Margarita Höhenrieder, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Antti Siirala and Jonathon Heyward - Nordlicht (2024) [Hi-Res]

The poet Henrik Ibsen and Edvard Grieg met in Rome in 1866. At this time, Ibsen was working on the dramatic poem "Peer Gynt" based on Norwegian fairy tales by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen. Ibsen reworked it into a stage play and commissioned Grieg to write the music for it. The premiere took place on 24 February 1876. A few years later, Grieg used this music to create two purely orchestral suites, which are among the best-known works of Romantic music - and finally a very colorful and atmospheric arrangement for four-hand piano. Grieg was inspired to write his Piano Concerto in A minor op.16 as a student when he heard Clara Schumann play her husband Robert's piano concerto in Leipzig in 1858. He became a great admirer of Schumann. Grieg chose the same key as Schumann, A minor, for his own piano concerto, which was written 10 years later in Denmark. The premiere in Copenhagen in 1869 was enthusiastically celebrated. When E. Grieg met Franz Liszt in Rome in 1870, the latter played his piano concerto - a great honor and joy for Grieg - and the piano concerto and the two Peer Gynt suites are among the most beautiful and popular piano works of Romantic music.

Margarita Höhenrieder has known the Icelandic composer Hjálmar Helgi Ragnarsson and his music for several years. She became acquainted with his piano pieces through his sister, her long-time friend, the pianist Anna Ragnarsdottir-Hoffmann. She was also the wife of her former teacher and well-known piano virtuoso Ludwig Hoffmann. Höhenrieder herself was looking for several pieces specifically for the left hand at the time: she was planning joint performances entitled "2 linke Hände" (2 left hands) together with the painter Bernd Zimmer. While Bernd Zimmer painted a picture live in front of an audience using only his left hand, Margarita Höhenrieder played pieces for the left hand. It is a creative and unique project. Hjálmar Helgi Ragnarsson wrote the left-hand piece "Stilla" for her, which for the artist on a trip to Iceland was a fascinating and mysterious reflection of the mostly light green moss-covered volcanic landscape with its glaciers and the endless expanse and silence. When she played Stilla, she even felt as she can briefly see the northern lights again in some places. Mrs. Höhenrieder first heard the Finnish-born pianist Antti Siirala as a juror at the 1997 International Beethoven Competition in Vienna. He was 17 years old at the time and won first prize. He is now her colleague at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich.