Most of Grieg's works involve the piano, either
in the form of songs, piano music or chamber music. Many of
these works have proved irresistible to orchestrators, to say
nothing of the composer himself as orchestrator. On this disc
we have music that was written for the piano and well-known
as such, but later orchestrated by others, or in one case orchestrated
by another hand and then revised by Grieg.
The march for Grieg's friend Nordraak exists in
several versions by the composer, but this one is by another
friend of Grieg - the composer Halvorsen - and it is certainly
the best-known. The performance is quite impressive with beautiful
playing by the RSNO. The Bridal Procession is best known not
as an original piece, but as material added to the Peer Gynt
music. It was also scored by Delius. Again Engeset gets powerful
playing from his orchestra and in addition the recording is
more subtle than that accorded to the Nordraak march. In terms
of performance the rather slight Bell-Ringing is still the high-light
of the disc so perfect is it in execution.
The Norwegian Dances are among the composer's best-loved
works and many people have worked on them in one way or another,
ranging from the American conductor Frank van der Stucken to
the Dane Robert Henriques. Grieg was not thrilled about the
publisher's choice of Hans Sitt to orchestrate them, but his
is the version best known and the one we hear on this disc.
Overall, Engeset takes many of the tempi too fast for my taste,
at least in the first two Dances. However, the same control
of the orchestra I pointed out above is just as manifest here,
as is the orchestral performance. In the third and fourth Dance
he has things exactly right, although somewhat let down by the
engineers.
Slåtter Op. 72 are folk tunes that were expanded
by Grieg. These and many more were orchestrated by Oistein Sommerfeldt,
as were many of Grieg's songs. The third tune on this disc is
notable for a sprightly performance by the concertmaster. The
most substantial work on this disc and the composer's most substantial
piano work is the Ballade Op. 24. The composer Geirr Tveitt
arranged the work and almost transformed it by ably balancing
its aspects of variation form and symphonic poem, producing
what is basically a new Grieg orchestral work. The performance
here also pays attention to that duality, producing individual
variations that are well-differentiated within a larger structure.
Several times while listening to this disc I had
the reaction "... this is how Grieg should sound ..."
Engeset's firm control over what sounds like a Norwegian orchestra
produces Grieg that would be hard to beat. The major drawback
is the recording, which is frequently quite skilful, but often
blaring and disruptive to listening. Otherwise, another winner
for Naxos.
William
Kreindler
see
also Review
by Göran Forsling
