NRK Grieg Screenshots

Back in June, NRK broadcast the complete works of Grieg as a national celebration of his music, The Soundtrack to Norway, some may feel. The timing of its transmission didn't fit well for me, so, I only caught a few minutes of it on my phone. As a lover of classical music and Slow TV, this was disappointing - anyway, here are a couple screenshots from those couple minutes.

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Grieg Minute by Minute, Opus by Opus

NRK's Grieg Slow TV Logo

Broadcast starts this evening, 15th June, 17:30 CET / 16:30 BST. Official website in English at this link, show page at this link and official Facebook event page here.
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The countdown to NRK's Grieg Slow TV has well and truly begun. What will be the celebration of a composer with national resonance, "the soundtrack to Norway", is live on Norwegian TV on June 15th.

"Grieg Minutt for Minutt" translates as "Grieg Minute by Minute" and will be a chronological progression through all of Grieg's 74 opuses. A detailed breakdown of each opus is on the official event website.

If you're thinking "THIS CAN'T BE SLOW TV! IT ISN'T A PRETTY PICTURE!", Slow TV isn't just about a pretty picture. It's about taking the time it takes to show something in its own pace, in full. If that includes a pretty picture, well, that's nice. But it's also about a sense of completeness and allowing the subject to be in its own pace. If that's racing car quick for Formula 1, or snail slow for snail racing, its appropriate for the innate pace of a Slow TV subject.

A translation from griegminuttforminutt.no reads:

"Grieg minute by minute - this year's big TV event! June 15, 2018, it is 175 years since Edvard Grieg was born. We mark the day with the world's longest Grieg concert, 30 hours live on NRK!

A classical music festival in Bergen! Grieg minute by minute is an outstanding opportunity to experience Grieg's production from opus 1-74, performed by the best of Norwegian music life. Troldhaugen, Edvard Grieg's home, will be open throughout the event and a center for the big crowd party. There are also great events and experiences in Grieghallen, with Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, choirs and other musicians. The Broadcasting Orchestra also contributes great music from Store Studio. Perhaps there will be touches from other parts of the country too!

What you now see on the website is just the beginning - a taste bite. The list of artists and Grieg opus numbers is updated continuously.

The program runs from the afternoon of 15 June until midnight 16 June. There will be night concerts in the Grieghallen, 24 hours a day at Troldhaugen and a folk party all summer night. Do you want a night of Peer Gynt in the Grieghallen, have breakfast at Troldhaugen with the wonderful cello sonate or experience the string quartet in the gray light at Nordåsvannet?"

Extensive and developing information on the performers in NRK Grieg is here.

The Full Works Concert indeed... NRK Grieg is announced.

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Classical Music Slow TV - Grieg

Imagine a 30 hour long Grieg playlist...

Get your Grieg playlist to hand. One of the Slow TV shows in development for broadcast later this year is a marathon play through of all Grieg's 74 opuses.

I've long thought of a substantial work of classical music as a perfect illustration for the complete-feeling of well made Slow TV. Somewhere between Handel's Messiah or Wagner's Ring Cycle. 

The UK radio station Classic FM has The Full Works Concert which often allows a work to be expressed more fully than the popular few minutes that make it onto compilations. Which illustrates visual media quite well - it's edited down to the most exciting, stimulating shots and takes, which keeps attention but then extracts a lot of other good moments. And that sense of wholeness.

Speaking of wholeness, June 15th this year marks 175 years since Grieg was born, and so, the Norwegian broadcaster NRK2 will be showing a 30 hour live show of his work. Now, that is a Full Works Concert.

Different locations are currently hosting the production including Grieghallen in Bergen, NRK's studio in Marienlyst in Oslo and Grieg's hometown of Troldhaugen.

The success of Slow TV in Norway owes a lot to tapping into subjects and themes of regional and national identity. This certainly keeps up the trend - NRK producer Thomas Hellum comments that "This is the soundtrack to Norway". 

Starting as an idea on Facebook seems fitting when bearing in mind the use of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" in "The Social Network" film about the creation of Facebook. There is also a Facebook event page for the broadcast 

It isn't the first time Slow TV has been themed around music; in 2014 the entire 899 hymns of the Norwegian Hymn Book were sung live over two and a half days.

Concerning #NRKGrieg ,The Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra page reads:

"Most concerts take place in Bergen. The orchestral works will be performed at the Grieghallen and the Large Studio of Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra Orchestra (KORK), while the main emphasis of the works - piano pieces, songs and chamber music in general - will be performed at Troldhaugen. "

"We start at 18:00 on Friday 15 June...  Peer Gynt in stage version around 0100 Saturday, Rondane at sunrise, Holbergsuiten for lunch Saturday, Haugtussa for dinner, and finally Psalms - Grieg's last opus - at the tomb at Troldhaugen late Saturday night."

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