100 Folk-tunes from Hardanger, Op. 151: Suite No. 1:
1. No. 1: Velkomne med aera (Welcome with Honour)	3:41
2. No. 2: Flyteljod (Flute Air)	0:37	
3. No. 3: Fagraste viso pao Jorae (The Most Beautiful Song on Earth)	2:41	
4. No. 4: Moltor og myrabaer (Cloudberries and Moorberries)	1:28	
5. No. 5: Stavkyrkjestev (Stave Church Song)	1:29	
6. No. 6: A naoe meg no fo mi tusta (Alas, My Girl)	0:56
7. No. 7: Uppskoka (Consecration of the New Beer)	2:35
8. No. 8: Syrgjeleg song um ein tom brennevinsdunk (Lament for an Empty Brandy Keg)		1:48
9. No. 9: Langeleiklat (Langeleik Tune)	1:47
10. No. 10: Stolstone (Echo from the Summer Hillfarm)	2:31	
11. No. 11: Hastverksbrudlaup (Hasty Wedding)	1:12
12. No. 12: Guds Godhet og Guds Storhet (God's Goodness and Greatness)	2:46
13. No. 13: Vise folks folkevisa um visse folk (Wise Folks Gossip about Certain People)	1:45
14. No. 14: Storskrytarstev (Braggart's Ballad)	2:16	
15. No. 15: Siste Farvel (The Last Farewell)	4:12	

100 Folk-tunes from Hardanger, Op. 151: Suite No. 4, "Wedding Suite":
16. No. 46: Du... (You...)	2:21
17. No. 47: Friar-foter (Going a-wooing)		1:42
18. No. 48: Eit gamalt sel fortel (Tale from the Old Mountain Hut)	2:32	
19. No. 49: Belaresveinen (The Matchmaker)	2:15	
20. No. 50: Pao veg te Brudlaupsgaren (Off to the Country Wedding)	1:40
21. No. 51: Krune-brure (Bridal Crown)	2:10
22. No. 52: Graot og laott aot ain baot (Tears and Laughter for a Boat)	1:34
23. No. 53: "So stillt dei ror pa glitre-fjord" (How Silently They Row on the Glittering Fjord)	2:54
24. No. 54: Kjomeistar-visa (Toastmaster's Song)	1:15	
25. No. 55: "Nar kvite skaut i sumarbrisen bylgjer" (When White Scarves Wave in the Summer Breeze)	 1:31	
26. No. 56: Rikje Ragna med jarnhendene (Rich Ragna with the Iron Hands)	1:28
27. No. 57: "Skottrarar" (Guisers)	1:13	
28. No. 58: Brura-drammane (The Bride's Drink)	1:46
29. No. 59: Fylle-snakk - hommage a l'atonalite (Drunken Talk - Homage to Atonality)	1:00
30. No. 60: Haring-ol (Hardanger Ale)	3:27

Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Bjarte Engeset – conductor

Don't be alarmed there are certainly not 100 Hardanger tunes on this CD in fact there are just 30 all beautifully orchestrated. David Gallagher's informative and witty booklet notes explain that there are four suites in all each of fifteen tunes. They are numbered 1,2,4 and 5. Suite 3 is incomplete and there are sketches for Suite 6. Even so that does not add up to 100, but never mind.

So what we have are two attractive orchestral suites which use folk material from the Hardanger region of Western Norway where Tveitt lived, or which were composed in a folk style. It is impossible to tell which are which and it doesn't matter. The style of the music is consistent throughout.

Geirr Tveitt was amazingly prolific. He studied in Vienna and Paris with such composers as Honegger and Wellesz. He retained his strong emotional connection with an area of his native Norway where he spent many a childhood holiday and where he had seen at first hand the local instruments played and heard the local music. In 1942 he settled permanently on his family farmstead in Vikey in the Hardangerfjord. The CD booklet has a lovely photograph of the composer and his wife in local costume dated about 1954.

