The Grieg Year 2007 is over, and we have talked with director Ragna Sofie Grung Moe about the year’s highlights and challenges. “Whether or not we have succeeded is up to others to decide, but judging from debates, discussions and artistic contributions we certainly know that the concept has inspired deeply and broadly! That we should encounter such enthusiasm was something we could not foresee, but we are very happy for it. This is about what Grieg himself stands for, the relevance of his heritage today – and hopefully in the years to come,” says Grung Moe in this interview.

By Ida Habbestad

The Grieg Year has drawn to a close and we can look back on a year of considerable activity, both in Norway and abroad. Do you feel that the intentions you had at the start of the year have been realized in the course of the centenary?

“One of the most important aims was to shake the general perception of Grieg, so that people would no longer pass him off as a national tourist icon, but that they would have a more active relationship to the Grieg heritage. It was an ambitious vision, and we were nervous about it. Many were of the opinion that the Grieg heritage idea had been used up during the 1993 jubilee, and we felt it necessary to package it differently and find new motivation – while at the same time the driving force behind the event was to be Grieg’s music and message.”

 

“Whether or not we have succeeded is up to others to decide, but judging from debates, discussions and artistic contributions we certainly know that the concept has inspired deeply and broadly!”
How did you set about achieving this ambition?

“One of the most important approaches was to ally ourselves with various environments in Norway and abroad – individual musicians, ensembles, as well as artistic and philosophical areas of research. They were all inquisitive to Grieg’s music, but we also tried to think in terms of breaking new ground – and thereby they could help us think more broadly in terms of the influence of the Grieg heritage. Both of the two ‘new’ profiles, Grieg the Sampler and Grieg the Humanist, have received a lot of attention, for instance in the form of pedagogical projects such as  ‘The Sound Collector’ and ‘Griegoriansk’ as well as contributions from sound artists including Lasse Marhaug and Bjørn Torske. Or in the form of debates; two of them took place at the National Library in collaboration with MIC, and the debate on humanity and (freedom of) expression in Paris, and on the theme of Grieg and identity at the University of Bergen during the September Festival.”

 

“And at the same time I must add that it has been wonderful to see the ways in which the message of Grieg07 has attracted attention outside the organization. Throughout the year there have been many excellent projects, especially for the young, and not least abroad. We became part of a movement whose power and extent we did not realize.”

There have been many events outside Norway. Can you name some of the most important contributions?

“For our part, the collaboration with the Department of Foreign Affairs has been particularly successful. Thanks to this collaboration on the production of a joint CD/DVD package and information material we have been able to reach a broad segment of the population and have met people all over the world on their home ground. Our logo and basic design have been available for free use all over the world, which has been highly practical and effective, while retaining a common visual profile for contributors, whatever their geographical situation.”

 

“When it comes to activities abroad, Japan was quickest off the mark and most active and independent. But there has been a lot of activity in France, Romania, England, Germany and the USA too. It has been fun to see how certain institutions abroad have taken the idea of Grieg the Sampler and created artistic projects around it, such as at the Chetham School of Music in England, or in the form of a large project in Brazil involving sound art. And there have been a number of traditional events. In December I visited an arts school in Geneva where all 400 piano pupils had practised Grieg’s Lyrical Pieces throughout the year, rounding off with a competition in which 67 of the pupils took part. It was a unique experience to see such curiosity and enthusiasm for Grieg’s music and what he represents!”

 

“Having said this, it is not really fair to single out specific projects, since the number and standard of Grieg events abroad has been so positively overwhelming. Many of these projects have already been written about on our website, and in our final report, due at the end of February, we will try to present the diversity of all this activity.”

One of the aims was to raise a debate about Grieg – was this satisfactorily achieved in the course of the year?

“The general discussion has been present, and has been focused on in a way which we hope and believe has contributed to putting the theme of the year into perspective. We have received some unjustified criticism, for example regarding too big a focus on Bergen. Even though the address of the project was Grieghallen, Edvard Griegsplass 1 in Bergen, most of the activities have taken place on the internet or, geographically, outside Bergen and outside Norway.”

 

“Other forms of criticism have been more constructive, and we have seen it as a privilege to be confronted by competent critics.”

Such as, for instance, the question as to whether Grieg the composer deserved an entire anniversary year?

“Yes, and we consider this to be a pertinent question, and have welcomed this kind of discussion. Each of the three choices of profile is open to critical debate: was Grieg a sampler? Was he a humanist? And was he a good composer?”

