Christian Sinding

Initially training on the violin at Leipzig University, Norwegian composer Sinding—viewed as Grieg’s successor—soon recognized his stronger gifts for writing music and abandoned the instrument. Wagner and Liszt left evident traces on his technical methods, chordal language, and overall manner. His scores present dense, fully realized harmonies propelled by rapid and at times unsettling shifts of key. These progressions nevertheless remain logically organized and display a taste for fluid chromatic motion. Force and vigor mark the expressive character of his work. Among Norwegian composers of the Romantic era, only Grieg ranks above him. Lasting additions to the active repertoire include the piano miniature “The Rustle of Spring,” further lyric keyboard pieces such as the “Piano Concerto in C-sharp Minor,” and more than two hundred fifty songs, among them the “Symra” cycle.