Sigmund Groven interview

01:29 - Sigmund a household name in his native Norway, with many TV and radio appearances there

01:55 - Born in Heddal, about two hours south of Oslo

02:14 - There was a concert on Norwegian TV celebrating Sigmund’s 75th birthday

02:50 - Worked for the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation at the time started playing harmonica

03:16 - Made first radio concert in 1965

03:59 - Only plays chromatic harmonica, inspired to take it up after hearing Tommy Reilly on the radio

05:21 - Met Tommy Reilly for the first time age 14 after writing fan letters to Tommy

05:36 - Listened to Tommy lots on the radio, as he was on the BBC and other stations around Europe lots in the 1950s

06:13 - Sigmund’s father bought him a chromatic. Father was an amateur violin player, also playing the Norwegian version of the violin (hardanger fiddle)

06:31 - No harmonica teachers in Norway at the time so emulated recordings of Tommy Reilly

06:45 - Sigmund’s first meeting with Tommy in Oslo

07:15 - Tommy gave the 14 year old Sigmund his first lesson when they met: the right hand and mouth positions

07:29 - Tommy always used tongue block

07:56 - Sigmund next met Tommy when he was 16 years old, bringing his son David, with Sigmund and David becoming like brothers and Sigmund was the Best Man at David’s wedding

09:15 - Tommy developed the first Silver Concert harmonica in 1967

09:25 - Tommy bought the Hammond’s Wood house in Surrey, UK, and started ‘Tommy Reilly’s International Harmonica Club’ in 1968, with players coming from all over the world (including Sigmund)

10:09 - Sigmund became Tommy’s manager in 1967 after helping produce Tommy’s album ‘Colors Of My Life’ on Polydor records, where Tommy used his Silver Concerto chromatic for the first time

13:26 - Recorded an album of duets with Tommy in 1976, Music For Two

13:48 - Sigmund accompanied Tommy on his tours around Europe

15:11 - Sigmund made first solo album in 1975

15:42 - Sigmund knew Tommy to the end of his life (in the year 2000), and they performed together in 1999 at the Dartington Music Festival in England

16:15 - Tommy emphasised how music comes first, with the harmonica a great vehicle to express yourself due to being part of your breath

17:07 - Tommy’s deep technical approach to the chromatic was developed when he was a prisoner of war in World War Two with joining notes together smoothly a critical aspect for chromatic

18:04 - Sigmund has focused his practise on moving from one note to the next, concentration and working on the most difficult sections

18:35 - Has learnt a lot with all the fantastic musicians he has worked with around the world

18:56 - Sigmund has worked with two of Norway’s finest classical organists, including the HarmOrgan album with Iver Kleive playing pipe organ

20:05 - How Sigmund amplifies the chromatic when playing with a pipe organ, including use of a condenser microphone

20:52 - Has recorded various albums of Norwegian Folk music

21:09 - Sigmund’s uncle (Eivind Groven) was a classical composer and rest of his family played music

22:03 - Sigmund released an album of Grieg music (Norwegian composer), and lots of great composers based their work on the folk music of their country

23:01 - Two albums with great Norwegian fiddle player Knut Buen and other great musicians he has played with

25:07 - Played on a very popular song in Norway called Varsog, composed by Henning Sommerro

25:56 - Henning Sommerro wrote a concertino for Sigmund for the album ‘Borders’ in 2023, which has been nominated for a Grammy award

27:28 - Has performed various orchestral pieces written for harmonica

27:55 - Tommy Reilly, Larry Adler and John Sebastien set the foundations of playing orchestral music on the chromatic

28:49 - Played at Carnegie Hall in 1990 and has toured the US and Canada and playing in Alaska and other US states

30:27 - Has done a lot of work on cruise ships and how this led on to other work

31:16 - Also spent a lot of time playing in Asia since the year 1995, when he went to the World Harmonica Festival in Japan (and judged Shima Kobayashi in the competition)

32:08 - Met many great players in Asia, and is a big admirer of the King’s Harmonica Quintet and played with them in Hong Kong

33:03 - Toured Japan with Joe Sakimoto

33:12 - In 2001 went to South Korea after one of his albums was in the charts there and went every year up to the Covid pandemic

34:12 - Met one of his brightest students in South Korea, Yoonseok Lee

35:43 - Here, There and Everywhere album of Sir George Martin songs. One of the first artists on George Martin’s books was Tommy Reilly

37:26 - Famous English composer John Wilson conducted the orchestra on the Here, There and Everywhere album

38:13 - Has released around thirty six albums under his own name

39:01 - Helped run the Norwegian Harmonica Forum for the last forty years

39:21 - Did a series of five programmes about harmonica with Tommy Reilly on Norwegian TV which were the precursor to the Norway Harmonica Forum

40:59 - The chromatic harmonica maker Georg Pollestad attended these Norwegian Harmonica Forum sessions

41:59 - Sigmund’s best harmonica student was the first person to major at the Music Academy in Trondheim, and went on to become world champion at the 1987 Jersey Festival

42:41 - Sigmund attended the 1987 Jersey festival and the best ever jury at the competition there

43:34 - Norwegian seminar in 2025 will take place at the same location as the first one in 1985

43:51 - Was a Professor at the Academy of Music in Oslo while Yoonseok Lee studied there

44:44 - Ten minute question

46:09 - Doesn’t use corner switching (much) in his playing

46:15 - Uses tongue blocking and sometimes puckers in the top octave

47:15 - Thinks tongue switching is a good technique for those who use it

47:29 - Tommy Reilly didn’t use corner switching

47:40 - Sigmund plays the Polle chromatic, and how that was developed in Norway by Georg Pollestad, based on the Hohner Silver Concerto

49:55 - Tommy Reilly also ordered and play the Polle chromatic

51:12 - The Polle chromatic is still available to purchase, but not for much longer

51:31 - Only plays 12 hole chromatics

51:40 - Has made recordings on the bass harmonica and the tenor chromatic (with a lower octave)

52:11 - Did start out on a 16 hole chromatic

52:34 - Uses hands to shape the sound a lot

52:52 - Mainly uses key of C chromatic but has recorded on a G chromatic in order to get lower range

54:19 - Mic of choice is a good condenser used on a stand, as uses hand effects

54:55 - Difference in Toots Thielemans approach of holding mic in hand was mainly driven by him playing in jazz genre

55:25 - Always has a monitor on-stage when playing with orchestras and quality of sound systems these days

56:07 - Obviously has to use a microphone when playing with an orchestra, or won’t be heard

56:22 - James Moody (who wrote lots of pieces for harmonica) was very conscious of the sound balance with harmonica and orchestra

56:39 - Effects include a little reverb sometimes

56:57 - Future plans for 2025

57:57 - Health has meant can still actively play and travel so much at 78 years young