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A dedicated advocate of the work of Norwegian Romantic composers; Maestro Mikkelsen has been encouraged by officials of the Royal Norwegian Government to expose Americans to this great Norwegian culture.

An early effort to promote Norwegian Romantics took place in Shanghai. As Mr. Mikkelsen’s time as the principal conductor of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra was coming to an end; the Royal Norwegian Consulate General in China with the support of I.M. Skaugen SE partnered to produce the ‘Norwegian Classic in China” CD recording.

In 2009, Terje Mikkelsen embarked on the creation of a six CD ‘box set’ under the title of NORWEGIAN ROMANTICS. The first two recordings have been released with Mikkelsen conducting the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra. Subsequent recordings, four additional are planned, will feature various celebrated symphony orchestras.

Eyvind Alnaes’ place in the history of Norwegian music has first and foremost been secured by his many beautiful songs and by his initiative to establish the Norwegian Performing Rights Society (TONO) – even if many people are unaware of the latter.

The two symphonies presented to a modern audience for the first time on this disc will probably compel us to re-evaluate our image of the composer. Hopefully they will also open our eyes and ears to the fact that the heritage of Norwegian music may contain (and does indeed contain, if we take the trouble to look) larger-scale works that deserve both recognition and, not least, documentation.

Ole Olsen was born in Hammarfest on July 4th, 1850 and has thus been nicknamed the world’s most northerly composer. Both of his parents were musical, he evidently showed all the signs of being a prodigy. He studied at the Leipzig Conservatory in Germany. Olsen’s catalogue of works includes music for a variety of occasions and instrumental combinations.

After 1886, however, he generally avoided sonata form. Even if his symphony was published as ‘Symphony No.1,’ he never wrote any other works in this genre – and not, for one reason or another, did he write any sonatas. Apart from the works already mentioned, he composed solo and choral songs, cantatas and a whole series of occasional pieces (marches, festive preludes and so on) that sometimes reveal a keen sense of humor (in this respect one might mention the Mandarin-Polka, Op. 42).

CATALOG