Grieg's Piano Concerto

[springrite]

*sigh* OK...that's TWO more performances of the Grieg that I have to buy...

I have been blaming the family's financial situation on this forum (and others) for years. 

[rubio]

This recording I find superb, and as good as Andsnes (also with better sound). It's with the Norwegian pianist Slattebekk and Jurowski/Oslo PO. Please see the review from Hurwitz. Highly recommended!

http://www.classicstoday.com/review.asp?ReviewNum=9222

[Iago]

Anybody that thinks the Zimerman/Karajan/BPO version is a "snooze fest" MUST apparently be stone cold deaf.

That is both one of Karajans and one of the BPOs greatest recorded performances. Karajan is relaxed and (so to speak) "unbuttoned". He sounds like he's having a great deal of fun, and the orchestra responds to him in a like manner, but with blazing brass, and gorgeous tone. Zimerman displays fleet fingers, apparently made of steel, yet capable of every nuance. If you think this is a snooze fest, you're absolutely NUTS, besides being deaf.

[Todd]

If you think this is a snooze fest, you're absolutely NUTS, besides being deaf.

No, all such listeners simply have taste.

[Iago]

No, all such listeners simply have taste.

Please then explain just what it is that you find distasteful in that performance. And I would be in interested in the thoughts of other owners of the HvK/BPO/Zimerman performance.

And while you're at it, please explain why you use a picture of the actor Val Kilmer as your avatar. I use one of Toscanini. But at least HE had something to do with great music. What are Mr. Kilmers credentials?

[Todd]

What are Mr. Kilmers credentials?

I was unaware avatars needed credentials.

[BorisG]

I was unaware avatars needed credentials.

Do you fantasize somehow about Mr. Kilmer? What is your connection with Mr. Kilmer? It cannot be his acting ability.

[Todd]

What is your connection with Mr. Kilmer?

He's the Iceman baby.

[Mark]

He's the Iceman baby.

"You figured it out, yet? Who's the best?"

Top Gun. Classic!

[MishaK]

"You figured it out, yet? Who's the best?"

Top Gun. Classic!

Did you ever see his later spoof of his old role on Saturday Night Live? Where Iceman is an ex-Navy pilot now flying for an airline? Hilarious.

[Holden]

Wild/Leibowitz is the  best I've heard

[Mark]

Did you ever see his later spoof of his old role on Saturday Night Live? Where Iceman is an ex-Navy pilot now flying for an airline? Hilarious.

No. Shame I missed that!

[MishaK]

No. Shame I missed that!

I think you can find it on youtube...

[Valentino]

Just heard Percy Granger (!) play the a minor with the Bergen Philharmonic on the radio.

[dirkronk]

Just heard Percy Granger (!) play the a minor with the Bergen Philharmonic on the radio.

Yeah. There's a number of really old performances on disc. The Ignaz Friedman version from the late 1920s comes to mind, as well.

Dirk

[AB68]

This recording I find superb, and as good as Andsnes (also with better sound). It's with the Norwegian pianist Slattebekk and Jurowski/Oslo PO. Please see the review from Hurwitz. Highly recommended!

http://www.classicstoday.com/review.asp?ReviewNum=9222

Yes, this recording is exeptional good. I own it, and I never listen to another  although I think I have close to 10 different recordings of the work.
Highly reccomendable!

[Solitary Wanderer]

Those opening crashing chords are surely one of the most famous in all of classical music. Even people with no interest in classical music Will recognise it

[Valentino]

Yeah. There's a number of really old performances on disc. The Ignaz Friedman version from the late 1920s comes to mind, as well.

Dirk

The curious bit was that this was a live broadcast from Grieghallen in Bergen last night with Granger on a Pianola roll.

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

As good, perhaps; better, no.  Michelangeli's various recordings are as good, and depending on what you're listening for, Lipatti's may be (I don't think it is)...

GEEEEZ, is seems there's no love for Lipatti on this forum!

I actually like Lipatti's and Solomon's performances a great deal. I still have not listened to Michelangeli's even though it has been sitting here staring me in the face for months. I haven't really heard any of the more recent performers. I guess I don't feel the need to have more than two or three versions of this work.

[dirkronk]

The curious bit was that this was a live broadcast from Grieghallen in Bergen last night with Granger on a Pianola roll.

!!!!!

Well...I shouldn't really act surprised. IIRC, didn't Columbia (now Sony) do this kind of thing with Gershwin piano rolls and a modern orchestral jazz ensemble under MTT back in the '70s? I was once quite enamored of the Welte-Mignon and assorted other refined roll-playback systems. In fact, I think I still have the old Telefunken and Classic Record Library boxed sets of LPs with stereo recordings made from rolls by Saint-Saens, Debussy, and all the other famous composers and pianists of pre-1920 vintage. Even the best ones, though, reveal the mechanical "feel" of the process a bit too much (for me anyway) on close listening. Percussive styles of playing--and music that seems to call for this--come across VERY impressively indeed, but passages that call for more poetic phrasing and a gentler touch aren't always as appealing or convincing.

Still...Grainger does Grieg? I can see where that might come across very well, especially in the first movement. So did you find the performance truly enjoyable? Or did it feel like a novelty only?

Dirk