Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music

Norway Cultural Profile

Cultural Profiles Project

Contemporary music in Norway is a field that combines vibrant activity with a wide international reputation. Besides being innovative creators and performers of composed music, Norway’s younger generation of composers and musicians are also venturing into improvisation, jazz, 'noise' and mixed media arts. There is also a small but growing interest in contemporary fiddle players (see section on Folk music and dance). Notable among contemporary Norwegian composers having achieved international acclaim are Arne Nordheim (b 1931), Lasse Thoresen (b 1949), Olav Anton Thommessen (b 1946), Rolf Wallin (b 1957), Cecilie Ore (b 1954), Sven Lyder Kahrs (b 1959) and Jon Øivind Ness (b 1968). Young and aspiring Norwegian composers with growing international exposure are Maja S K Ratkje (b 1973), Eivind Buene (b 1973) and Lars Petter Hagen (b 1975). Ratkje and Wallin are the foremost examples of artists combining the roles of composer and performer . . .
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Dan Locklair

Symphony of Seasons: Autumn (2002)

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Free Your Mind & Your Ears Will Follow

Charles Michener, New York Observer

It is axiomatic about new, serious music that it is far from accessible on first acquaintance-indeed, that it may remain opaque, if not downright hostile, to our ears even after a second or third hearing. Addressing this problem in one of his Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard University, the American composer Roger Sessions, whose music is renowned for its knottiness, offered a useful suggestion: "If we keep our ears open and willing, and listen attentively, we may easily discern, here and there, moments or passages of which we feel the impact immediately, however fleeting this sensation of contact or recognition may be. One may even tell oneself: 'This at least is "striking," or "graceful," or "amusing," even "moving," "beautiful," or simply "interesting."' This means that we have begun to recognize features in the work and to sense its character; and if we are interested or patient enough to pursue the matter further, we will find that these moments will grow longer" . . .
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