Borgstrøm Hjalmar: Symphonic Poems

Hjalmar Borgstrøm has been well on the way to being rediscovered since the beginning of the new millennium. Several of his most important works were performed in his native Norway until the Second World War, after which his name long disappeared from public consciousness. Until his death in 1925, he had also played an important role as a critic. With the premiere of his two operas and above all the rediscovery of his extraordinarily picturesque symphonic tone poems, a new page has turned. This contemporary of Richard Strauss who studied with Johan Severin Svendsen and Carl Reinecke among others, proves to be a legitimate descendant of Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner; it is difficult to escape the captivating boldness of his programmatic concepts and their unconventionally beautiful realisation.