Fartein Valen, the composer after whom our magnificent hall is named, wrote Cantico di Ringraziamento in 1932–1933. The work was an expression of Valen’s gratitude for artistic and financial success after many years of hardship.

Reinhold Glière‘s Horn Concerto from 1951 is one of the composer’s most well-known works. It was written for the horn player Valerij Polikh, who also wrote a cadenza (a solo passage) for it. The concerto, with its three movements, has a neoclassical character but with elements of romantic melody.

Johannes Brahms composed four symphonies. It was only in his mature years that he began to write in this form, as the shadow of Beethoven loomed large. Brahms was 50 years old when Symphony No. 3 in F major (1883) was created. Its premiere in the same year was a great success, and the work has become his “Eroica.” The main motif permeates the entire work; at times it “struggles,” at other times it is elegiac. The second movement, andante, is among the most beautiful in symphonic music. The clarinet and bassoon introduce a painfully beautiful theme, but it does not recur. The third movement is not a scherzo, but rather a romance. In the final movement, the trombones make the most impression; they are almost intimidating when they enter, and the lamenting motif from the second movement recurs. The main theme from the first movement returns towards the end, until the movement fades away.