieg\u00b4s wondrously beautiful Opus 66, \u201cNorwegian Folk melodies\u201d, which includes the superb and widely celebrated \u201cGjendine\u00b4s Cradle Song\u201d.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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Geir Botnen evokes the mighty nature of Hardanger which must have been a major inspiration for the work\u00b4s composer Edvard Grieg.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":30761,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[180],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-30756","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-simax-classics","7":"product_shipping_class-cddvd-shipping","8":"uni_artist_tag-arne-akselberg","9":"uni_artist_tag-edvard-grieg","10":"uni_artist_tag-geir-botnen","11":"uni_artist_tag-jens-harald-bratlie","12":"uni_main_artist_tag-geir-botnen","13":"uni_artist_genre-piano","15":"first","16":"outofstock","17":"taxable","18":"shipping-taxable","19":"product-type-simple"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grappa.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/30756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grappa.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grappa.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grappa.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30756"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grappa.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grappa.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grappa.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=30756"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grappa.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=30756"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grappa.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=30756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}