Norwegian folksong and -dance constitute the very DNA of the music of Carl Gustav Sparre Olsen (1903–84), on both a large and a small scale – from Draumkvedet, the 1936 oratorio that was his first major success, to the tiny miniatures that form most of his piano music, recorded here in its entirety for the first time. The apparent simplicity of much of this material belies the unassuming sophistication of its construction: many of these pieces, some barely a minute long, seem – to adapt William Blake – to contain the world in a grain of sand.

The pianist and writer Øyvind Aase was born in Bergen, Norway. He studied musicology at the University of Oslo and took the Concert Recital Diploma (Premier Prix) from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. His piano teachers have included Edith Vogel, Charles Rosen and Jenny Solheid and he has worked with Manoug Parikian and Sergiu Luca in chamber music. Among the Norwegian works he has brought to light on CD and on the concert platform are Gunnar Gjerstrøm’s Piano Sonata and Piano Suite, Bjørn G. Gjerstrøm’s Piano Sonata (dedicated to Aase), Alf Hurum’s Fairyland, Ludvig Irgens-Jensen’s Piano Quintet, Finn Mortensen’s first Piano Sonata and Fartein Valen’s Four Piano Pieces, op.22.