The Two-Concert Day

I think yesterday was the first time I had ever played two full solo recitals in one day.  They went pretty well, I think.  I especially enjoyed the Troldhaugen show, as I hoped I would.  The audience was a good size and very warm and enthusiastic.  Apparently there were tour groups from Holland, England, and Italy.  Also a woman from Montreal greeted me afterward, saying "I have to come all the way to Norway to hear you; when are you playing in Montreal?"  Good question.  I'll get to work on that.

In general, I think my "mash-up" program was well-received.  The stolid conservative Grieg-ites would probably prefer that I not stir things up so much, a point which I can see of course, but it is also important to me that one take opportunities to see things in a new light, from fresh perspectives.  By intermingling the movements of Valse nobles with Lyric Pieces or Tombeau de Couperin with Holberg Suite, one hears things that may not have been heard before.  I took great care in the programming to make sure that despite the mixed up-edness, there is great flow and unity in moving from one piece to the next.

Anyway, playing in Troldsalen was very satisfying.  It had long been my dream to play there, so I was very glad that the playing went well.  Before each set, I found it very comforting and grounding to take a look out the window at Grieg's composing hut and the fjord and the trees.

In between yesterday's two concerts was a drive back to Bergen, about 100 km.  We stopped at Steinsdalfossen and climbed up a trail to go behind the impressive waterfall.  I kidded my host about how tough Norwegians must be: two concerts in one day with mountain-climbing in between!  Then we saw this spectacular "Bridal Veil Falls" as well, but from a safe distance; no climbing needed.

After the Troldhaugen concert, we checked into our hotel and then went out for a celebratory meal at the aptly named "Holberg Stuen".   Time for Akvavit (the Bergen kind), beer, and herring.  Oh yeah.

I'm sad to leave this lovely city today, but Paris awaits!

Troldsalen

Day Three in Bergen.

I have been given the opportunity to practise each day in the recital hall at Troldhaugen where I will be performing this weekend.  I've envisioned playing in this hall for quite some time now, so it is very exciting to actually be doing so now.

Arrival at Troldhaugen means a bus ride from Bergen city centre (or a "tram" ride on the brand new "Bybanen") followed by about a 15 minute walk.  It feels like a bit of a pilgrimage as one takes this little trek towards Grieg's home, the Grieg Museum, and the Troldsalen recital hall.  The road is well-marked with many signs pointing toward Troldhaugen, and I think I posed for a photo by each and every one of them.

Yesterday we briefly explored the actual house in which Grieg and his wife Nina lived for over twenty years.  (mainly during the warmer seasons)  I was keen to get to the piano, so we didn't look too closely at the displays and neither did we look at the museum yet.  Today we took a little walk down to the water, and saw the grave where both Edvard's and Nina's ashes were entombed.  Sitting by the water's edge - fjordside - I could well understand why the Griegs underwent the travel ordeals to reach Troldhaugen each year.  A beautiful, inspiring, and peaceful spot, and so near the salty sea air.  Sitting by the water today among the trees, I am quite sure I heard the type of bird that Grieg would have heard and been inspired to emulate in some of his music.

Tomorrow I plan to take more time in looking through the museum and the house, to see all the artifacts and learn a bit.  My main focus though for these first few days has been to get over jet lag and prepare for my recitals this weekend.  The Hamburg Steinway in Troldsalen and I have been spending time together in order to get to know one another.  It took about an hour yesterday before we were able to unravel each other's secret codes.  This instrument has a nice consistent touch, and a marvellous low end.  It has good responsiveness and excellent "Bebung" possibilities.  (my advanced students will know what I mean by that)  I look forward to a couple more hours of work tomorrow, before leaving on Saturday for Hardangerfjord where my first concert is.

I am so enjoying being in Europe.  There is so much about the way of life and just being here that makes good sense to me and feels right.  It's fun to use my Danish again and to find that people generally understand me.  I just wish I could get the hang of Norwegian more quickly.  Because both languages look so similar on the page, when I hear Norwegian I tend to visualize the words & then translate them in my head to their Danish pronunciation, immediately forgetting how it sounded in Norwegian.  I'm keeping the television on in the background as much as possible in order to absorb the sounds.  No doubt, this language will start to take hold just in time for our departure from Norway on Monday.

Travel

Europe!  Finally!
It feels so wonderful to be back on this continent after such a long time.  I've always felt that I halfway belong here, which makes sense if you consider that both my parents are European and so much of my upbringing had European influence, not to mention the regular family vacations to Denmark throughout my childhood.

Travel went fairly smoothly to get here.  I started the journey with a headache, no doubt due to the overwhelm of so many details to attend to before leaving.  The airport limo was supremely comfortable though, so much so that I was able to doze off a bit.  Upon arriving at Pearson airport we (my daughter and I) learned that our first flight was overbooked.  Luckily we were prioritized due to the fact that we had connecting flights.  Whew.

The first leg of the journey was just to Halifax.  I guess I needed to be close to the sea air, because upon arrival I felt my headache beginning to lift.  Whew again.  We had a short stopover - enough time to update facebook statuses & buy some Starbucks snacks - and then boarded our Icelandair flight for Reykjavik.  I found it thrilling to hear Icelandic as soon as we entered the plane.  This leg of the journey was slightly under 4 hours and was a very comfortable flight.  Arriving in Iceland at 5 a.m. was again thrilling as it really began to feel like Europe.  A very civilized and quiet customs hall where we went through security and got our passports stamped, followed by an Icelandic breakfast in the terminal.

Then, one more Icelandair flight.  Under two hours to Bergen, Norway.  By now we are suitably surrounded by languages other than English.  I am surprised to find how much I can understand of Icelandic, particularly in written form.  This last flight of the day finds us dozing off for the duration.

Arrival in Bergen!  Everything has gone sooo smoothly for this trip.  I was very glad that I chose to book it in three shorter flights.  I find it so difficult to sit in an airplane for a trans-Atlantic flight.  I'm never good at just sitting, so this was ideal.

When we arrived in Bergen, it seemed that the passport check was optional, so we walked on by.  We got our luggage and then just walked out to the arrivals area through the "nothing to declare" exit.  There didn't seem to be anyone there not to declare anything to anyway.  Got bus info, found the bus immediately, boarded it, paid, and departed immediately for town.  This is when the thrill of finally being back in Europe really started to take hold.

We were dropped off by the Fishmarket, and made our way in the general direction of the hotel.  A bit of struggle pulling the very-overweight suitcase uphill on cobblestones, but that is all part of the travel adventure.  As is  not being able to check in immediately.  Oh well.  A little touring around the Bryggen neighbourhood and a bowl of the most-fantastic-seafood-chowder-of-life and we were ready for our afternoon nap.

Finding the prices (not surprisingly) here to be over the top, we decided to slum it for supper, and picked up 7-11 snacks to take back to our hotel room.  Snacks which cost ~ $47 CDN!

This afternoon we head to Troldhaugen!