Håvard Gimse, Piano

Biography

Håvard Gimse is one of Scandinavia’s most illustrious pianists, a musician of deep sensitivity and selfless regard for the text. He has an expansive repertoire of more than 30 piano concertos and is noted for his work as a recitalist and chamber musician.

Håvard is one of the Nordic region’s most influential and significant recording artists. His sympathetic approach and intelligent, investigative programming have led to numerous prizes and countless glowing reviews. He has received the Diapson d’Or and Gramophone’s Editor’s Choice accolades, while his recent recording of works by Schubert and Schumann (with violinist Henning Kraggerud) was nominated for a Spellmanpris. Håvard has collaborated on recording projects with Truls Mørk and Christian Ihle Hadland, has recorded concertante works for Naxos and Simax (including the Grieg and Tveitt Piano Concertos), and in addition has appeared on the Sony, Fabra, Danacord, Naim and Chandos labels.

In the Nordic countries, Håvard has performed as a concerto soloist with the Royal Stockholm, Oslo and Bergen Philharmonic Orchestras, with the Finnish Radio and Danish Radio Symphony Orchestras and with the Norrkoping Symphony Orchestra. Further afield he has performed with the Baltimore and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestras, with the Royal Philharmonic and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestras and with the Atlanta Symphony, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Orchestre Dijon Bourgogne, Japan Philharmonic, Prague Symphony, Frankfurt Radio and Belgian National Philharmonic Orchestras.

Håvard has performed on many of the world’s most prestigious stages including the Wigmore Hall in London, Carnegie Hall in New York, Palais des Beaux Arts in Brüssels, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Recital Hall in St Petersburg, the Suk Hall in Prague and the Konzerthaus in Berlin. In 2016 Håvard made his first appearance at the Norwegian Opera and Ballet as piano soloist in the company’s production of Anna Karenina.

Håvard was born in Kongsvinger, east of Oslo. He studied at the Hochschule der Künste Berlin with Hans Leygraf and later with Jiri Hlinka in Norway. His victory at the Jugend Musiziert Competition in 1987 was the first in a string of major accolades to come his way. He won the Steinway Prize in 1995, the Grieg Prize in 1996, the Sibelius Prize in 2004 and the Norwegian Critics Prize for his performances of Beethoven’s Cello Sonatas with Truls Mørk at the 2011 Bergen International Festival.

Håvard was for some years Artistic Director of the Elverum Festival and sits on the Artistic Board of the Oslo Chamber Music festival. He is Professor of Piano at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. His performance of the second piano concerto by Rachmaninoff with Maestro Petrenko and the Oslo Phil, has been by far the most viewed video with Oslo Philharmonic to this date.

Calendar

Repertoire

Bach: Concerto No. 5 f-moll

Bartok. Concerto nr. 1
Concerto for 2 Pianos, 2 Percussion and Orchestra

Beethoven: Concerto No 1 C-dur
Concerto No 3 c-moll
Concerto No 4 G-dur
Triple Concerto C-dur

Brahms: Concerto nr. 1 d-moll
Concerto nr. 2 B-dur

Chausson: Concerto for Piano, Violin and String Quartet

Chopin: Concerto nr.1 e-moll

Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue

Grieg: Concerto a-moll

Hindemith: 4 Temperamenter for Piano and Strings

Mendelssohn: Concerto nr.1 g-moll

Mozart: Concerto for 2 Pianos Ess dur
Concerto No. 11 F dur
Concerto No 12 A-Dur
Concerto No 17 G-Dur
Concerto No 20 d-moll
Concerto No 21 C-dur
Concerto No 23 A-dur
Concerto No 27 B-dur

Mozart/Wilby: Reconstructed Dobbelconcerto D-dur

Poulenc: Double Concerto

Prokofiev: Concerto nr. 1
Concerto nr. 5

Rachmaninov: Concerto nr.2 c-moll
Concerto nr. 3 d-moll
Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini

Ravel: Concerto G-dur

Schumann: Concerto a-moll

Shostakovich: Concerto nr 1 for Piano, Trumpet and Strings

Tchaikovsky: Concerto nr. 1 b-moll

Addinsell: Warsaw Concerto

Geirr Tveitt. Concerto nr.1
Concerto nr.4
Concerto nr.5
Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra

Klaus Egge: Concerto for nr. 2 for Pianos and Strings

Egil Hovland: Concerto

David Monrad Johansen: Concerto

Johan Kvandal: Concerto

Ragnar Søderlind: Concerto

Eivind Alnæs: Concerto

Fartein Valen: Concerto

Review

Prokofiev: Violin Sonatas, Op 8O No 2, Op 94, Five Melodies, Op 35b1s, Elise Båtnes and Håvard Gimse

