As this year’s festival comes to an end, Germany’s Welt am Sonntag talks to Leif Ove Andsnes about Rosendal’s extraordinary history and beauty.
“In Norway, if you say “Rosendal”, then everyone smiles. Everyone combines it with some beautiful memories of the Versailles of the fjords. “Baroniet”, as it is officially called, may have the importance of the French seat for the locals, but what is located there – 90 minutes by boat from Bergen, on the Hardangerfjord in a lovely green valley between two hills, in front of two waterfalls and behind the name giving rose garden – is the only castle there is in this country … As a wedding gift for the richest heiress at that time, it was built in 1665 and 13 years later King Christian V of Denmark-Norway ennobled the owners to barons. Culture has always been at home here, Edward Grieg and Henrik Ibsen performed in its salons, all romantic painters have brushed its postcard view and Leif Ove Andsnes, an internationally famous pianist from Norway since 30 years, has also performed here since he was a teenager …
“Everyone who comes here is touched by the elegance and clear beauty of this place … Everyone is immediately in harmony with nature here …”