Carl Arnold: Piano Concerto · Grand Sextet Torleif Torgersen, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra & Rinaldo Alessandrini

• Carl Arnold (1794 - 1873): Piano Concerto, Op. 16:
• 1 Piano Concerto, Op. 16: I Allegro moderato 18:21
• 2 Piano Concerto, Op. 16: II Adagio ma non troppo 03:09
• 3 Piano Concerto, Op. 16: III Rondo 08:23
• Piano Sextet, Op. 23:
• 4 Piano Sextet, Op. 23: I Adagio non troppo, Allegro con Fuoco 09:45
• 5 Piano Sextet, Op. 23: II Andante 06:09
• 6 Piano Sextet, Op. 23: III Allegro con spirito 06:06
• 7 Piano Sextet, Op. 23: VI Allegro agitato 08:22
• Total Runtime 01:00:15

Info for Carl Arnold: Piano Concerto · Grand Sextet

The German composer Carl Arnold (1794–1873) brought the spirit of Beethoven with him when he established himself in Oslo, building the foundations of professional music life in Norway. Fortepianist Torleif Torgersen has previously released a critically acclaimed album with Arnold’s solo piano music. Now he presents a recording with the grand piano concerto and sextet by the composer, together with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Rinaldo Alessandrini.

At the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815, the young virtuoso Carl Arnold could tour the concert venues of the highest nobility, while composing new works along the way – dedicated to countesses and other female members of the aristocracy who had invited him to play. The piano concerto was premiered in Warzaw August 1819, dedicated “to her highness the princess Aleksandra Zajączek”. The piano sextet was written in 1825, at a time when Arnold was living in Berlin. Stylistically the music is clearly founded in the Beethoven tradition, and the grand virtuosic piano part makes the work stand out as almost a concerto in itself.

Carl Arnold was born in Neunkirchen in Germany, and became central in the construction of the professional music life in Kristiania (Oslo) from day one after he arrived in the city as a travelling virtuoso in 1848. He remains in the Norwegian capital as conductor of the Philharmonic Society, and organist in Trefoldighetskirken. He founded the first organist- and composer academy in Kristiania, and among his students are Halfdan Kjerulf, Otto Winter-Hjelm and Johan Svendsen.

Torgersen is Professor at the Grieg Academy in Bergen. His focus is performance practice on the fortepiano, with Malcolm Bilson and Bart van Oort among others. When releasing the world premiere of Arnolds piano works in 2011, also recorded on the 1830 Hafner used for this album, it was received by Fanfare as “A fascinating and stimulating release, which I highly recommend to anyone with an interest in wrongly neglected composers.”. The Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra dates back to 1765 and is one of the oldest orchestras in the world. Edvard Grieg had a close relationship with the orchestra and was its artistic director during the years 1880-82.

Torleif Torgersen, fortepiano
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
Rinaldo Alessandrini, conductor

Torleif Torgersen
is born in Bergen and made his debut in Oslo in 1992. He studied with Einar Steen-Nøkleberg, Eva Knardahl and Lazar Berman at the Norwegian Academy of Music and with Liisa Pohjola at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.

Torgersen received his Diploma in 1993 and joined the MiN-ensemble in Northern Norway the same year. With this sinfonietta type ensemble he has since toured in Norway and Europe and made several recordings, two of which consist solely of works written especially for him by composers Jon Øivind Ness, Mark Adderley, Henrik Hellstenius and Matthew Burtner.

His solo debut CD from 1995 with works by the Norwegian composers Fartein Valen and Lasse Thoresen was nominated for a Norwegian Grammy. He has also recorded the complete piano works of Norwegian composer Klaus Egge, a recording that was prepared while staying as a resident artist at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada in 1996-97. As a champion of these composers he has performed the music of Valen and Egge in numerous concerts in Russia, Germany, Italy, Turkey and Finland as well as Canada, including performances of Fartein Valens piano concerto in St Petersburg in 2000 and Klaus Egges piano concerto no 2 in Istanbul in 2006.

He has performed at a number of international festivals among them the Berliner Festwochen, St. Petersburg festival and the Prague Festival. Since 2005 Torleif Torgersen has also performed with the legendary violinist Shlomo Mintz in concerts in most of Europe as well as Israel, Japan and South Amerika.

As a performer on historical instruments Torleif Torgersen has held many concerts and lectures and has studied with Liv Glaser, Malcolm Bilson and Bart van Oort. His world premiere recording on fortepiano of the piano works of German / Norwegian composer Carl Arnold in 2011 was met with wide international acclaim.

This album contains no booklet.