Norwegian composer Geirr Tveitt (1908-1981) and his music have received much attention and praise in recent years. 2008 marks the 100th anniversary of his birth. Several of the songs performed on this new CD have never been recorded before.

In 1964 Geirr Tveitt was hired by the Norwegian Radio as a composer in a series of ‘poet portraits’ focusing on contemporary writers from the western part of Norway. For this recording Per Vollestad and Sigmund Hjelset have collected the songs Tveitt wrote for the radio in this period, to poems by Olav H. Hauge, Aslaug Låstad Lygre and the Telemark writer Aslaug Vaa.

Geirr Tveitt retained close links throughout his life with western Norway, Hardanger and the family home in Norheimsund, and in 1941 he withdrew from Oslo to settle there. In the course of just a few years Tveitt collected some 1000 local folk tunes, most of them from neighbouring farms and homesteads. The poet Olav H. Hauge and the composer were born the same year, and they both had a close connection to Hardanger. Still they did not meet before they had turned 50, in fact it was this radio series which brought them together. Although very different men, the two had a mutual respect for each other’s work; both had strong national roots, but were also very oriented towards the international scene.

Per Vollestad and Sigmund Hjelset have recorded several albums together for Simax Classics. Vollestad wrote his PhD and recorded three discs with the songs of Christian Sinding in 2004. Further releases include highly praised Grieg, Schumann, Schubert and Wolf. In 2006 they were awarded the Grieg Prize for their work with the music of Edvard Grieg.