Sadly a great deal of his music was lost in a tragic fire at this farmstead in 1970. Naxos has recently released the two Piano Concertos and there are discs, if you look carefully, of his piano music. Nevertheless we shall never know the extent of his considerable output.

These melodies are peculiar to the area. Due to the difficult terrain intercommunication between villages and towns was only possible in summer. Some tunes were known only within the family itself. Tveitt uses a few here, for example in Suite 1 No 10 'Echo from the summer hillfarm'. There are, in fact, several very personal touches. I particularly liked this movement with its gunshot cracks as the family fired "to awake the echoes from Husalait crag".

The Suite No 4 here receives its world premiere recording. Note, slightly confusingly, that the fourth suite tracks 16-30 are labelled as 46-60 in the booklet. Remember that this is suite 4 and the movements of each suite the composer numbered from 1 up to presumably 100. This suite is delightful and great fun. It tells a story of a wedding. The couple falls in love; the man has to propose three times, each time more vociferously, until he is accepted. The families set off to the wedding. The bride arrives by boat. There is a toast. The male wedding guests create havoc, and an old flame of the bride appears and mixes her drinks. She becomes quite inebriated and gives off a great fart. Then everyone drinks the local home brew Hardanger Ale. There are also some lovely touches musically.

The boat trip (track 23'The bridal voyage') is orchestrated magically, with rustling harp, various percussion, glissandi on the piano and some other fascinating sounds I cannot recognise in detail. This is a man with an ear from the orchestra. In 'The bride's drink' (track 28) bassoon trills belch out the laxatives effect in her stomach, a drunkard slips under the table pulling off the cloth and glasses with him, and sleeps, snoring, Tveitt seals this testimonial to atonal music by marking the tuba's final note "Fis"- Norwegian for F# or Fart.

Naxos are continuing their excellent policy here of using a conductor and/or an orchestra from the country from which the composer comes. This has happened whether the music is from Spain (Balada), America (Antheil), England (Bax) and I think that this is a very good idea. Of course music is an international language and you are just as likely to come across a superb performance of Elgar by an American or Dutch Orchestra as you are by British forces. However there is also a feeling that with music, which is basically nationalist, it is wise to find a conductor at least who is 'in sympathy' with the repertoire especially when it is as rare as this. Bjarte Engeset cares for and loves this music. The Scottish Orchestra have a natural rapport with the music of the north and between them they coax this gorgeous material into shape without effort or artificiality. Highly recommended. ---Gary Higginson, www.musicweb-international.com

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100 Folk-tunes from Hardanger, Op. 151: Suite No. 2, "15 Mountain Songs":
1. No. 16: Far, far across the fells to Turid	2:57
2. No. 17: With wolves and reindeer in the upland storm	2:35
3. No. 18: Hen, hound, cow and horse - Nursery rhyme	1:03	
4. No. 19: Mountain Cattle-call	2:49
5. No. 20: Bringing strong ale up into the mountains	1:29	
6. No. 21: Willow flute across the quiet tarn	2:01	
7. No. 22: Old Nick, his lament	2:45
8. No. 23: Snow grouse on the Folgafodne glacier	3:34
9. No. 24: Do you hear the song in the waterfall's roar?	1:45
10. No. 25: Lame Lars, his fairy fiddle-tune	1:04	
11. No. 26: The song inside Hulder-Hill	3:27	
12. No. 27: Beard ablaze	1:53
13. No. 28: Jew's harp melody	0:55
14. No. 29: The mountain girl skiing downhill	1:30	
15. No. 30: I saw so far away	5:16 

