Frederick Thurston (clarinet)
London Chamber Orchestra
(Leader, David Wise )
Conductor, Anthony Bernard
Fartein Valen: Pastorale, op. 11. Valen, one of the leading Norwegian composers of today, was born at Stavanger in 1887. His childhood was spent in Madagascar, where his father was a missionary, and he himself believes that those early years in the tropics had a marked influence on his development. He studied for a time at Oslo, and then in Berlin under Max Reger. In 1924 he settled at Oslo. where he became director of the music department of the university library and won a fine reputation as a teacher. In 1935 he was awarded a government grant which enabled him to devote all his time to composition. He now lives in retirement at Valevaag on the west coast of Norway.