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Artist
Fartein Valen
12+ albums
contemporary classicalnorwegianClassicalcomposerserialism
about
Olav Fartein Valen (August 25, 1887 – December 14, 1952) was a Norwegian composer and musical theorist, notable for his work within atonal polyphonic music. Valen was born in Stavanger, Norway in 1887 into a deeply Christian religious family and maintained his religious beliefs all his life. His parents were missionaries, and he spent five years of his childhood in Madagascar. In addition to his aptitude for music, he was also a polyglot, mastering at least nine languages. He earned his examen artium with the highest grades in all subjects except mathematics. He loved cats, nature and literature, cultivated roses (even developed an award winning hybrid), and after losing them in a devastating freeze took up growing cacti. In 1906, Valen moved to Oslo to study Norwegian literature and language but also took classes with Catharinus Elling (1858 - 1942) at the Oslo conservatory of music, graduating with a degree in organ playing. In 1909 he moved to Berlin to study composition at the Music Academy with Max Bruch who subsequently retired. While in Berlin, he worked on exercises in both tonal and atonal counterpoint and began to develop a polyphony similar to Bach's, but based on motivic working and dissonance rather than harmonic progression. In 1916, he returned to Norway and took up residence at his family estate with his mother and sister in Sunnhordland where he started the most productive phase of his career, churning out more than 25,000 piano etudes (though they are not
top songs
1
A fikk jeg kun vaere den minste kvist (arr. F. Valen)
3392The Churchyard By The Sea
3213Symphony No. 3, Op. 41: II. Larghetto
2884Pastorale
1735Ode To Solitude
1596Pastorale, Op. 11
1587Violin Concerto
1518Lied Ohne Worte
1319Le cimetiere marin (Kirkegarden ved havet, The Churchyard by the Sea), Op. 20
10910Four Piano Pieces, Opus 22: II. Valse noble
83albums
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Valen, F.: Orchestral Music, Vol. 2 - Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3 / Epithalamion
The Eternal
Valen, F.: Orchestral Music, Vol. 1 - Symphony No. 1 / Violin Concerto
Valen, F.: Orchestral Music, Vol. 3 - Symphony No. 4 / Piano Concerto / Kirkegarden Ved Havet
Until Human Voices Wake Us And We Drown
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Valen / Saeverud: Piano Music
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The Eternal (fartein Valen)
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Fartein Valen string quartets
Refractions
Fartein Valen – on the path to his modernism
Valen, F.: Orchestral Music, Vol. 2 - Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3 / Epithalamion
Norwegian 20th Century String Quartets