GRIEG - IN THE HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING - ORGAN OF MÜPA BUDAPEST

Jonathan Scott performs his solo organ transcription of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" from Peer Gynt by Edvard Grieg at the organ of Béla Bartók National Concert Hall, Müpa Budapest (Palace of Arts), Hungary

Edvard Grieg - Solveig's Song

Solveig's Song by Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra

Arthur Rubinstein - Grieg - Piano Concerto in A minor, Op 16

Edvard Grieg Piano Concerto in A minor, Op 16 1 Allegro molto moderato 2 Adagio 3 Allegro moderato molto e marcato Arthur Rubinstein, piano London Symphony Orchestra André Previn, conductor

Dolphins behave better after listening to Bach and Beethoven, study finds

Bottlenose dolphins enjoyed listening to Bach as part of the study. Picture: Getty

By Sophia Alexandra Hall, ClassicFM

@sophiassocials

 

Beethoven’s ‘Almost a Fantasy’ and ‘The Swan’ by Saint-Saëns are just some of the pieces of classical music enjoyed by Italian dolphins involved in this latest scientific study. 

Most scientists agree that dolphins are very intelligent creatures. The species have demonstrated in multiple studies that they are quick learners, empathetic, self-aware, and great at problem solving.

But a recent study published in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science has now proved that dolphins are also music lovers, and that classical music specifically could improve social behaviours of the aquatic animals.

Researchers at the University of Padua in Italy found that playing classical music resulted in the dolphins showing more interest in each other, giving more gentle touches and swimming in synchrony for longer.

Eight dolphins in the eastern beach-front city of Riccione, Italy, were played 20 minutes of classical music a day via an underwater speaker for seven sessions. The aquatic mammals heard a number of pieces of classical music including Bach’s Prelude BWV 846, Grieg’s ‘Morning Mood’ from Peer Gynt, Debussy’s Reflets dans l’eau, Beethoven’s Almost a Fantasy, and ‘The Swan’ from The Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saëns.

Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the Caribbean Sea. Picture: Getty

On other days, the dolphins were played the sound of rainfall for 20 minutes (auditory stimulus), given floating toys to play with for 20 minutes (an already known form of enrichment for the animals), or shown natural environments on television screens for 20 minutes (visual stimulus).

The group of dolphins was made up of five female and three male dolphins between the ages of five and 49 years old. Three of these dolphins, which are housed at a dolphinarium in Riccione, were born in the wild.

The researchers found that only the music had a long-lasting positive effect on the dolphins’ behaviour. As only classical music was used, the researchers admitted the results may not be specific to just the classical genre, but that classical music could be particularly useful when improving social behaviours in dolphins.

The use of music was also a particularly useful tool for when the animals were under stress or in situations that could lead to increased conflicts.

 Lead researcher Dr Cécile Guérineau said the way the dolphins acted, suggested they were showing happiness.

“This system is linked to reward, social motivation, pleasure and pain perception,” explained Dr Guérineau. “Activation of opioids receptors is correlated with a feeling of euphoria. [And] we know that in a wide range of animals – from mammals, monkeys, dogs, rats etc, to non-mammals, birds – endorphins, i.e. one type of endogenous opioids, are related to social bonding.

“Dolphins may also be able to perceive rhythm because they are a vocal-learning species. It may be that, similar to how dancing at a party makes us feel good and helps people to bond, when dolphins synchronize to a beat, they also feel good and connect with their fellow swimmers.”

Khatia Buniatishvili plays Grieg's Piano Concerto

Edvard Grieg - His Life and Music

 

Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born on June 15, 1843 and passed away on September 4, 1907 in Bergen/Norway. His mother became his first music teacher. The Norwegian violinist O. Bull advised him to study music in Leipzig/Germany. Nevertheless Grieg couldn't develop a good relationship to German classical music.

He was more impressed with Danish music, especially when he moved to Copenhagen at the age of 20.

Grieg loved Norwegian folksongs and took plenty themes and variations into his compositions. With the "Holberg Suite", composed in 1884, Grieg made his contribution with which Scandinavians commemorated the 200th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig Holberg, the Norwegian writer, who with his 32 brilliant comedies had earned the name of a "Moliere of the North". For the commemorative address delivered on December 3 in Bergen, his birthplace, and the unveiling of a statue on the market place, Grieg composed an (unpublished) cantata for male chorus and conducted this "in furs and furlined boots, with a cap of the same", so Grieg.

Subsequently he wrote a "Suite in the olden style" for piano, and, in the following year, arranged it for string orchestra (with multiple division of the single instrument parts). With this "wigged piece", as Grieg described it. he took on the light-hearted pre-classical style of the French rococo, combined old dances types with a Scandinavian accent, so to speak, and thereby created a conscious anachronism of special charm.

The "Peer Gynt Suites" made Grieg wellknown all over the world. I really love them too. Many piano virtuosos have appreciated his piano concerto a-minor opus 16 up tp now. Grieg succeeded in squaring the musical circle. He took the elements of Norwegian music with its minor dominant, pentatonic scale or falling lead-note, as well as its dance rhythms, and would thereby really be counted merely among the little-valued "dialect artists". But over and above his Scandinavian accent grieg showed a mastery of refined orchestral timbres and so became one of the forerunners of impressionism.

Of his 144 songs in all, 124 are on texts by Scandinavian poets; the others are composed by German poems. To a great extent, his wife, Nina Hagerup, who, as a trained singer, propagated her husband's art with impressive creative power, inspired Grieg very much.