Edvard Grieg

[Mirror Image]

Good point. For people to prove that Havergal Brian is great, they have to do a bunch of explaining and mental gymnastics. With Grieg, it's not necessary - the music speaks for itself.

And yes, I'll get around to those Lyric Pieces!

Have you listened to any of Grieg's orchesterlieder? He didn't write much (most of which are just orchestrations of his lieder), but it is lovely music.

[kyjo]

Have you listened to any of Grieg's orchesterlieder? He didn't write much (most of which are just orchestrations of his lieder), but it is lovely music.

Nope, I haven't - got any recommendations for recordings? I have heard some of his songs with piano and they're quite lovely.

[Mirror Image]

Nope, I haven't - got any recommendations for recordings? I have heard some of his songs with piano and they're quite lovely.

You can't go wrong with these two, Kyle:

[kyjo]

You can't go wrong with these two, Kyle:

Thanks, John. These songs should be right up my alley!

[Mirror Image]

Thanks, John. These songs should be right up my alley!

No problem. I hope you enjoy them.

[Mandryka]

https://open.spotify.com/track/1SVPV5Cqyl5lM2FGdLBxQu

I didn't realise that Austbø had recorded the op 24 ballade until just today. Are there any other interesting recent recordings?

[Jo498]

Andsnes has a disc with some pieces on Grieg's piano and also a more recent one with the ballad but I just realised that the most recent of them is 15 years old. Because he had already another selection 30 years ago on Virgin I tend to think of the 2002-07 recordings as "recent".

[Mandryka]

Andsnes has a disc with some pieces on Grieg's piano and also a more recent one with the ballad but I just realised that the most recent of them is 15 years old. Because he had already another selection 30 years ago on Virgin I tend to think of the 2002-07 recordings as "recent".

I've started to listen to an extraordinary recording of op 24 - you'd probably say it's mad or crazy or quirky of something denigrating - by someone called Einar Steen Nøkleberg. I'd describe it as slightly camp and rather thought provoking.

[MusicTurner]

I've started to listen to an extraordinary recording of op 24 - you'd probably say it's mad or crazy or quirky of something denigrating - by someone called Einar Steen Nøkelberg. I'd describe it as slightly camp and rather thought provoking.

His recording of the Lyric Pieces is considered one of the absolutely best, whereas Andsnes can be rather polished  generally.

I don't think there are that many historical recordings the Ballade, but Godowsky is one of them.

[Mandryka]

I don't think there are that many historical recordings the Ballade, but Godowsky is one of them.

Did Grieg record it?

[Mandryka]

His recording of the Lyric Pieces is considered one of the absolutely best, whereas Andsnes can be rather polished  generally.

Yes I can see that what Nøkleberg does is really quite special - occasionally amusing and often expressive, lovely tone  - and I may use this discovery as motivation to get to know the music better through his recordings.


Re the Lyric pieces, someone pointed out to me today that the set is cyclical in that the melody of the first, op 12/1, is in the last - op  71/7. Is there more structure than that?

[Brian]

Re the Lyric pieces, someone pointed out to me today that the set is cyclical in that the melody of the first, op 12/1, is in the last - op  71/7. Is there more structure than that?

Not that I'm aware of - I believe he simply meant the last to be a remembrance of the first. (It is titled "Remembrances".) If there is any other overarching structure, I don't know it but am happy to learn about it.

By the way, to liven up the rather repetitive cycle of 152 Norwegian folk melodies which Grieg collected, Steen-Nøkleberg uses piano, Graf fortepiano, clavichord, organ, and harmonium. I own and enjoy the slimline complete Grieg box from him.

[MusicTurner]

Did Grieg record it?

No, he did not, but some have tried to reconstruct his approach on the basis of his very poor-sounding, accoustic recordings of some other piano works in 1903.

There's a Grainger piano roll recording of the 'Ballade', at 12:38 maybe abridged, available on you-tube. It's from 1901, so a few years before he met Grieg.

Also, there are at least two fine and interesting Grainger recordings of the 'Piano Concerto', one live with Stokowski (1945) and two recent studio productions with Grainger's piano roll, one with Schønwandt, that works well, one with Gupta, that I haven't heard. Whether Grainger's recordings have any associated Grieg 'authenticity' is probably hard to say, given Grainger's general eccentricity, but he did meet Grieg in 1906, and corresponded with him. Grainger also knew Delius, and they both admired Grieg.

Gramophone wrote in February 2022, that there are now more than 400 recordings (?) of the Piano Concerto. De Greef's, and Friedman's rather creative one, from the late 1920's, are among the early, important ones.

Btw Austbø has been mentioned in the 'Lyric Pieces', but I personally found him bland & culled the set, keeping, among others, Nøkleberg and the incomplete Gilels.

Also, it is if course Edvard Grieg, not Edward Grieg. An error comparable to our main composer having been called 'Carl Nielson' or 'Neilson' by some ...

[Mandryka]

Anyone prefer Knardahl to Nøkleberg? I'm impressed by first toe in the water of the Knardahl set!

[MusicTurner]

She was certainly considered the Grand Old Lady among Grieg pianists a few decades ago, and an authority on his music, partly because of her BIS project. But I currently don't own any Grieg  recordings by her.

[Que]

Also, it is if course Edvard Grieg, not Edward Grieg. An error comparable to our main composer having been called 'Carl Nielson' or 'Neilson' by some ...

Removed this blemish from the thread title!