# Scandinavian Nature Music



## pasido (Apr 2, 2012)

Anyone know of good "Scandinavian nature" music? Anything that reminds you of the beauty of Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Finland. I've been browsing a lot of Norway pictures over at reddit.com/r/earthporn and I now have a sort of hard on for that type of stuff.

I'm building a playlist on Spotify to curate this type of music. Right now I have some Sibelius symphonies (I am a total newbie to his symphonies btw), Grieg piano concerto + peer gynt, Olafur Arnalds, and Sigur Ros.

The more pastoral the better! Thanks.


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## Balthazar (Aug 30, 2014)

Check out this album by Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes with pieces by Grieg, Tveitt, Johansen, Valen, and Sæverud. If it's to your fancy, you can look for other recordings of Grieg's _Lyric Pieces_ or Tveitt's _Fifty Folktunes from Hardanger_ (for piano), op. 150, and _Hundred Hardanger Tunes for Orchestra_, op. 151.









For something different, this is an album of improvisational pieces with Hilary Hahn on violin and Hauschka on prepared piano. They recorded the project in Iceland and have said they were inspired by the landscape.


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## Guest (Jan 15, 2015)

Are you asking for Nordic classical music, then?


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

Composer Ralph Lundsten has written an number of electro acoustic works on this theme, don't remember the exact titles (Something like Nordic Nature Symphony etc) but google or Y-tube his name and You'll find info! 

/ptr


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

An obvious choice, maybe, but Einojuhani Rautavaara's 'Cantus Arcticus' concerto op. 61 is probably the kind of thing you're after. He goes one ornithological step further than Olivier Messiaen by having actual birdsong on it.


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

elgars ghost said:


> An obvious choice, maybe, but Einojuhani Rautavaara's 'Cantus Arcticus' concerto op. 61 is probably the kind of thing you're after. He goes one ornithological step further than Olivier Messiaen by having actual birdsong on it.


Hmm - I find the taped curlew calls on this piece to be irritating ... but then again, if I sit in my garden in spring or summer listening to any music (on my walkman, of course - haha!) I get the sound of real curlew flying overhead between the moors and the coast anyway

I recommend Geirr Tveitt - Hundred Hardanger Tunes (orchestral version) - available on Naxos at bargain price (as well as the many more well-known Sibelius pieces)


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Headphone Hermit said:


> Hmm - I find the taped curlew calls on this piece to be irritating ... but then again, if I sit in my garden in spring or summer listening to any music (on my walkman, of course - haha!) I get the sound of real curlew flying overhead between the moors and the coast anyway
> 
> I recommend Geirr Tveitt - Hundred Hardanger Tunes (orchestral version) - available on Naxos at bargain price (as well as the many more well-known Sibelius pieces)


I'm not a great fan either, HH - it's all a little too 'nature documentary' for me. Seemed an obvious choice, however. At least you get curlews - it's all scavenger birds around here: crows, pigeons and gulls (the last by courtesy of encroachment up the Bristol Channel/Severn estuary), which aren't quite as pleasant on the ear!


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Sibelius - Tapiola is a must. I would also recommend Alfven's fourth symphony.


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## Oscarf (Dec 13, 2014)

The 4 Lemmikainen legends by Sibelius plus En Saga, Tapiola, Kullervo


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

'Scandinavian Nature Music'? I don't know that means.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Morimur said:


> 'Scandinavian Nature Music'? I don't know [what] that means.


 It's music from Scandinavia ... _naturally_.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Virtually all of Sibelius's symphonies and tone poems have an "outdoor" quality - a sense of vast spaces, of light or darkness, of heroic adventures, of massive forces inexorably moving, rustlings of strings and flutterings of woodwinds like wind and water and tiny creatures scampering in the night... 

For pastoral charm, there's a lovely suite called just that - "Pastoralsvit" - and another work called "En Vintersaga" by Lars-Erik Larsson. Also try the Symphony #4 and "A Legend of the Skerries" by Alfven. I feel a sense of the northlands in much Scandinavian orchestral music of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, though its hard to put my finger on just why I do. Scandinavian composers do seem to encourage this, since there's a lot of overt nationalism in the form of references to nature and folklore.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Can Finland be included or is this Scandinavia _only?_


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Can Finland be included or is this Scandinavia _only?_


The OP includes Finland. Point taken, though; Finns are technically not Scandinavian, being ethnically and linguistically distinct. Of course Finland was ruled by Sweden before achieving independence, and at that time educated Finns, including Sibelius, spoke Swedish and were immersed in Swedish culture. So there is a certain natural and cultural unity to the region.


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## Guest (Jan 23, 2015)

My ever-expanding Finn-list thus far! 

