Grieg - Piano Concerto [Vogt/Rattle-City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra]
Ah, one of eight Schumann / Grieg couplings i have in my collection, there's certainly reasons for twinning these two concertos together, but why not Grieg and Rachmaninov 2, or Schumann and Tchaikovsky 1?, however much i love the Schumann, in a side by side comparison, it's always the Grieg that gets the nod, and so it is here, this work very much has things in common with yesterdays disc, beautiful romantic works, heartbreaking melodies, this might just be my favourite interpretation, it got into my Blog in its early days [3rd May 2010].
Lars Vogt is German, he's now 44, but he made this recording half a lifetime ago when he was 22, he really looks young on the booklet.
It's the Grieg middle movement Adagio which wins my heart, again i can't help noticing the similarity between the two, starts with a fairly lengthy orchestral intoduction before the piano comes in, over two minutes [2:26], and considering it lasts only just a shade over seven, that's a big chunk!, they set the tone, it's the piano that announces that aching melody [2:26-2:47], Vogt's first notes break a sort of silence as it were, i guess there's a sort of middle louder section, where the melody is played with more passion, and there's a coda of sorts, gentle tinkling of the keys [6:23-7:18], but of course there's a surprise in the following Allegro, where the central Adagio makes a heartening return.
Here's Vogt playing the Grieg concerto on YouTube.
Lars Vogt is German, he's now 44, but he made this recording half a lifetime ago when he was 22, he really looks young on the booklet.
It's the Grieg middle movement Adagio which wins my heart, again i can't help noticing the similarity between the two, starts with a fairly lengthy orchestral intoduction before the piano comes in, over two minutes [2:26], and considering it lasts only just a shade over seven, that's a big chunk!, they set the tone, it's the piano that announces that aching melody [2:26-2:47], Vogt's first notes break a sort of silence as it were, i guess there's a sort of middle louder section, where the melody is played with more passion, and there's a coda of sorts, gentle tinkling of the keys [6:23-7:18], but of course there's a surprise in the following Allegro, where the central Adagio makes a heartening return.
Here's Vogt playing the Grieg concerto on YouTube.
