This year, somewhat surprisingly, the choice of festival composer in Bergen has fallen on Anne-Marie Ørbeck. Ørbeck died in 1996, aged 85. It would obviously have been more natural if she experienced this honor while she was still alive. But it is, as you know, better late than never. With the selection of Ørbeck, the Festspillene sheds light on a chapter in Norwegian music history that has until now been partly in the dark. For the first time ever, it is possible to experience a representative selection of Ørbeck’s works, performed by top class musicians. It is high time. A success story REFRESHING: Anne-Marie Ørbeck’s piano playing and compositions were a hit in Berlin in the 1930s. Photo: Bergen public library / FIB The rediscovery of Anne-Marie Ørbeck is undoubtedly one of the most important events in Norwegian music life in recent years. Ørbeck experienced considerable success both as a pianist and composer in Berlin towards the end of the 1930s. The high point came in 1938, when the premiere of her “Concertino for Piano and Orchestra” was broadcast throughout Germany, with Ørbeck herself as soloist with the Grosses Orchester des Deutschlandfunks. HANDWRITTEN: The composer’s manuscript for the work “Concertino for piano and orchestra” Photo: Bergen public library / FIB Both critics and the public were enthusiastic. Ørbeck’s refreshing mix of Grieg-inspired national romanticism and Prokofiev-like neoclassicism obviously struck a chord with the times. Isolation in Bergen However, Ørbeck’s brilliant career as a pianist-composer comes to an abrupt halt when the war breaks out. From 1940 until her death in 1996, Ørbeck lived in Bergen, with her husband and then each child. She never quite fits into the city’s male-dominated music scene. ALONE: Anne-Marie Ørbeck remains an outsider in Bergen’s music life after the war. Photo: Bergens Tidende / FIB This despite the fact that she uses the war years to compose a large-scale symphony – the only one ever composed by a Norwegian woman. Yep, you read that right. The symphony was performed by the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra in 1954, to great acclaim from the audience. But the critics frown, and no Norwegian orchestras follow up with new orders. The reasons are certainly compound and complex, but the fact remains that Ørbeck’s production after the Second World War is limited to a handful of smaller works, mainly romances, choral songs and piano pieces. Some of this is, in my opinion, of excellent quality, such as the two sonatas for piano, recorded on disc by Eva Knardahl and Jarle Rotevatn. NOTE READING: Anne-Marie Ørbeck in her study. Swipe for more photos. Photo: Johanne Grieg Kippenbroeck / FIB REASON TO SMILE: Facsimile from newspaper report 1954. The symphony was finished in 1944. Photo: Bergen public library / FIB RYDDIG HÅNDSKRIFT: Double bass part from Anne-Marie Ørbeck’s Symphony (1944). The composer’s manuscript. Photo: Bergen public library / FIB YOUNG PIANO VIRTUOS: Portrait of Anne-Marie Ørbeck from concert program 1946. Photo: Unknown (fallen in the open) Joy and sadness I have to admit that it is with a mixture of joy and sadness that I experience Ørbeck’s music this evening in Håkonshallen. It is difficult to avoid the feeling that the concert shows a composer who was allowed to display his enormous talent to an all too limited extent. It starts gently with Ørbeck’s “Melodi” for orchestra (1939). The play was written for news’s radio ensemble Bergen, and I suspect that Ørbeck wisely held back his more radical impulses. The result was a rather anonymous genre piece within the slightly sleep-inducing category “Norwegian national romance”. Ørbeck’s two songs are performed beautifully and vividly in Håkonshallen by the young soprano Annika Synnøve Beinnes. A slightly less sedate orchestral accompaniment had made them real highlights during this year’s festival. Photo: Johanne Karlsrud / FIB Rare musical gems The next item on the program is more uplifting. It consists of two songs from 1954-55: “So rodde dei fjordan” (text: Aslaug Vaa) and “Vill-Guri” (text: Tor Jonsson). Both of these are originally for voice and piano, but were orchestrated in 1962 in connection with a performance the following year. Incredibly, these two songs – a total of barely five minutes of music – are the only things Ørbeck writes for large orchestra after 1944. In return, these are some truly wonderful minutes. The combination of Ørbeck’s melodic precision, discreet modern harmonics and expert orchestral treatment turn these little songs into musical gems. There is not much like this in Norwegian music history of the last century. It is therefore a shame that Ørbeck did not find the opportunity to orchestrate more of the approximately 20 songs she composed during her career. ELEGANT: Ingrid Søfteland Neset handled the soloist part in Ørbeck’s “Pastorale & Allegro” brilliantly. Photo: Johanne Karlsrud / FIB Sour flute music The work “Pastorale & Allegro” for flute and strings, which Ørbeck composed in 1959 on commission from Harmonien’s solo flutist Hans Stenseth, is not quite so fantastic. Ørbeck cultivates a more acidic expression here, possibly inspired by composers such as Shostakovich and Britten. The work is admittedly tighter and more pointed in its expression than Ørbeck’s previous orchestral works, but still appears as a somewhat academic and impersonal exercise in style. Not entirely cast The greatest expectations this evening are linked to Ørbeck’s “Concertino for piano and orchestra” (1937), which has not been performed since 1947. The concertino is undoubtedly a vital work, characterized by a wealth of ideas, brilliant solo voice, up- two-date harmonics and dazzling orchestral textures. PIANO TALENT: The young pianist Kei Solvang impresses with his deft playing of the solo part in Ørbeck’s “Concertino for piano and orchestra”. Unfortunately, the performance as a whole suffers from a periodic lack of rhythmic precision in the orchestra. Photo: Johanne Karlsrud / FIB Ørbeck’s ambition has obviously been to write a flashy show number that combines Nordic tone and continental chic. As so often when it comes to Ørbeck, my associations go in the direction of early Prokofiev. Or a kind of cheerful Bartok in halling beat. The Concertino is still not a one-piece work. To a large extent, it bears the stamp of ideas and parts of form that are only halfway connected. The next theme is either confusingly similar to the previous one, or something completely different. The impression I am left with is a work that does not quite stick. Does news use “gendered language”? But wait a little now, you half-aged, all-right male reviewer: Is Ørbeck really a radical? Is she moving away from a “masculine” ideal of organic wholeness and development? Maybe. But then the fracture surfaces should have been sharper and more unpredictable. And the formal weaknesses characterize to a far lesser extent the symphony she composes a few years later. This shows that Anne-Marie Ørbeck was like all other composers: She got better over time. Had Ørbeck composed a couple of piano concertos after the war, we would by all accounts have had valuable supplements to similar works by Harald Sæverud and Geirr Tveitt. In contrast to these gentlemen, Ørbeck was a pianist on an international level. In fact, as far as I can judge, she must have been the greatest pianist-composer Norway has produced after Agathe Backer Grøndahl, regardless of gender. Then it is all the more wistful to note that her career highlight was becoming a festival composer half a century too late. NB! At the Festival’s closing concert on 7 June, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra plays Ørbeck’s Symphony. Don’t miss it. news reviews Title: “Portrett av Anne-Marie Ørbeck” With: Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra When: 30 May 2023 Place: Håkonshallen, Festspillene i Bergen Conductor: Anna-Maria Helsing Soprano: Annika Synnøve Beinnes Flute: Ingrid Søfteland Neset Piano: Kei Solvang
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“Portrait of Anne-Marie Ørbeck” during the Festivals in Bergen – Reviews and recommendations
