Jan Gunnar Hoff´s new work “Heartlands” was premiered December 20, 2024, in the Bodø Cathedral, with an audience of 600 attending. The local reviews were effusive (Rune Slyngstad, Avisa Nordland):
“Powerful, sacred, melancholic and meaningful. The work Heartlands is gold”. Local review (Norwegian):
The theme for this new composition is nature, climate, environment and not least: ourselves in this perspective. Why are we up here in the north, what does nature mean to us, what can’t we do without? The issue has been brought up to date in recent years with large projects that threaten to turn our mountains and nature into industrial areas, i.e. wind power and wind turbines. The untouched nature becomes the subject of speculation and major interventions, something we have to react to. This scenario is the background for the title “Heartlands”, which means: “an area that a nation cannot lose without losing itself”. Subtitles:
1. Dawn
2. Heartlands
3. Earth alert
4. The words
5. Freedom
6. Heartlands II
Line up: Bodø cathedral choir, Karoline Åseng (vocal soloist), Børge Petersen-Øverleir (guitar), Rune Arnesen (drums/perc), JGH (keys, piano, church organ), Gjermund Silset (bass).