100 Folk-tunes from Hardanger, Op. 151: Suite No. 5, "Troll tunes":
16. No. 61: Troll-tuned Hardanger fiddle	2:11	
17. No. 62: Hulder transhumance	1:21
18. No. 63: Hulder hush-a-bye	2:56	
19. No. 64: Hulder wedding-breakfast	1:17
20. No. 65: The changeling	3:17
21. No. 66: Folgafodne glacier keeps its secret	2:43
22. No. 67: The boy with the troll-treasure	1:08
23. No. 68: Spell-song	3:14
24. No. 69: The crooked harp that could talk	2:39	
25. No. 70: The brownie dancing	2:20	
26. No. 71: The water-sprite playing	1:28
27. No. 72: Twilight	1:17
28. No. 73: Fairy flageolet	1:04	
29. No. 74: Echo from the other side	3:03
30. No. 75: Doomsday	6:20

Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Bjarte Engeset – conductor

Don’t be alarmed, there are certainly not a hundred Hardanger tunes on this CD. In fact there are just 30; all of them beautifully orchestrated. David Gallagher’s informative and witty booklet notes explain that there are four suites in all, each of fifteen tunes. These are numbered 1, 2, 4 and 5. Suite 3 is incomplete and there are sketches for Suite 6. Even so that still does not come to a hundred but never mind.

So what we have are two attractive orchestral suites which use Folk material from the Hardanger Region of Western Norway where Tveitt lived, or which were composed in a folk style. It is impossible to tell which are which and it doesn’t matter, as the style of the music is consistent throughout.

Geirr Tveitt was amazingly prolific. He studied in Vienna and Paris with such composers as Honegger and Wellesz. He retained his strong emotional connection with an area of his native Norway where he spent many a childhood holiday and where he had seen at firsthand the local instruments played and heard the local music. In 1942 he settled permanently with his family in the Hardangerfjord. The CD booklet has a lovely photograph dated about 1954 of the composer in local costume seated with an indigenous instrument rather like a dulcimer.

Sadly a great deal of his music was lost in a tragic fire at this farmstead in 1970. Naxos has recently released the two Piano Concertos, and last summer, Suites 1 and 4. There are also, if you look carefully, discs of his piano music. Nevertheless we shall never know the full extent of his considerable output.

The Hardanger melodies are peculiar to the area; due to the difficult terrain intercommunication between villages and towns was only possible in summer so some tunes and stories were known only within particular families.

Unlike the Suites 1 and 4 mentioned earlier the suites on this CD do not have a narrative running through them but each piece in itself is almost a short story. Realising this, Tveitt gave Suite 2 the overall title ‘Fifteen Mountain Songs’ with individual titles like Mountain Cattle-Call. This is illustrated by gentle string melodies and solo flute. Mountain girl skiing downhill is depicted by a contra-bassoon introduction and a simple three bar melody repeated sixteen times achieving a great climax.

The 5th Suite is entitled ‘Troll-tunes’ with titles such as ‘The Changeling’ (which might remind some listeners of Mussorgsky) and the closing, intimidating Doomsday with its apocalyptic bells.

At times I can hear that Tveitt knew Janacek well, especially in the brass writing. The spaciousness of the music can seem Coplandesque as David Gallagher remarks. I find also that I can hear where Harold Saeverud is coming from, and even, in the block harmonies, Jon Leifs. But one thing I can tell you for certain is that nowhere is the music reminiscent of Grieg.

Naxos here continue their excellent policy of using a conductor and/or orchestra from the composer's country. This has happened whether the music is from Spain (Balada), America (Antheil), Britain (Bax) and I think that this is a very good idea. Of course Music is an international language and you are as likely to come across a superb performance of Elgar by an American or Dutch Orchestra as you are by a British orchestra, but there is also a feeling that with music which is basically nationalist it is wise at least to find a conductor who is ‘in sympathy’ with the repertoire especially when it is as rare as this. Bjarte Engeset cares for and loves this music. The Scottish Orchestra have a natural rapport with the music of the North. Between them they coax this gorgeous music into shape without effort or artificiality. Highly recommended. ---Gary Higginson, www.musicweb-international.com

