237. Northern Lights

The Concert - Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Works for chamber orchestra performed by A Far Cry on February 22, 2015 by Grieg and Marin arr. Higgins.

• Grieg: Two Elegiac Melodies, Op. 34
• Marin: A Swedish Set arr. Erik Higgins

On this podcast, we look north, to works from a recent program by the Gardner’s chamber-orchestra-in-residence, A Far Cry. Called “Aurora Borealis,” the concert featured numerous works by Nordic composers.

We begin with Edvard Grieg’s Two Elegiac Melodies, a tuneful work for string orchestra based on the composer’s own songs. In Two Elegiac Melodies, Grieg recast his opus 33 songs “The Wounded Heart” and “Last Spring” in instrumental arrangements. Though no words are sung, the pieces are still suffused with the energy of the verses that inspired them. As the poet recalls the annual transformation from winter to spring, we realize that the title – “Last Spring” – has another, more bittersweet meaning.

After the Grieg, we have a more contemporary take on Nordic folk music: a set of Swedish dances by the fiddlers Mia and Mikael Marin. The tunes were arranged for orchestra by one of A Far Cry’s own members, the bassist Erik Higgins, whose friend introduced him to the music. The set of four tunes includes two original works by Marins, as well as two arrangements of traditional Swedish songs.

We start with the Grieg.