Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound

Christmas Exhibiton 2009 with Mp3 Advent Calender

The Norwegian Institute of Recorded sound replies to the great response on last year's musical advent calender with more old recordings. Each day before Christmas, we present a recording from the "good old times", where legendary singers and performers from the first half of the 20th. Century gives their account of Christmas Music.

Norwegian Sound Archive Conference 2009 - in Trondheim, Oktober 27-29

The Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound heads the organization of The Norwegian Sound Archive Conference 2009, October 27-29th, in Trondheim. Read details about the programme on The Norwegian Sound Archive Conference 2009 website.

The conference is held jointly with the Folk Music Archive's yearly seminar, and is hosted by Rockheim (litterally the Home of Rock), which is opening its doors this Autumn.

The timing of the conference is chosen as Norway's contribution to the celebration of the UNESCO World Day for Audiovisual Heritage - October 27th. Too much of the world’s 20th. century audiovisual heritage is now lost because vulnerable sound carriers are becoming obsolete. Public awareness of the importance of preservation has to be increased to save this important heritage. Read more on the WDAVH-site.

Summertime is Chamber Music Festival Time!

The chamber Music Festivals in Norway has established themselves as important events in Norwegian musical life during the past 20 years. In August 2009, the Stavanger International Chamber Music Festival takes place, and The Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound warms up with old recordings from the "father" of chamber music festivals, the Casals festival in Prades in 1950.
Read more and listen to the recordings

The Corner Stone of the new Stavanger Concert Hall is laid

On Desember 6th, the corner stone of the new Stavanger Concert Hall was laid in Bjergsted, containing a box of different documentation. The Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound and MemNor contributed to the box with a digitization of the first concert in the present Stavanger Concert Hall in 1983. Thus a recording of Stavanger Symphony Orchestra's performance of Mai Sønstevold's Festival Overture conducted by Bjørn Woll is among the documents in the box.

Read more at the new Concert Hall's website (in Norwegian only)

Exhibition of Christmas Records with mp3 Advent Calender

This year as earlier years, the Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound celebrates Advent and Christmas with an exhibiton of Christmas records from the vaults of the institute. The exhibiton concists of 78's and LP's with well-known Christmas Music from many lands. For those who wants to dive further down into this subject, the exhibition also concists of many lesser known works. In other words, something for every taste!

The main part of the exhibition is the many LP records, but we have also taken many 78 rpm shellac records up from the vaults. It is possible to listen to some of these records on an accoustic record player as was common about 60 years ago before the LP's and singles were introduced. It is incredible how good and natural sound quality one gets from an original record player. In our digital age this is something worth experiencing.

Recording from 1928 of Wagner's Tristan and Isolde

The digitization projects at the Norwegian Institue of Recorded Sound now makes it possible to provide access to one of the historic recordings of Richard Wagner's opera Tristan and Isolde with some Norwegian singers in leading roles. The sound files provided are compressed mp3's, but the Institute has wave files of the same material for long term digital storage. The sound is not cleaned or restored.

More research on Edvard Grieg's piano music

The Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound attracts researchers from abroad to come to Stavanger because of the huge archival sound collection. The music of Edvard Grieg which forms a special part of the collection is of particular interest. The past week, Georgia Volioti, a PhD student from the Royal Holloway University of London has visited the Institute as part of her research on performance history and different performing traditions on the piano music by Grieg.

Launching seminar on Dørumsgaard's translations of Eastern Poetry

The complete edition of Arne Dørumsgaard’s multi volume work with Eastern Poetry translated into Norwegian will be presented at a seminar in Oslo at November 18th. The last volumes are now published by Andresen & Butenschøn AS. The seminar is arranged as a co-operation between the publisher and The Norwegian Polytechnic Society. First part deals with the educational effect of reading other cultures literature – a challenge to the Norwegian press and public. The second part is devoted to the challenges to translate and recreate foreign poetry. Free admission. Place: Litteraturhuset (House of Litterature), Wergelandsveien 18, Oslo. This according to Polytechnic Society.

