In 2024 the Norwegian National Opera Chorus and Orchestra's recording of Hjalmar Borgstrom's "Fiskeren" (The Fisherman/Der Fischer) was finally released. This opera encompasses a forced marriage, a pact with the devil, divine punishment, and forgiveness. The recording, initiated in 2008, has now taken it's definitive form in this Simax release. Although Borgstrom wrote "Fiskeren" in 1900, it wasn't premiered until March 2003, with the newly established "Kristiansand Symfoniorkester". Hjalmar Borgstrom, well-known and played from 1900 until his death in 1925, has gradually faded from the concert repertoire and been forgotten. He belonged to the generation after Grieg and was contemporary with Edvard Munch and Knut Hamsun, as well as composers like Halvorsen, Mahler, Debussy, and Sibelius. In addition to several orchestral works and a considerable amount of chamber music, Borgstrom composed two operas, "Thora paa Rimol" (1894) and "Fiskeren" ("Der Fischer," 1900). Between 1870 and 1920, during the "golden age" of Norwegian music history, approximately 30 operas and musicals were completed by Norwegian composers. Many of these, including "Thora" and "Fiskeren," have remained unperformed for a long time. In Borgstrom's case, it took over 100 years for his operas to have their premieres. In recent decades, more of these works have been brought out of obscurity, and many of them prove to be well worth rediscovering.
