Catharinus Elling 1858 - 1942 - Chamber music from Simax

[M. Henriksen]

New Simax recording on its way. This time with premiere recordings of Norwegian composer and Herzogenberg-pupil Catharinus Elling's two String Quartets and Piano Quartet. All three works are recorded here for the first time.
No information to be found on the Simax website about this release. I'm sorry to say that the site doesn't look up to date.
Amazon.co.uk says release date 24 January 2011.
Anyway, there are some excerpts here for us to listen to:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Catharinus-Elling-Quartets/dp/B004BODQW0/ref=sr_1_cc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1293708064&sr=1-1-catcorr

Not familiar with Catharinus Elling? Here's the short Wikipedia-article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharinus_Elling

There's more information about Elling on the web, but most of it is in Norwegian. But then I can be of assistance!


Morten

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Many thanks, Morten, for an informative post complete with links to interesting articles.

I've never encountered Elling's music (let alone having even read about him). Unknown string quartets normally see me chasing a CD in much the same way as a moth flits around a candle. However the bit about trying to squeeze folk music into the tight confines of the form of a string quartet did deter me a little. Perhaps if you eventually hear the CD you would be kind enough to tell us all of what you think of it - as you so kindly did recently with Braunfels (I much appreciated that posting).

Hope the temperature in Norway has gone up a little since that -25 before Christmas! Brrrrrr!

Peter

[M. Henriksen]

First I have to correct a little mistake from my side. The String Quartet in D minor has been recorded before, coupled with Elling's Violin Concerto. The Violin Concerto is actually recorded by the Oslo Philharmonic and Mariss Jansons, a very fruitful partnership.
Information and excerpts here:
http://www.amazon.com/Catharinus-Elling-Violin-Concerto-Quartet/dp/B001GJ31D2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1293734287&sr=1-1

Peter, I'll see if I can make a little "review" on this CD when it's available although I'm more an admirer of orchestral music. This release is however of such importance for the collectors of music of the "unsung Norwegian composers"- category that I might invest some money anyway.

And yes, the temperature has gone up! At least for some days..


Morten

[chill319]

I don't hear anything of the folk music collector from the snippets on Amazon. Rather, they show a composer well trained in the Mendelssohn/Brahms lineage with some interesting and enjoyable personal variations on tropes familiar from that tradition. (Grieg who?) Very well played, too.

[M. Henriksen]

Elling was one of the greatest folk music collectors in Norway, but his own musical language is quite traditional, conservative and draws inspiration from among others Brahms and Mendelssohn as chill319 so rightly says. As I mentioned he was a pupil of Herzogenberg in Berlin. Elling was also a big admirer of the Norwegian composer Halfdan Kjerulf, wich is clearly heard in his songs and piano music.
For those interested in Elling's songs I can recommend this Simax recording:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Catharinus-Elling-Haugtussa-German-Lieder/dp/B002TXIVCA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294003015&sr=1-1 (Elling set music to Arne Garborg's "Haugtussa" almost simultaneously as Edvard Grieg).

Folk music always played a big part of Elling's life, and his music became more and more influenced by it after he returned to Norway after studies in Leipzig and Berlin.
As the wikipedia-article says; Elling was controversial in Norway, rearranging folk music into "folk-classical" music. He wouldn't accept that the folk music had it's own "language". It had to be rooted in classical forms. (Please let me know if this didn't make any sense at all. I'm on thin ice with my English here..)

Anyway, I think this record can be a pleasant surprise for all lovers of chamber music!


Morten

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Thanks Morten - hell: another composer to investigate! But I shall doubtless enjoy it whilst turning a blind eye to the finances.

(Your sentence about folk music makes perfect sense - and actually your use of English would put quite a few English university students to shame, for many can't write sentences - let alone coherent paragraphs!)

Peter

[M. Henriksen]

Finally an article about the upcoming Elling record on the Simax-website:

http://simax.no/artikkel.php?id=1582

More excerpts here:

http://simax.no/listenandbuy.php?id=494 (It's also possible to buy the CD or mp3 downloads at here.)

The disc is set to be sold at amazon from 21st of February.


Morten