Agathe Backer Grøndahl's 19 ambitious concert études are described as not just filled with poetry, but also with masculine power, drama, and passion, challenging the narrow frame she was often placed in.
Composer Biography
Agathe Backer Grøndahl's parents initially did not want her to pursue a public career, wishing for her to marry in accordance with the conventions of the time.
Composer Biography
Agathe Backer Grøndahl (1847-1907) was considered one of the first-rank composers in Norwegian musical life, on the same level as Edvard Grieg and Halfdan Kjerulf.
Critical Reception
The author George Bernard Shaw, England's music critic, considered Agathe Backer Grøndahl one of the greatest pianists of her age and highly valued her compositions.
Composer Biography
Agathe Backer Grøndahl studied piano and composition at Professor Theodor Kullak's Academy of Music in Berlin and later with Hans von Bülow in Florence and Franz Liszt in Weimar.
Performer Biography
Geir Henning Braaten, the pianist on this recording, has performed all of Mozart's 30 piano concertos and a corresponding series of Beethoven's works for piano and orchestra.
Composer Biography
Despite suffering from poor health and increasing deafness from her thirties onwards, Agathe Backer Grøndahl maintained a busy concert schedule.
