As of: October 13, 2024 6:00 a.m
With Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” there are very different options for dealing with the score: new instrumentation, re-composition or the combination with other stylistics. That’s exactly what violinist Ragnhild Hemsing did on her new album.
Ragnhild Hemsing comes from Norway and has been playing the violin since she was a child – now on an international stage. She grew up with both and she loves both: classical music and her local folk music.
Vivaldi’s concerts and Norwegian folk originals
Vivaldi could hardly have dreamed that his four super concertos would one day be played on a Norwegian Hardanger fiddle. At first glance, it looks like a conventional violin, only much flatter, with more decorations and, above all, more strings: Below the usual four playing strings there are also five so-called resonance strings. They always resonate and give the Hardanger Fiddle its silvery sound.
Between Vivaldi’s concerts, Hemsing plays Norwegian folk originals, which sound like distant cousins in this environment. The violinist uses three different Hardanger fiddles on her album, and together with the Oslo Barokkenere Ensemble for Early Music, she gives the Italian original Norwegian folk elements that work well in both worlds: improvisation or ornaments such as trills and double strikes. An instrument like the lute can do both. At the same time there are the wonderful contrasts, for example when the familiar purring baroque engine is suddenly slowed down.
More information
Here you will find all the classical CD tips that were played on NDR Kultur – sorted chronologically. more
An album full of discoveries
Under the influence of Italian ensembles and conductors, a strong early music scene has developed in Norway over the past decades. Conductors such as Frans Brüggen and Fabio Biondi led the orchestra in Stavanger. With the baroque ensemble Barokkanerne at Hemsing’s side, Vivaldi’s Italianate seasons also work on the Norwegian fjord.
Composers like Haydn, Schubert and Grieg were closely linked to the folk tradition of their homeland. That’s no secret. Ragnhild Hemsing’s Vivaldi album refers to this, is full of discoveries and is sonically great fun.
Vivaldi: The Norwegian Seasons
Additional information: Ragnhild Hemsing & Barokkanerne Label: Berlin Classics
This topic in the program:
NDR Culture | The Sunday | Oct 13, 2024 | 10:20 a.m
Keywords for this article
Classic
