Swedish-Norwegian violinist Johan Dalene and American pianist Sahun Sam Hong will take the stage of the Matsqui Centennial Auditorium on Friday, March 21, at 7:30 p.m.
The closing piece on their program will be the Violin Sonata No. 2 in G major by the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. The last three times I have heard a Norwegian performer in concert, music by Grieg has always found a place in the program. This is not a complaint—I have yet to hear something by Grieg that I did not enjoy.
While it is important not to pigeonhole an artist and expect something suitably ethnic each time he/she performs, this particular pairing does not entirely come as a surprise. Grieg is one of a very few composers who are especially identified with the music of their culture. In fact, he is recognized and revered as having created a national identity for Norwegian music.
Grieg has incorporated elements of a Norwegian folk dance, the springar, into this sonata. When he showed the music to his teacher, the eminent Danish composer Niels Gade, he was told it was “too Norwegian” and that he should make his next sonata “less Norwegian.” Grieg’s reply was that his next one would be “even worse.”
Dalene is ideally suited to bring out the Scandinavian sensibility in this piece. It is a thoroughly joyful and delightful work, not surprising since Grieg composed it in the first three weeks after his wedding.
Every composer on the program, the others being Schumann, Rautavaara, Ravel, and Lutoslawski, is also a pianist. Sam Hong has the talent to bring to life their exquisite writing for an instrument they understood so well.
Tickets are available online at www.valleyconcertsociety.com at $32 for adults/seniors and $20 for students. For more information, call 604-289-3377.
John Wiebe - President
The Valley Concert Society