Sheet music by Fartein Valen

After 1948, his work began to gain greater recognition, both within Norway and outside. Among others, pianist Glenn Gould became a great admirer of Valen and said at the recording of Valen’s Piano Sonata no. 2, "For the first time in many years I have found a looming personality in the 20th-century’s music." Valen never married. He died in 1952 at Haugesund.