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Donald Macleod looks at the inspiration Grieg took from the landscape and musical traditions of Hardangerfjord in the west of Norway.

Donald Macleod looks at the people and places that had a significant impact on Edvard Grieg’s life and work, meeting Norwegian fiddlers, folksong collectors and nationalist firebrands along the way. From Henrik Ibsen, who commissioned Grieg to write his most famous work, to the composer's wife Nina, for whom he wrote all his songs, this week Donald explores the key influences on the composer’s outlook and development.

Today, Donald finds Grieg idyllically happy in Hardangerfjord, spending hours on end walking, writing music in his hut, or fishing for cod, but Nina found the place lonely and the mountains oppressive, leading to tensions between them.

Springar after Kristian Lund
Annbjorg Lien, Hardanger fiddle

Album Leaves, Op 28: IV
Leif Ove Andsnes, piano

String Quartet Op 27: III and IV
Emerson String Quartet

The Mountain Thrall
Håkan Hagegård, baritone, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Järvi, conductor

12 Melodies Op 33: IX Ven Rondane (At Rondane) arr. T. Aamodt
The Norwegian Soloists’ Choir, Grete Pedersen-Helgerod, conductor

19 Norwegian Folk Tunes Op 66: I - VI
Einar Steen-Nøkleberg, piano

Norwegian Dances, Op 35: III and IV
Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
Paavo Järvi, conductor

Produced by Megan Jones for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Wales and West