Norge Romantic Chamber Music: Grieg – Quartet No. 1 / Svendsen – String Octet

An original pairing of composers who were compatriots and friends and who imposed on the international level the Romantic Norwegian school in Europe in the years 1872-1900. Grieg’s career as a pianist was more modest then Svendsen the violinist’s, and the latter also outshone him as a conductor, imposing his own compositions (symphonies, Norwegian Rhapsodies…) along with Beethoven, Mendelssohn… and Wagner in Europe. A century later, the audience of the composer of Peer Gynt is universal, whereas Svendsen’s oeuvre remains confined to Scandinavian concert halls. This is the first modern recording of his Octet, a youthful score enlivened by its borrowings from folklore and imperious as to the application of the rules of the Leipzig school, which provided his education. A juxtaposition of names that was self-evident more than a century ago!