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1.  Baldurs draumar  (Baldur's Dreams)
	I. Prologue to Act I 	
	II. Act I 	
	III. Prologue to Act II 	
	IV. Act II 	
	V. Prologue to Act III 	
	VI. Act III

Solveig Kringelborn (Soprano), Ulf Oien (Tenor), Magne Fremmerlid (Bass),
Jon Elkemo (Spoken Vocals)
Stavanger Symphony Orchestra
Ole Kristian Ruud - conductor

2. Telemarkin

Trine Oien (Mezzo Soprano), Magne Fremmerlid (Bass), Ulf Oien (Tenor), 
Solveig Kringelborn (Soprano), Jon Elkemo (Spoken Vocals), Arve Moen Bergset (Hardanger Fiddle)
Stavanger Symphony Orchestra
Ole Kristian Ruud - conductor

The rediscovery of the music of Geirr Tveitt remains one of the more exciting things happening in the world of classical music recordings, and this new release may be the most fascinating find of all. Baldur's Dream is "A symbolic play for dance and orchestra in three acts", some 90 minutes of music with parts for singers who vocalise or apparently sing in the composer's own concept of ancient Norwegian (in other words, the text doesn't mean anything we need to worry about and largely adds color). Long before the catastrophic fire that destroyed much of Tveitt's life's work, this score was believed lost--in the London blitz during World War II. The piece was performed in Oslo in 1938, however, and a recording of that event exists, which permitted Russian composer Alexei Rybnikov to attempt a reconstruction.

However, while at work on the reconstruction of another work--Tveitt's Sun-God Symphony, which bases its thematic material on Baldur's Dream--Norwegian composer Kaare Dyvik Husby discovered the remains not only of that work but of the full score and orchestral parts of the original full-length dance drama. These permitted him to supplement Rybnikov's reconstruction and come as close as makes no difference to what Tveitt's original must have been, including the extensive and imaginative use of a virtuoso percussion section featuring nine tuned drums and "everything but the kitchen sink" besides. The spoken prologues to each act (which you can skip over if you like as they are tracked separately) exist from the surviving programs of the original performances, so this masterpiece of Tveitt's youthful maturity (he was about 30 when he wrote it) now has been restored in all of its glory.

And how glorious it is! The story of Baldur is well known from Jon Leifs' similarly epic dance drama, though of course the two composers are worlds apart stylistically. Leifs based his musical idiom on Icelandic folk music and quoted the ancient Edda texts directly. Tveitt, on the other hand, uses an invented style largely based on pentatonic modes, so that much of the music has an exotic, Eastern flavor or even brings to mind Miklos Rosza in his "biblical epic" mode (e.g. Ben Hur). In other words, this is really big, splashy, colorful Romantic music with as much incident packed into it as possible. The tunes are extremely beautiful, the instrumental textures glitter like diamonds, and the quiet ending (after a hugely powerful climax as Baldur is killed by a mistletoe-tipped arrow) is poetry incarnate. It will blow you away.

Telemarkin is a cantata for speaker, mezzo-soprano, Hardanger fiddle, and orchestra based on a rather silly text celebrating the natural beauties of the Telemark region of Norway. Never mind the words (unless of course you happen to live there and think that it's the greatest place on earth). The music is very lovely and not in the least bit as bombastic and self-satisfied as the poem. Both this and Baldur's Dream receive well nigh perfect performances from the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra under Ole Kristian Ruud. Having already presented Baldur's Dream live, it's obvious that they were up for the challenge of recording this mammoth piece, and every section of the orchestra responds with total commitment. The solo winds do a particularly fine job (and they have a lot to do), while the busy percussionists play with both power and subtlety. Fine solo singing (have pity on bass Magne Fremmerlid for Tveitt's looney low notes) and demonstration-quality sound complete an irresistible package that will provide countless hours of pleasurable listening. It doesn't get better than this. ---David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

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