Einar Røttingen

download cv
Norway °1963
research interests: Music Performance, performance practice, musical expression, relation composer - performer, contemporary music, 2oth century music, notation, performers analysis, articulation, sound production, metaphors
affiliation: Grieg Academy, University of Bergen
en

The pianist Einar Røttingen is Professor of Music Performance at the Grieg Academy, University of Bergen. He was educated at the Bergen Music Conservatory (after 1995: Grieg Academy) and Eastman School of Music. Røttingen has performed extensively throughout Europe, USA, Japan, and China. CD recordings include the complete solo piano music and Piano Concerto of Harald Sæverud (1996), solo CDs Avgarde (2000) and Norwegian Variations (2005, “Selection” in International Piano and awarded “Record of the year” by International Edvard Grieg Society of Great Britain), and collaborative CDs with violin: Hika (2001) with flute: Chromos (2007), with voice: Serre Chaudes (2009), Fête Galantes (2016), Voices of Women (2015) and piano four hands: George Crumb’s Makrokosmos III-IV (2003). CD releases also include Gardens of Hokkaido (2010, with Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra), Valen Trio (2013), Chamber Works of Knut Vaage (2020) and a series of nine CDs Chamber Works of Ketil Hvoslef (2014-2022). In 2006 he completed the PhD dissertation at the Norwegian Academy of Music: Establishing a Norwegian Piano Tradition: Interpretive Aspects of Edvard Grieg’s Ballade Op. 24, Fartein Valen’s Sonata No. 2 Op. 38 and Geirr Tveitt’s Sonata No. 29 Op. 129. He was the project leader for the three-year artistic research project (Un-) settling Sites and Styles: In Search of New Expressive Means (2017-2020) sponsored by Grieg Academy, University of Bergen and the Norwegian Artistic Research Programme. Røttingen has currently taken an interest in the music of Morton Feldman and performed his Triadic Memories in 2023 as part of the AR project Sounding Philosophy (dir. Dàniel Birò) and future performance of Feldman’s Trio in 2024 with the Valen Trio. Røttingen has initiated and organised contemporary music activities in Bergen (festivals, ensembles, concert series).


research

research expositions

  • (Un-) settling Sites and Styles (2021) author(s): Einar Røttingen, Bente Elisabeth Finseraas published in: Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design, University of Bergen
    (Un-)settling sites and styles: In search of new expressive means. Eight performers (voice, piano, violin, cello), one musicologist and one composer aspired to unsettle their habitual ways of working with musical interpretation of 20th century and contemporary Norwegian composers. By collaborating to develop new perspectives and methods, they investigated questions of style and how different sites influenced their rehearsals and performances. How do performers find new expressive means? How can intersubjective exchange within a research group contribute to articulating tacit knowledge? How can mutual unsettling approaches influence conventional or subjective attitudes of fidelity to a score or a performance tradition? How can novel sounds, musical material and musical meaning emerge beyond prejudiced conceptions or through improvisation? The three-year project was facilitated by the Norwegian Artistic Research Programme and the Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design (Grieg Academy), University of Bergen, and resulted in texts, sound recordings, videos, and new commented score editions.
     open exposition comments (0)
  • The Opener - sharing the performer’s process (2025) author(s): Einar Røttingen published in: Research Catalogue
    The Opener - sharing the performer’s process was a one-year artistic research pilot project (March 2024 - March 2025) funded by strategic funds at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Music and Design, University of Bergen. It was part of the Grieg Academy Research Group for Performance and Interpretation (GAFFI) together with external members from The Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. The project consisted of 8 sub-projects and educational activities, involving different instruments: piano solo, violin, duos with voice and piano, clarinet, accordion and guitar. The term opener can in this project proposal symbolize a three-fold meaning connected to the music performance field. This project seeks to - see the performer as an opener of musical meaning in a performance (interpretation of musical intentions in scores and improvisation) - challenge ourselves as performers as openers that share his/her artistic work (getting insight into the creative process and methods) - finding openers as tools to reveal and show the creative process of performers (ways of showing the artistic process)
     open exposition comments (0)
  • Etableringen av en norsk klavertradisjon: Interpretative trekk ved Edvard Griegs Ballade op. 24, Geirr Tveitts Sonate nr. 29 op. 129 og Fartein Valens Sonate nr. 2 op. 38. (2024) author(s): Einar Røttingen published in: Research Catalogue
    The theme of this dissertation is three important Norwegian piano works. The dissertation includes a main text, a recording and a critical/practical edition of Valen’s Sonata no.2 op.38. By using a musicological/analytical and artistic approach, this dissertation aims to create a greater understanding for these three works as a part of a Norwegian and continental European piano tradition. The main text investigates the contents of the music and how the works are built. It looks at the performance indications in the score and performance practice traditions (historical recordings). References and allusions to other works in the same genres and to similar piano styles are discussed. By looking at possible autobiographical and metaphorical allusions, the dissertation aims at finding an understanding for the works’ origin and meaning. The critical and practical edition contributes for the first time to correct errors and unclear readings of the existing edition and presents a possible realization of Valen’s incomplete score. The main text also includes general criteria for the interpretative choices on the CD. (Norwegian version only, some parts are translated to English as articles)
     open exposition comments (0)