...as Eric indicated elsewhere, forthcoming from Naxos:
http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Naxos/8573738 (http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Naxos/8573738)
Henning Kraggerud (violin), Malmö Symphony Orchestra, c. Bjarte Engeset
I'm afraid that I can't get too excited about this. It's good that the Halvorsen concerto has been rediscovered, but it didn't strike me as anthing more than a competent piece of work by an experienced composer.
I agree. But it's cheap, so...
My disappointment is with the pairing. Else I'm looking forward to this release..
QuoteMy disappointment is with the pairing.
They aren't exactly 'pot-boilers' so I think many would see them as useful pairings, but maybe you are disappointed because you would have preferred something else by Halvorsen?
I seem to recall there are concertos by Borgstrom and Haarklou out there, but preparing just one unpublished rarity of violin-concerto length for performance first from manuscript to readability and then from rehearsal to under-the-fingers readiness is one thing, asking for two would probably be something else :)...
Quite. That's the problem. Still, Hyperion seem to manage it for their RPC series.
I have a large amount of scores of forgotten violin concertos on my website. Just needs to be downloaded and the first hurdles (find manuscript, typeset manuscript) are already done. One just has to do it...
Parts as well as scores?
I can easily create parts if someone is interested, but I don't want to flood my site with tons of documents. They just have to drop me a line and there we go.
The Borgström's been done, of course:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hjalmar-Borgstr%C3%B8m-Violin-Concerto-Symphonic/dp/B003AI2JN0/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1485004242&sr=8-8&keywords=borgstrom (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hjalmar-Borgstr%C3%B8m-Violin-Concerto-Symphonic/dp/B003AI2JN0/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1485004242&sr=8-8&keywords=borgstrom)
yes, but that Borgström recording and release was years ago. Time for something new, I guess.
Agreed. But not another recording of the same piece!
I wasn't aware of the earlier recording of the Borgstrøm, but a new recording of it, if feasible at the price, might actually have been preferable to what we have as the coupling, I think... Or a new recording of the recently-premiered Sinding 3rd. (Which I haven't heard the existing recording of yet, but I'll make a point to soon- was curious about it...) Is there much else by way of Norwegian works for violin and orchestra in the freely-viewable digital archives of the Bergen Music Library* or similar sources (I think some of those works can be found there, I forget...- one of Borgstrøm's concertos can, iirc, e.g. ...)
*I may be thinking of the Norwegian National Library? Sorry. IMSLP has a few downloads from this source which in turn seems to have thousands more scores, sketches and bits of correspondence by various Norwegian composers. Another municipal/national library that looks like a treat to browse online, yet again...
Well, we don't actually need the Borgström or Sinding VC3. Time for something really new. If we stretch the geography a bit, perhaps the substantial and rather beautiful VC by the Dane Ludvig Holm might be a candidate. It's only ever been recorded once - in rather dim mono - by Kai Laursen and could do with a recording in which we can hear everything that's going on...
Yes, totally agree, Alan.
I think the recording's a considerable improvement on the download we already have. I'd now characterise the idiom as 'nordic, folk-inflected Bruch'. I still don't think it's anything more than an interesting discovery, but I'm glad I've encountered in this very fine performance: Kraggerud is a staggeringly good violinist and the MalmoSO under Engeset support him to the hilt. At Naxos price this is a very welcome release indeed.