At this seminar, the last posthume volume will be presented to the public. The whole series thus consists of eight volumes covering Chinese poetry from 1122 BC to 1368 AD, two volumes covering Chinese poetry from 1368 to 1911 (posthume publications), three monographies on Chinese poets, nine volumes covering Japanese poetry (of which three volumes are monographies), and three volumes covering Korean poetry.

Read more about Arne Dørumsgaard's authorship (in Norwegian)

Rare recordings of Bryhn Langaard at the Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound

From contacts i London, The Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound has been able to obtain 5 rare records with the Norwegian soprano Borghild Bryhn Langaard. These are 1 Pathé record from 1909 and 4 78's recorded in Berlin on October 5th. 1913 for Deutche Grammophon-Aktiengesellschaft.

Borghild Bryhn Langaard was born in Kongsvinger, Norway in 1883. She studied under Gina Oselio and Nina Grieg before her concert debut in 1906 with Edvard Grieg at the piano. In 1907 she med her first appearance as an opera singer at the Norwegian National Theatre in Kristiania (Oslo). Following these appearances, she studied further in London under Raimund von zur Mühlen. In the 1907-08 season, she sang the part of Brünnhilde during the memorable performances of Wagner's Ring at London's Covent Garden conducted by Hans Richter and the part of Santuzza in "Cavaleria Rusticana". Then she made guest appearances at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm in 1909, at Wiener Hofoper as Santuzzi and Aida in 1910 and in Amsterdam as Venus in "Tannhäuser" in 1913. She appeared at La Scala in Milano and at the Budapest Opera before she sang the parts of Tosca and Elsa in Lohengrin at the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen in 1914. At that time, the critic Charles Kjærulf wrote from Copenhagen that "she is a world class singer. Reportedly unsurpassed at present". In 1919 she sang Amelia in Un Ballo in maschera together with Alessandro Bonci at the Chicago Opera. From 1920, she teached and gave concerts in Norway. She died in Oslo in 1939.

Amongst the Bryhn Langaard records the Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound now is in posession of, one find a recording with a selection from "Tristan und Isolde" (see picture). One also find Madame Butterfly's Aria from Puccini's "Madame Butterfly". When this recording was made in 1913, no more than 9 years had passed since the opera's first performance at La Scala, thus Bryhn Langgaard was recording contemporary opera at that time. The records will now be digitised at the Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound.

Text: Dag Trygve Henriksen
Updated 01.10.2008

Richard Wagner's works in historical recordings

The Wagner Festival at Bayreuth, Germany takes place every summer at the turn of the months July and August. At the same time, the Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound shows an exhibition of all the operas of Richard Wagner, both on LP's and 78-records. Read more. The exhibition is further mentioned at Aftenbladet and at the NRK website (in Norwegian only).

New Doctoral Thesis on Agathe Backer Grøndahl

Camilla Hambro will present her doctoral thesis at the Gothenburg University, Sweden on Friday July 13th 2008 at 1.00 pm. According to the abstract, the problems studied are what kind of expectations are connected to three intertwined core concepts connected to Backer Grøndahl, namely: "femininity", "genre", and "Norwegianness" (the folk-influenced Norwegian tradition). She connects this to a discussion of the musical culture with which the pianist composer and her compositions interacted from 1866–1903, presentations of her in monographs and music history books and analyses of her music. As source material, she examines reseption documents from Agathe Backer Grøndahls own time.

As musical examples, Hambro used two shellac recordings she found in the collection at the Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound.
Read abstract and listen to music examples at this page

Listening Courses 2008-2009 season: The Programme is ready!

Per Dahl's popular listening courses continues next season. Schumann, Mendelssohn and a real novelty, Sheriffs work Akeda; The Sacrifice of Isaac is subjet for the autumn lectures. In the springtime, focus is the 1920's musical culture in selected european cities. Read more

Tristan und Isolde - lecture and exhibition

Richard Wagner's grand opera Tristan und Isolde is performed twice in Stavanger in May with Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Choir and soloists. In advance of the performances, a lecture on the work is held in the Auditorium of the Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound on May 15th. at 7.30pm. Lecturer is Anthony Negus from the Welsh National Opera in Cardiff. On this occation, the Institute has compiled an exhibiton of recordings of the Tristan music from the significant Flagstad collection, as well as other wagnerian singers and conductors. Among the recordings worth mentioning is a 78-set of the Prelude and Lovedeath conducted by Russian born Norwegian Issay Dobrowen and numerous recordings from the Bayreuth Festival.
Read more about the performances in Stavanger on the SSO website (in Norwegian only).

The Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound Acknowledged Worldwide

The Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound represented by Director Jacqueline von Arb was asked by CCAAA to present the audiovisual archives' perspectives on the Memory of the World Programme. From February 19th. to 22nd., delegates from the different national and regional committees will meet to discuss the future of the Memory of the World Programme, identify shortcommings and propose improvements. The venue of the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme 3rd. Conference is the Australian National Library.
Read more:
Memory of the World Programme | Memory of the World Programme Third International Conference
Conference Programme and Abstracts (NIRS contribution on page 37) | Complete paper
NIRS' international work and co-operation

New Exhibion Now Open: The Recorded Legacy of Christmas Music

This year, The Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound has compiled a christmas exhibion that contains more records than ever before. Over 400 records of christmas music is shown, spanning wide in genre. Among them, you find the Cowboy Santa with Arne Bendiksen as well as 32 recording of Händel's oratorio Messiah. The exhibion is shown in the premises of the Institute. Opening hours are 8am to 5pm every workday until Christmas, and further the first week in january 2008. Read more.

Messiaen Celebration in Bjergsted

The French composer Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) would have celebrated his 99th birthday on December 10th. 2007. As a kickoff to the centennary celebrations next year, the Department of Music and Dance at the University of Stavanger gives a concert on Messiaen's birthday. On this ocation, the Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound contributes with a small exhibion of Messiaen recordings on reel to reel tape and LP's. A reception will be held at the Institute shortly after the concert. Read more (in Norwegian only): About the Messiaen Festival 2008 - Concert Programme of December 10th. 2007

The Cultural Satchel now contains Sound History

The Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound now gives primary school pupils knowledge of the sound history. This is the Institute's contribution to the Project Den kulturelle skolesekken (The Cultural Satchel), whereby all pupils in the Norwegian educational system will get in touch with different cultural manifestations. The old analogue sound equipment will be demonstrated, the pupils are even invited to record their own voice with delay on reel to reel tape. See the schedule

Folk Dance and Homeland - The Grieg/Bartok festival in Bjergsted

In the period November 15th.-29th. 2007 there is a Grieg/Bartok festival going on in Bjergsted. The event is a cooperation between the music institutions in the Bjergsted Park with Stavanger Symphony Orchestra as coordinator. The contribution from the Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound is the exhibition "Peer Gynt's many faces", shown in the foyer of Stavanger Concert Hall in addition to the permanent exhibiton in the premises of the Institute.

The programme of Folk Dans and Homeland (in Norwegian)
About Peer Gynt's Many Faces

UNESCO World Day for Audiovisual Heritage - October 27th.

UNESCO has dedicated october 27th. as UNESCO World Day for Audiovisual Heritage (WDAVH). Too much of the world’s 20th. century audiovisual heritage is now lost because vulnerable sound carriers are becoming obsolete. Public awareness of the importance of preservation has to be increased to save this important heritage, thus the declaration of the World Day. On this background, The Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound, decided to arrange the Norwegian Sound Archive Conference (more below) as a lead up to the World Day, and as this years Norwegian contribution. During the Conference, the Co-ordinating Counsil of Audiovisual Archives Associations (CCAAA) launched a special microsite for the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage.
Read more on the WDAVH-site. Watch the 2007 Trailer.

In addition to the microsite CCAAA has launched, Director-General of UNESCO, Mr. Koïshiro Matsuura, has given a message on the occation. Read Mr. Koïshiro Matsuura's message here (pdf-file).

The Norwegian Sound Archive Conference 2007 in Stavanger!

The Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound hosted the The Norwegian Sound Archive Conference 2007 on October 24th. and 25th. Read details about the programme on The Norwegian Sound Archive Conference website.

Keynote speaker Ray Edmondson from Australia presented several aspects on preservation of sound recordings in the digital age. Furthermore, part of the Conference Programme was dedicated to the current debate on the new Norwegian National Centre for Popular Music in Trondheim and several regional centers.
Read more.

