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.

Grieg - Piano Concerto [Tanyel/Burgos-London Symphony Orchestra] 

A regular work in my Blog, and this performance clocks up its third entry [14th July 2011 & 22nd January 2010], it's one of my most favourite Piano Concertos, and i never tire of hearing it, and this is a great disc and performance of the work to boot.

Seta Tanyel is Turkish i guess, she recorded this disc in 1990 on the now defunct Collins Classics label, a lovely little Classical label, the visuals for this disc are fantastic, a lovely inventive portrait, nice use of the arms, lovely skin tones, and it's that blue background which is incredible, it really makes the subject stand out, and the shock of curly hair, nicely placed lettering / logo, it's a real quality product.

The middle movement is my favourite, it has what is arguably his best tune [apart from maybe Morning Mood from Peer Gynt], and the first movement is a powerhouse of invention, really thrilling, so surprisingly i enjoyed the third movement the best on this listen, it's a bravura finale, however there's a quiet interlude of magic about a third of the way in, where the themes from the middle movement come back to haunt us again [2:44+], and that delicate dreamy piano playing by Tanyel weaves its magic once again [3:23-6:00], very substantial, not merely a whiff, but a full blown aroma, the ending is tremendous, all the stops are let out in one glorious rumbustious finale [9:22-10:36], i especially like the pianos hammering out the deep chords [9:59-10:09], a great end to a great Concerto.

Here's Julia Fischer playing the third movement on YouTube.

Greig - Piano Concerto [Andsnes/Kitayenko-Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra]

First off i must say that i have reservations about this performance, and yet, the sheer invention of Grieg still shines through, so this is a testament to Grieg rather than Andsnes, this is the tenth time this work has appeared in my Blog, over a 2 year period, it gets lots of exposure in my life, but this actual disc / performance is the first outing, i'm certainly not an expert on Andsnes, so i can't tell you if he's good or not, but i certainly know the Grieg work, and i know a good performance from an average one.

Leif Ove Andsnes is Norwegian, 41 years old, he made this recording in 1990, the booklet front cover is a black and white shot [by Morton Krogvold], a nice portrait of Andsnes, apart from the face and hands it's all dark, lots of layers of dark grey, the lettering is nicely laid out, a good all round picture.

On the first two movements i was troubled by a degree of mannerisms from Andsnes, he likes to bask in the reflective passages, and i find him hanging around too long, trying to extra caress something out of it all, also he's not a smooth player, and some of his changes of direction are a bit clumsy, in other areas i get the feeling he's trying to get noticed with his ideas, whereas a true Pianist camouflages into the background, and lets the Composer steal the glory, maybe the slow middle movement works slightly better, as it's a more reflective approach you need anyway, but i can't get past some of the sharp jutting corners that Andsnes throws up, it was probably the final movement where i found the most excitement,

Grieg - Piano Concerto [Luisada/Tilson Thomas-London Symphony Orchestra]

One of the challenges of my Blog is to constantly think up something new to say about works i listen to fairly frequently, sometimes i think that there's nothing more that i can say, or nothing more that i can see, but i have faith that music is eternal, it will never run out of steam, and if you truly listen there will be something worthwhile to hear anew, this work appeared in my Blog about 16 months ago [13th September 2010], and it's so good to hear Luisada again, i want to get some more of his discs.

Jean-Marc Luisada is 53, a Tunisian born Pianist, i believe he started out on the DG label, and made some excellent recordings, mainly Chopin, and switched to RCA later, he made this recording in 1993, 

Grieg - Peer Gynt Suites [Ormandy-Philadelphia Orchestra]

I'm again impressed by these fairly short vignettes of Peer Gynt, incidental music for Ibsen's play, nice little atmospheric 'sound stories', i played this work last year [18th July 2010], and was mightily impressed by it then, getting away from the two most famous pieces of the suites [2 And 4 from the first set], i find that there's a depth to some of the other pieces, it really is wonderful music. 

Eugene Ormandy was born in Hungary in 1899, and died in 1985 in America, he moved there in his early twenties, he made this recording between 1972-1975, the front cover is tremendous, these RCA Classical Navigator series each show a map on the front, some are fairly poor, some are very good, but i believe this is the very best one of all [by Johann Kutscheit], a really sharp and detailed drawing of Scandinavia, colourful coastal / border lines, and clever latitude and longitude lines, also with beautiful contour lines for the mountains of Norway, and the sea shadings give depth and variety too, a really classy front cover.

Well it's usually the two famous pieces that catch my attention, numbers 1 & 4 of the First Suite, but on this listen i was taken aback by the first number of the Second Suite, 'Ingrid's Lament', it starts off in a distress on frantic violins, but soon develops into the lament [0:22+], a dark string dirge on lower strings [0:22-1:39], it's when the higher violins come in [1:39-2:58] that i can feel the weeping, and amazingly it sounds like a phrase lifted from Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, second movement, but for me the real magic is when the timpani comes in, and hammers out the heartbeats [2:53-3:54], sounds almost like dying, as the heartbeats quieten down, but right at the end they hammer out in two major outbursts [3:54 & 4:07], a really clever mini tone poem from Grieg.

Here's Ingrid's Lament being played on YouTube.

Grieg - Piano Concerto [Tanyel/Burgos-London Symphony Orchestra] 

This is so good to visit this Piano Concerto again, this is one of the early entries in my blog last year [22nd January 2010], and it's good to hear it again, on this listen i somehow didn't quite find real power behind the playing, maybe it's just me, maybe it was my mood, but i did find wonderful lyricism from Tanyel.

Seta Tanyel is Armenian, and this recording was made in 1990, the front cover photograph is great, a nice sharp shot with a blue background, Collins Classics made some great discs in their time, and it's a shame about their demise, this is one of the very best Grieg / Schumann discs that i own.

The last two movements were tremendous, but it was the middle movement, full of tenderness and passion that really got my heart, there's a serene two minute orchestral introduction, laying down some wonderful preliminary ideas, but it's when Tanyel comes in [1:57-2:18] that the mood is just so perfect with those first few notes, and she repeats the same notes a second time [2:44-3:06] just for heavenly emphasis, right near the end there's some lovely soft pianism from Tanyel [5:25-5:53], being a fairly short movement,the whole thing is over too soon, but it's one of the very best creations from Grieg, so moody.

Here's Julia Fischer playing the slow movement on YouTube.