Ballad for Edvard Grieg

A heartfelt homage to the composer and the man Leif Ove Andsnes is our guide on a journey through Europe, with the Ballad in G minor as focus of the programme. Winter, 1876 in Bergen, Norway. The 32-year-old composer Edvard Grieg has just lost both his parents and his baby daughter, and his relationship with his wife is difficult. In this state of mind, he composes his Ballad in G minor, one of his most powerful compositions, though he never performs it in public himself. Autumn 2006, in the archives of the Library of Bergen. Leif Ove Andsnes, one of the world’s most acclaimed concert pianists, studies the original score of the Ballad in G minor – in Grieg’s handwriting. From the many comments and corrections in the score, Andsnes sees that Grieg struggled with the composition. Andsnes decides to play the Ballad in a concert tour. In the main part of the documentary we travel with Leif Ove Andsnes on his 2006-2007 tour across Europe. The pianist spends all his free time looking for people and places that will give him further insight into Grieg’s personal life. Parallel to the discovery of Grieg the person, we follow the pianist’s musical struggle with the Ballad in G minor, from the first rehearsal to the performance during the tour. There are many parallels in the lives of Andsnes and Grieg: both are internationally acclaimed musicians from the west of Norway, both journey to musical metropolises, both long for Norway when they are not there, and long for the world when they are. The journey and the documentary reach a climax when Leif Ove Andsnes plays the Ballad in G minor at the Grieg Hall during the Bergen International Festival in 2007. Genre Documentary / Culture