Per Dahl awarded the Stavanger Forum Prize!

Our in-house researcher, Per Dahl, was awarded the Formidlerprisen 2006 (Impart Prize) of Stavanger Forum at the opening festivitas of the autumn term at the University of Stavanger at August 14th. 2007. He is the eleventh person in the succession of prize winners. The basis of the jury's decision is that Dahl as well as beeing professionel musicologist, adresses his writings and lectures to a broad public. Read more at the University of Stavanger's website and at Stavanger Aftenblad (both in Norwegian only).

UNESCO Memory of the World

Director Jacqueline von Arb is elected to represent IASA at UNESCO's 8th Meeting of the International Advisory Committee (IAC), i Tshwane (former Pretoria) in South Africa, 11-15 June 2007.
Read more about UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme
Read more about UNESCO's 8th Meeting of the International Advisory Committee (IAC)

New collections!

The Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound has recently (December 2006) acquired two collections. These collections orginate from the store Musikvariatet in Oslo which has been shut down, and a private collector. Gathered, the collections at The Institute grows with about 20 000 LP records. The core of these collections is orchestral music and opera.

Peer Gynt's many faces in Brazil

In the Grieg Centenary 2007, our Peer Gynt exhibtion will be shown in Brazil by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affaires. In Norway, the exhibition will be shown among others in Finnmark in nothern Norway.
Read more.

I Love You! - New doctoral Thesis

Our in-house researcher Per Dahl presented his Doctoral Thesis "Jeg elsker dig! Lytterens argument" (I Love You! The Listener's Argument) at the University of Stavanger on November 10 2006. In his Thesis, he discusses the interpretation of Edvard Griegs romance opus 5 nr. 3 on the basis of 318 different gramophone recordings, many of which he found at the Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound.
Read a summary of the thesis and an interview with Per Dahl.
You can furthermore watch an interview in Norwegian.

The EU-project Memories publishes its logo and site!

The Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound is one of 7 partners in the 3-year European project "Memories" (2006-09), which will design an audio semantic indexation system allowing information retrieval for better access to archival sound content.

Follow the sound tracks to Bjergsted

The magazine "Rosenkilden" of Stavanger Chamber of Commerce writes about the Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound and MemNor in the october issue.
With permission from Rosenkilden, the article is available here (in Norwegian).

Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound - Worldwide

Director Jacqueline von Arb will give speeches at several international conferences this Autumn on the topic Public Private Partnership (PPP) as a strategy for digitization.
Read more

New Company to Save Sound Heritage

The Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound (NIRS) joined a Belgian company, Memnon Audio Archiving Services, in a Private Public Partnership, to establish a new company in Stavanger: MemNor AS. The aim is to offer audio archiving services, a.o. digitisation, in order to help institutions preserve sound heritage for posterity. Read the English translation of the Stavanger Aftenblad article 17.6. and the shorter e-version from aftenbladet.no (in Norwegian). (logo pending approval)

Programme for the listening courses and Concert trips, 2006-07

Read about it (in Norwegian)

Arne Dørumsgaard dies - may his voice live on at the institute

On March 13th. 2006, Arne Dørumsgaard died in his home, in Marzio, Italy. Obituary (in Norwegian)

In memoriam - Arne Dørumsgaard

Norway's Sound Archives to convene at the Institute in 2007

The Nowegian Institute of Recorded Sound is hosting the Norwegian Sound Archive Conference in Stavanger in 2007. Read about it (in Norwegian)

Searching for 78 rpm records of choral music

The choir Sandnes-kameratene is celebrating 90th Anniversary in a few weeks. For the concert, they would like to be entertained by listening to their own 78 rpm recordings from the 1930's.
Read about it (in Norwegian)

Peer Gynt's many faces went to Japan!

An exhibition with 145 different covers of LP's containing Edvard Grieg's music for Peer Gynt followed the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra on their tour to Japan in early November, 2005.

See the LP covers (NB: Large file - 56,92 MB)
Article about the exhibition in Stavanger Aftenblad (in Norwegian)
Article about Stavanger Symphony Orchestra's Japan tour in "Ballade" (in Norwegian)