What on earth is the world famous Norwegian pianist, Leif Ove Andsnes, doing with a heavy duty grand piano of 500 kilos at the edge of a cliff?
11/06/2007 :: Andsnes is bringing back Edvard Grieg’s music to the scene where his music really belongs.
Nature Lover
Grieg found inspiration to his music in nature and all the odd sounds in it. Grieg collected sounds of the Norwegian nature and he made extensive use of tone pictures that recreated and reworked impressions of Norway’s natural landscape.
Birdsong, waterfalls, rain and mountains are all elements to be found in his compositions, and give listeners a genuine experience of nature.
Photo: Anette Berentsen/ NRK
In the Air
Andsnes has taken the nature in Grieg’s music to another level. A quite generously sized instrument was flown into Rossnos Mountain at the west coast of Norway. The peak is soaring 1800 m above sea level and the piano was placed just two meters from the cliff’s edge.
Andsnes is convinced that the composer would have liked the spectacular act. “He was a nature’s man”, a suited up pianist said after the performance.
Photo: Anette Berentsen/ NRK
Grieg 2007
The occasion for the unusual performance is the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation’s shooting of a documentary on Edvard Grieg in association with the commemoration of the centenary of the composer’s death. The documentary is already sold to several Nordic TV-stations, and it is set to be aired in September.
The Grieg Anniversary will be marked with numerous events around the world. Grieg’s music, words and ideas are still relevant today. He remains one of Norway’s most important ambassadors, and continues to open doors both in Norway and abroad.
Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs