Edvard Grieg

[Martin Lind]

If I see it right there is no thread about Edward Grieg? And there are allot threads about composers I don't even know.

Yesterday I listened again to Edward Grieg. I know Edward Grieg since my youth as he es quite popular with certain works like his piano concerto ( often coupled with the Schumann concerto) or his Peer Gynt suites. But there is certainly allot more.

As I said yesterday I listened to Grieg, pieces for orchestra, a 2 CD box with Abravanel and his Utah symphony orchestra. Well not all of these pieces are first class music but there is allot to discover beyond Peer Gynt. I enjoyed really most of it.

I am not sure wether I should watch out for more ( there is a big Brilliant box) but I would like to know which works of Grieg you like or even love. I am anyhow in my heart a deep romantic so I wonder why I haven't explored more works of Edward Grieg.

And he may have had his weaknesses, but very often this is music of real substance.

Anybody who likes Grieg too?

Regards
Martin

[Scarpia]

Somewhere I have Jarvi's set of complete music with Orchestra.



Mostly I find it a good cure for insomnia. 

[Martin Lind]

Well, maybe the 2 CDs with Abravanel are really enough. I am not a great friend of Järvi anyhow, I don't like his Mahler 8th and I don't like his Martinu. But "cure of insomnia" - no. There is one weak piece in the Abravanel, this ouverture Opus 11 - all the other works I enjoyed.

[Scarpia]

Well, maybe the 2 CDs with Abravanel are really enough. I am not a great friend of Järvi anyhow, I don't like his Mahler 8th and I don't like his Martinu. But "cure of insomnia" - no. There is one weak piece in the Abravanel, this ouverture Opus 11 - all the other works I enjoyed.

I'm sure there is ~2CD worth of stuff I could like in the 6CD set.  There are so many little miniatures and sentimental little Norwegian rhapsodies, etc, that are just not my thing. 

[SonicMan46]

Somewhere I have Jarvi's set of complete music with Orchestra.

 

Mostly I find it a good cure for insomnia.

Well, just to join in on the discussion, my orchestral box set (added above) is w/ Ruud & the Bergen PO - listing of the works HERE, for those interested; does not seem to work for me as a 'sleeping aid' - 

[Martin Lind]

And what about this? I read in the Amazon review that the BIS set should be better than Brilliant. But what about the other works like the lyric pieces for piano, the chamber music ( shouldn't be bad) and the songs?

Regards
MArtin

[Martin Lind]

By the way I ordered a Grieg CD just now. A CD with songs with Anne Sophie von Otter. Should be very fine, is under the 100 indispensable records of Grammonphon. Astonishingly affordable, I payed 6 Euros and something. So this is something I am looking forward to.

Regards
Martin

[Daverz]

My favorite Grieg is the exquisite Symphonic Dances.  This Berglund recording is excellent.  I prefer it to the Rozhdestvensky on Chandos.

[Gurn Blanston]

I could easily assemble a several disk collection of Grieg. I have always been quite fond of his 3 violin sonatas (especially the 3rd) and the cello sonata, as well as the string quartet and Quartettsatz. Throw in the indispensable piano concerto, the Peer Gynt Suites, the Holberg Suite and many of the Lyric Pieces, and you have a treat of several hours length.




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Now playing:
Freiburger Barockorchester - Bach JCF BRC43 Concerto grosso in Eb 2nd mvmt - Romanza

[Mirror Image]

And there are allot threads about composers I don't even know.

Sounds like you've got a lot of homework to do.

[Mirror Image]

I really enjoy Grieg's music, not all of it of course. I still enjoy Peer Gynt and the Piano Concerto, but I also enjoy Holberg Suite, his only Symphony, In Autumn, the Norwegian Dances, among others. I seldom listen him anymore, but he has composed some great, highly enjoyable music.

