Ludvig Irgens-jensen: The Life and Music of a Norwegian Composer

The Norwegian composer Ludvig Irgens-Jensen (1894-1969) was one of the towering creative figures of his native land, although his dignified and powerful music does not receive the attention its quality deserves, either at home or abroad. The success of his dramatic symphony Heimferd (Homecoming) in 1930 brought him national fame, but the post-War triumph of modernism, coupled with his personal modesty, pushed Irgens-Jensen's tonal music into the shadows: its contrapuntally based textures and its modally tinged harmonies were seen as things of the past. But a growing number of recordings is revealing him as one of the most distinguished and distinctive voices in twentieth-century music, a figure of international importance who wrote music of striking nobility and strength of purpose - with some meltingly lovely melodic lines. Arvid O. Vollsnes' Ludvig Irgens-Jensen: The Life and Music of a Norwegian Composer is the first discussion in English of this profoundly decent man and his life-enhancing music. A review of the original Norwegian publication of this book in Aftenposten, the main Norwegian daily paper, described it as 'a gripping biographical portrait. As well as Irgens-Jensen's life we get a broad picture of Norwegian musical life from the 1920s to his death in 1969'. A CD of extracts from Irgens-Jensen's works has been prepared to accompany the English edition, providing readers with an introduction to his highly individual and immediately appealing sound-world.

Arvid O. Vollsnes, born in 1945, is Professor of Musicology at the University of Oslo and professor at the Centre for Grieg Research at the University of Bergen. He is internationally recognised as an authority on the music of Edvard Grieg and has written widely on Norwegian music and musical life in general. He was principal editor of the five-volume Norges Musikkhistorie, the award-winning major history of Norwegian music published in 1999-2001. His Komponisten Ludvig Irgens-lensen, Europeer og nordmann appeared in 2000 to critical acclaim in the Norwegian press.