 

“I have been in discussions with several people who think Grieg was a poor composer, or that he stole from folk musicians, and that he was certainly no humanist. There is an element of truth in all this criticism and I think it would be unfair to Grieg to use these terms as a definition of Grieg as a person. The terms ‘humanist’ and ‘sampler’ were inspired by the life and works of Grieg, and were introduced primarily to encourage interest and debate.”

 

“It would also be unfair to exaggerate Grieg’s legacy as a composer. You have to know his strengths and weaknesses. This is some of what we have tried to shake a little in our view of Grieg – we should not worship him uncritically, but approach his work with an active, critical mind – not just Grieg, but our cultural heritage in general. In Norway I think we should be adult enough to recognize the value and quality of this cultural heritage and take responsibility for passing it on to the next generation. There is a shocking contrast between the Japanese issuing a commemorative Grieg stamp in 2007, and Norway not wishing to hear mention of him. We have an obligation to draw attention to our cultural heritage, while at the same time remaining critical towards it.”

Let us turn back to the scepticism regarding Grieg as a humanist.

“Yes, some have been very sceptical to calling Grieg a humanist; they think it is an exaggeration. Grieg was a very versatile person, and undoubtedly found himself in situations where he did not behave as an obvious humanist! But that was not our intention, to elevate Grieg as a humanist; we wanted it to be a slogan, a term to encourage debate, and to indicate the kind of focus we wanted the commemoration to have. And in this respect it has been a success.”

What has been you biggest challenge this year?

“We had relatively limited resources, and it has been something of a challenge not to be able to give support – financially or in the form of expertise – to deserving projects which would have fitted in perfectly with our profile.”

 

“Commercial businesses have been hesitant about sponsoring Grieg07 projects; this probably had something to do with the time aspect, and similarly we could have achieved quite a different collaboration with schools if we had been active earlier. Our tight financial budget and relatively short period of activity meant that we had to be very focused on what we wanted to give priority to; we had to be very clear.” 

 

“The large amount of activity generated by Grieg07 was largely due to the fact that we were able to link in to processes in other organizations on the same wavelength as us – the Nordlys Festival, Rikskonsertene, Kulturskolerådet, NRK, Lydverkstedet, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, MIN-Ensemblet and BIT20 Ensemble, among others. In all cases it was a win-win situation.”

What was most successful?

“I am very pleased that the organization decided to go for the ‘Sleppet’ project. This was an artistically innovative venture, although not particularly spectacular or audience friendly at the outset. But it was a highly relevant project with regard to music technology and the current climate debate. Invite some of the world’s leading sound artists to an intense collaboration in the spirit of Grieg was a risky venture I am very glad the board agreed to go ahead with. Both the sound recordings and the written documentation from ‘Sleppet’ stands firm as a legacy of Grieg07.”

 

“The second most successful project was a series of seminars and debates on the theme of Grieg the Humanist organized in collaboration with MIC, the National Library, Oslo String Quartet, the University of Bergen, the Rafto Foundation, Oslo-senteret, French human rights organizations, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. All of us had our preconceptions challenged; those who were familiar with Grieg and those who were not.”

 

“Our ambition to reach those we normally don’t, we have managed to achieve to a certain extent. We have at any rate worked to create a focus on anniversary events in open spaces. For example, during the September Festival, when Leif Ove Andsnes played outside with young people, and when we organized a torchlight procession in the streets in honour of Grieg. The threshold was suitably low – jazz, pop and rock concerts were used to celebrate Grieg’s music, not just classical performers. And similarly when we celebrated his birthday on 15 June at the town hall in Oslo with choral concerts and birthday cake.”

 

“Most of all I am pleased with the breadth of what we have achieved: that we did the sound art project and Grieg ‘the real thing’. This is a result of the enormous interest in participating – our many partners have been instrumental in making it possible to show all of this diversity.”  

 

 “That we should encounter such enthusiasm was something we could not foresee, but in my view, it’s all about what Grieg himself represents, the relevance of his legacy today – and hopefully in the years to come.”

The Composer The Humanist The Sampler The Sound Collector Griegoriansk (in Norwegian) The Septemberfestival Sleppet/The Sound of Norwegian Spring   norway.info Rikskonsertene Kulturskolerådet (in Norwegian) NRK MIC Drivhuset (in Norwegian) Bergen Filharmoniske Orkester MIN-Ensemblet (in Norwegian) BIT20 Ensemble  (in Norwegian) Oslo String Quartet The University of Bergen The Oslo Center for piece and human rights The Rafto Foundation Human Rights House Network FIDH The Ministry of Foreign Affairs