A twentieth-century Grieg

‘A convincing advocate for forgotten music’, De Nieuwe Muze called Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes. Last season, he performed Dvořák's unknown Poetic Tone Paintings in the Muziekgebouw. This time, the pianist plays the only surviving sonata of his compatriot Geirr Tveitt, who died in 1981. Confidently, Andsnes juxtaposes these notes with Brahms’ Fantasien, which are as lyrical as they are meditative.

Norwegian composer Geirr Tveitt initially immersed himself in the folk music of Norway. While studying in Paris with Arthur Honneger and Heitor Villa-Lobos, he came into contact with the French impressionists and the Groupe des Six. Only twenty-five per cent of Tveitt’s work has survived; the rest went up in smoke in a fire in his studio. For Andsnes, the surviving music has so much quality that it’s time to put the spotlight on this ‘Edvard Grieg of the twentieth century’.

Programme booklet (Dutch)