The Norwegian Seasons

med Ragnhild Hemsing

Ever wondered what Norwegian folk music has to do with Vivaldi? This programme emphatically answers a question you have never asked with our arrangement of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons for Hardanger Fiddle. Familiar and yet totally unfamiliar this arrangement of both the solo and ensemble parts of Vivaldi’s own folk inspired music shows the links across Europe interspersed with other thematically programmed baroque pieces from France and Italy where the similarities between Norwegian traditional music and baroque style are particularly evident.

The recording for this project was released in 2024 and awarded five stars by BBC Music Magazine. “The burnished timbre and beautiful ornamentation [...] utterly transform these much-loved works, and the mercurial changes of mood, from barely-there barrenness to rushes of unbridled energy, are fascinating. A triumph.”