My choice is: ...

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson chose April, but what will this year's artists choose when asked to select their favorite composers and works?

Date
Time
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Venue
Risør kirke
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Publikummer nyter musikk i Risør kirke
Foto: Liv Øvland

About the concert

These are some of the choices this year's artists made: Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, Bartók's duets for two violas, and three of Amanda Maier-Röntgen's Six Pieces for Violin and Piano.

The music closest to their hearts isn't always something artists get to perform during a busy career. This concert is special because the musicians themselves get to curate their personal favorites.

These are the pieces they return to, again and again.

Additional Content

Concert program

Ralph Vaughan Williams: Songs of Travel

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958): From Songs of Travel (1901–04)

  1. The Vagabond
  2. The Roadside Fire
  3. Whither Must I Wander
  4. Youth and Love
  5. I Have Trod the Upward and Downward Slope

(Text: Robert Louis Stevenson)

Vaughan Williams's first song cycle, composed in 1901–1904, set to poems by Robert Louis Stevenson. We have selected five songs that offer insight into a musical language with distinct English folk music influences. The work is today part of the standard repertoire for baritone soloists.

Performers:

  • Roderick Williams, baritone
  • Isata Kanneh-Mason, piano
Roderick Williams: Knepp Piano Trio

Roderick Williams (b. 1965): Knepp Piano Trio (2019)

Performers:

  • Trio Leikínn
Lili Boulanger: Trois morceaux pour piano

Lili Boulanger (1893–1918): Trois morceaux pour piano (1914)

  • D'un Vieux Jardin
  • D'un Jardin Clair
  • Cortège

Performers:

  • Alexandra Dariescu, piano
Amanda Maier-Röntgen: Six Pieces for Violin and Piano

Amanda Maier-Röntgen (1853–1894): From Six Pieces for Violin and Piano (c. 1879)

  • Allegro molto. Leidenschaftlich
  • Lento
  • Allegro, ma non troppo. Frisch, schwedisch

Performers:

  • Johan Dalene, violin
  • Gunnar Flagstad, piano
George Gershwin: From Porgy and Bess

George Gershwin (1898–1937): From Porgy and Bess (arr. Heifetz)

  1. Summertime
  2. A Woman Is a Sometime Thing
  3. Bess, You Is My Woman Now
  4. It Ain't Necessarily So

America's most celebrated contribution to the opera canon. The premiere took place in New York on October 10, 1935, and Gershwin himself called it America's folk opera. Drawing on African-American folk music, gospel, jazz, and blues, the entire opera and individual pieces like Summertime have enjoyed a long life on and off the opera stage.

Performers:

  • Arabella Steinbacher, violin
  • Isata Kanneh-Mason, piano

Artists