[Sid]

Debussy called his music "iced bon-bons" & that kind of aptly describes some of his works - miniatures with a Nordic feel. Whenever he got into the larger symphonic forms he ended up sounding a bit like other people; he truly found his voice in smaller scale works like the Lyric Pieces for piano and the chamber music. Of course, pieces like Peer Gynt, the Piano Concerto and the Holberg Suite are often performed in concert halls across the world and will ensure that his music will never be forgotten.

& good to see that you are getting into Grieg's songs, because they are some of his best works. Many of them were in fact written for his wife, who was a fine soprano of the day. I would second the violin sonatas, which have a homely, domestic feel (Grieg said something to the effect that he didn't want to build vast cathedrals like J.S. Bach, but simple homes in which people could comfortably dwell)...

[Wanderer]

Debussy called his music "iced bon-bons"...

...which also is a cunning description of some of his own piano music, as well.

[Mirror Image]

Of the Grieg I own, I own many recordings of his Piano Concerto, I also many seperate recordings with his various orchestral works like Symphony or Peer Gynt Suites. I own both the BIS set with Ruud and also the Jarvi set on DG, but I also own the Naxos series with Engeset conducting the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Malmo Symphony Orchstra on the other recordings.

One of my favorite Grieg recordings is actually of Peer Gynt with Yuri Temirkanov conducting the Royal Philharmonic on RCA Red Library. This is an outstanding recording in great audio and one I return to quite often.

[Scarpia]

If there's a premier Grieg recording, it might be Karajan's highly regarded Peer Gynt, recorded for Decca with the Wiener Philharmoniker.

[SonicMan46]

A while back I was trying to sort out and increase my collection of Grieg's Solo Piano Music, and then was side-tracked to other composers - since that time a number of boxes have appeared (few shown below).

Currently, I own the Lyric Suites w/ Austbo and 3 Naxos discs w/ Einar Steen-Nökleberg; so 'how many' discs of his solo piano pieces are needed and what are some of the most desirable works?  I do like the Lyric Suites and Austbo's performance, but many others have recorded them - 

[Brian]

Dave, I replied to that post in the Listening Thread, but that thread is a place where posts easily get lost. Here is a repost:

Since you already have the Lyric Pieces, I would suggest just hunting out individual volumes of the Naxos set. The piano Holberg Suite is an absolute must-have (Vol 4), and if you like the Lyric Pieces, you might like the Norwegian Melodies, which span 3 CDs (Vols 5-7). They really are JUST the melodies, some less than a minute each, so one disc may be enough! I'm pretty sure Brilliant didn't record those, but they're interesting, and Steen-Nokleberg plays piano, organ, and clavichord on some tunes. Some less mandatory attractions are the Sonata (Vol 1), the Elegiac Melodies including the famous "Last Spring" (Vol 13), and a passing curiosity which has actually been posted on YouTube, Steen-Nokleberg's recording of the haunting fragmentary sketches for Grieg's Piano Concerto No 2.

[Martin Lind]

I have ordered now the string quartetts from Naxos. I listened to them at youtube with the Oslo string quartett and loved it so I ordered this CD. I also ordered the big Brilliantbox. 21 CDs for 20 Euros - I couldn't resist. So together with my Abravanel, the songs with Otter and Naxos I will have a good Grieg collection in some time but will be open for some things which are maybe better than Brilliant.

Regards
Martin

[Martin Lind]

My Grieg has now arrived. The big box from Brilliant Classics, the string quartetts with the Oslo Quartett and a CD songs from Otter from Deutsche Grammophon. Haven't heard the Otter yet but the recordings of the songs from Brilliant, former Victoria from Norway, are very fine, especially the soprano. I think I have heard the first song CD now 8 times or more, it's simply lovely. The orchestral pieces are also very fine but not the piano concerto. I doubt though that Hakon Austbö with the lyric pieces is very fine, so I may come back to your recommendations, like Gilels or Gieseking.

Regards
Martin

[not edward]

I've been intrigued by the smatterings of Slåtter on Thomas Ades' multi-composer recital disc. Any good recommendations for the complete set?