Konsertforedrag - Ridder Blåskjeggs mareritt

Harald Sæverud is best known for his monumental war symphonies and nature-inspired piano pieces. Few people know that he also composed music for a ballet. The Nightmare of Bluebeard premiered in 1960 and was an immediate audience success. The ballet is based on the well-known fairy tale of Bluebeard, who murdered his many wives. In the ballet, the knight is haunted by his dead wives: one by one, he relives their murders, before the wives ultimately take their revenge on him. Despite its morbid storyline, the ballet music shows Sæverud at his most playful: melodic, captivating and – naturally – highly danceable. The Nightmare of Bluebeard was last performed as a ballet in 1961. Sæverud reworked the music into a suite, which has since been performed a handful of times, but never recorded. In 2023, the piano version of the ballet was discovered in a cupboard at Siljustøl, and it will now be performed for the first time. A historic event, in other words! Pianist Harald Ramm Haugland performs the ballet music in the grand salon at Siljustøl. Between the musical pieces, Johannes Holtmon (curator, Kode) takes us into the story of the ballet, its history, and asks what the Bluebeard myth can tell us today. About the artist Harald Ramm Haugland is, for now, a young and spirited pianist and composer, with infectious energy and a distinctive musical voice. He has performed at many of Norway’s leading chamber music festivals, both as a soloist and chamber musician. On stage, he often inc