BBC Music Magazine
May 2021
Chamber Choice

Gramophone Magazine
May 2021
Editor's Choice

Sinding: Suite for Violin & Orchestra, Op. 10 'im alten Stil'
Stenhammar: Two Sentimental Romances for violin and orchestra, Op. 28
Sibelius: Six Pieces, Op. 79: 1, 5 & 6
Nielsen: Romance in D major for violin and piano
Rautavaara: Notturno e Danza
Grieg: Violin Sonata No. 1 in F major, Op. 8

Only 20 years old, Johan Dalene has already been hailed as ‘a musician of special sensibilities’ (Gramophone) in possession of ‘a rare fire’ (Diapason), and his début disc, with the concertos of Tchaikovsky and Barber, was described as ‘one of the finest violin débuts of the last decade’ in the BBC Music Magazine. For his second album, the Swedish violinist has chosen repertoire closer to home, with works by six Nordic composers. This is music that lies equally well under the hands of his partner, the Norwegian pianist Christian Ihle Hadland, and together the two offer a programme full of contrasts, and yet with a certain consistent sensibility. Nordic Rhapsody is bookended by two Norwegian composers, Christian Sinding and Edvard Grieg. What is interesting is that even though Sinding’s Suite ‘in the old style’ was composed some 25 years after Grieg’s Sonata No. 1, it is the latter work that is most forward-looking. Here the composer introduces elements of his national style, which in turn would contribute to the development of ‘a Nordic style’.

"Youthful passion occasionally pushes him to stylistic excess...but for most of the time he’s beauty incarnate and in perfect step with his composers’ various voices. He’s also blessed with a superbly understanding piano partner, Christian Ihle Hadland, who proves especially magical in the Grieg Sonata, poetically tapering phrases and effortlessly navigating changing dynamics." - BBC Music Magazine, May 2021.