Haugtussa

Edvard Grieg wrote in a letter to a friend that the songs about the goatgirl Veslemřy was the best he had ever written.Now the CD with these and other Grieg-songs is released with soprano Solveig Kringelborn and the pianist Malcolm Martineau.

The Haugtussa songs concentrate on Veslemřy, a visionary shepherd girl, who was abandoned by the boy she loved.She is fleeing from the reality of life and from the surrounding world that does not understand her.Through her visions, she is in touch with nature and the 'underworld'.

Edvard Grieg fell immidately for the poems written by Arne Garborg in the 'New Norwegian'-language: 'It is an ingenious book, where the music has already been composed'.

Solveig Kringelborn has sung 'Haugtussa' all over Europe and America.In Wigmore Hall alone, she has sung 'Haugtussa' three times, two of them with her regular accompanist, Malcolm Martineau!

Kringelborn and Martineau´s previous recital-CD, 'Black Roses', won a Norwegian Grammy.The 'Haugtussa'-CD has been enthusiastically received by Norwegian critics.

With the heading 'Seductive Haugtussa from Kringelborn', the newspaper Bergens Tidende, from Edvard Grieg´s hometown, writes, 'Haugtussa´s dream world is brought to life through Kringelborn´s shining, inviting voice, and not least Malcolm Martineau´s mature interpretation of the piano part.'

Another newspaper, Fćdrelandsvennen, is indicating that 'Solveig Kringelborn has given us the new reference-recording of 'Haugtussa'. The reviewer feels this interpretation is simply outstanding.