Gramophone

Mon, 2017-05-01

The Prokofiev violin repertoire has been very fruitfully tapped in recent times, and this new release of the two sonatas and the Five Melodies presents something of a dilemma. Not only have we had the Japanese violinist Lisa Oshima in a visceral performance of the First Sonata, but also Alina Ibragimova and Steven Osborne performed both of the sonatas and the Melodies on a 2014 Hyperion disc, featured as that year. The distinguished Norwegian artists Elise Båtnes and Håvard Gimse offer a different perspective, but it is one that has firm stylistic grounding and a persuasive interpretative viewpoint of its own. Båtnes and Gimse are recorded much more closely than Ibragimova and Osborne, but on top of that their playing has in general a sharper edge to the projection, which is by no means out of place in this music. One might, at first, question the measured tempo for the Moderato first movement of the Second Sonata, which adds well over a minute to the timing on the Ibragimova and Osborne disc. But on repeated listening it works, somehow bringing a touch of unease to the melody's sultriness. In fact in the entire programme, while Ibragimova and Osborne offer telling insights into the music's dynamic and emotional shading, the more forthright approach of Båtnes and Gimse has a valid point to make as well — not that they are in any way wanting when it comes to the allure of lyrical restraint, either in the sonatas or in the Five Melodies. Maybe this is not a decisive verdict, but I shall happily live with both versions. By Geoffrey Norris

Alnæs: Piano Concerto, Op 27'. Symphony No 1, Op 7 Håvard Gimse, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra / Eivind Aadland

Gramophone

Wed, 2017-03-01

Eyvind Alnæs's Piano Concerto (1915) has charm aplenty. The Norwegian composer's score is tuneful and opulently orchestrated, and the virtuoso piano-writing is often dazzling. It's impressive for its craftsmanship, too, the myriad ideas developed and interwoven with a sure hand. What's disconcerting is an occasionally jarring juxtaposition of mood and emotion. Listen to the end of the first movement's central development section (beginning around 8'15"), for example, and how Alnæs screws the tension tighter and tighter, building a climax of Tchaikovskian intensity that leads to nothing more than a flippant recapitulation of the opening theme. Or take the end of the darkly lyrical slow movement, where an even more gripping climax this time subsides into eerie stillness — a spell that's rudely broken by the ditty waltz theme of the finale. The result of these ill-fitting joins is a patchwork effect that undermines the work's structural integrity and narrative coherence. This is the second recording of Alnæs's concerto, and while excellent, it's perhaps a touch sober in comparison with the joyous exuberance of Piers Lane and Andrew Litton (Hyperion). Håvard Gimse conveys a delightful sense of improvisatory freedom in some passages but Lane makes the complex piano part flow more easily, giving the music a much-needed feeling of inevitability, Alnæs's First Symphony (1897), composed following his studies with Reinecke in Leipzig, is less characterful but more cohesive than the concerto, The two inner movements are very fine, particularly the solemnly expressive Adagio with its aching harmonies and inventive orchestration (try at 6' 15", where the upper strings are divided into delicate strands). Certainly Eivind Aadland and the Oslo Philharmonic make a more compelling case for this work than Terje Mikkelsen and the Latvian National Symphony (Sterling), and LAWO's close-up recording adds to the musical impact. By: Andrew Farach-Colton

Perfect Soloist

Vårt Land

Fri, 2017-02-03

..."Håvard Gimse is perfect as soloist in Alnæs' piano concerto. He plays brilliantly with great variation in sound, singing when it is required. The conductor Eivind Aadland submits and adjusts to the music and therefore the concerto appears in its natural colours. Aadland and a spirited Oslo Philharmonic make the orchestra part of the concerto anything but a decoration." Olav Egil Aune Eivind Alnæs: Piano Concerto in D Major, LAWO Classics LWC1112

Excellent Performance

Göteborgs-Posten

Sat, 2014-11-29

..."Håvard Gimse's playing is out of the ordinary. There is an exceptional clarity and the music sounds like it is freshly laundered. The rhythmical movement and the dancing character gives Grieg's romantic reveries new life and one is drawn into the rhythmic drive. It is simply put an excellent performance. Håvard Gimse with Stavanger Symphony Orchestra in Göteborg Concert Hall

Sibelius Bagatelles, Pieces and Esquisses

UK Grammophone

Fri, 2004-10-01

Chips from the Master’s workbench they may be, but Gimse performs them with consistent style and obvious affection. Nearly an hour of innocuous listening, then, but dipping in is never less than a pleasure When Håvard Gimse plays with such consistent style and obvious affection. Very good sound, too, provided you don’t object to the occasional distant twitter of sparrows nesting in the rafters.

Havard Gimse at Wigmore Hall, London

The Independent / Music

Tue, 2003-03-18

Rarely is a pianist so at ease as Havard Gimse. The mechanics of playing seemed to come naturally, so that he could concentrate on listening to himself. The first half of his programme particularly invited this attentive quality, with the strange Norwegian resonances of five folk-song arrangements by Geirr Tveitt (1908-1981), and the rather stop-start set of variations, forever fading wistfully, that make up Grieg's misleadingly titled Ballade. The theme was so delicately played, so subtly suggestive...

Discography