Aarre Merikanto
Aulis Sallinen
Einar Englund
Einojuhani Rautavaara
Erkki Melartin
Esa-Pekka Salonen
Jean Sibelius
Joonas Kokkonen
Jouni Kaipainen
Jukka Tiensuu
Kaija Saariaho
Kalevi Aho
Kimmo Hakola
Leif Segerstam
Magnus Lindberg
Paavo Heininen
Pehr Henrik Nordgren
Seppo Pohjola
Uuno Klami


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Among the many possibilities, just a quick note recommending Einar *Englund*´s 2nd Symphony, "The Blackbird".

Should you get hold of the old Pekkanen recording, it is suitably broader - and more pastoral - in the introduction than the you-tube version here:


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I'm sure Tapiola by Sibelius has probably been mentioned. I'm too lazy to backtrack.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Yes, you are right.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> The OP includes Finland. Point taken, though; Finns are technically not Scandinavian, being ethnically and linguistically distinct. Of course Finland was ruled by Sweden before achieving independence, and at that time educated Finns, including Sibelius, spoke Swedish and were immersed in Swedish culture. So there is a certain natural and cultural unity to the region.


There is a Swedish speaking minority in Finland. Sibelius belonged to that. There are two major areas in Finland that have a Swedish speaking majority Åland and Österbotten in those areas there are many people that can´t speak Finnish at all.


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## chalkpie (Oct 5, 2011)

Oscarf said:


> The 4 Lemmikainen legends by Sibelius plus En Saga, Tapiola, Kullervo


add the Wood Nymph


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## Sina (Aug 3, 2012)

Kalevi Aho's Symphony No. 12, "Luosto". Damn I couldn't find a recording on youtube. There's this great BIS recording of the work:
http://www.allmusic.com/album/release/kalevi-aho-symphony-no-12-quot-luosto-quot--mr0002727149
Also you can take a look at the booklet here:
http://www.theclassicalshop.net/download_booklet.aspx?file=BI%201676.pdf

Regarding Edvard Grieg, don't miss his piano works on Norwegian folk, including "25 Norwegian Folk Songs and Dances" Op. 17, "6 Norwegian Mountain Melodies" EG 108, "Ballade in the Form of Variations on a Norwegian Folk Song in G minor" Op. 24, "Norwegian Dances" Op. 35 (both orchestral and piano versions), "19 Norwegian Folk Songs" Op. 66, and 17 "Norwegian Peasant Dances", Hardanger fiddle tunes arranged for piano, Op. 72. Also his second violin sonata Op. 13 is considered his most "Norwegian" sonata -also my favorite- from the three.

Another aspect of the Nordic nature is the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis), which inspired number composers from all over the world and, of course, some Nordic composers. Including:
Geirr Tveitt's Piano Concerto No. 4, Op. 130, "Aurora Borealis":
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3554FE762AEE0F24

Kaija Saariaho's Lichtbogen (1986) for flute, percussion, piano, harp, strings and live electronics





Per Nørgård's Violin Concerto No. 1 "Helle Nacht":
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc8y-dJwHg19KsMhqFBOtEV2h_t7I88zv

Uuno Klami's Aurore boréale ("Northern Lights") fantasy for orchestra, Op. 38:





Now some "mountain" pictures, having been mentioned above Aho's "Luosto" symphony and Grieg's "Mountain Melodies" for piano:
Ludolf Nielsen's From the Mountains (Fra Bjærgene), Symphonic Suite for Orchestra, Op. 8
http://www.dacapo-records.dk/en/recording-ludolf-nielsen---symphony-no-1---from-the-mountains.aspx
(Talking about Nielsen, don't miss his "Forest Walk" (Skovvandring) Op. 40)

And Rued Langgaard's Symphony No. 1 "Klippepastoraler" (Mountain Pastorals):
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUSRfoOcUe4aunKDa9UyBYh7r9bYuzGAs

Finally, some Scandinavian rhapsodies like:
Hugo Alfvén's three Swedish Rhapsodies, Johan Halvorsen's two Norwegian Rhapsodies, Johan Svendsen's four Norwegian Rhapsodies, Uuno Klami's Karelian Rhapsody, and Kurt Atterberg's En värmlandsrapsodi (A Varmland Rhapsody).


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## Declined (Apr 8, 2014)

Sibelius Symphony 5.


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

Rautavaara's 3rd symphony.


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## thwolfe (Jun 13, 2015)

What about some spacious Wagner, such as the overture to Parsifal?


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Here you go from Iceland which is close by your hood:


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## Saintbert (Mar 12, 2015)

Since Finland is included (I don't consider it part of Scandinavia because it is not, geographically), I dare throw in Latvia's Peteris Vasks. I don't know his oeuvre that well but the one cd that I have - Katarina Andreasson and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra performing his violin concerto "Distant Light", Musica Dolorosa and Viatore - invokes the familiar sense of nature.


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

All Scandinavian Composers are kind of close to nature. So I can name the famous Sibelius, Grieg and Berwald...


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

I heard Magma by Haukur Tomasson on radio last night:






I come from the coast so some sea music Havet sjunger by Ture Rangström is nice:


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