Alto: Edvard Grieg — Lyric Pieces — Mikhail Pletnev, Piano (CD)

Brand new! Factory packaged! As pictured! Buy with confidence!

Product Details:

• Product Type: Audio CD
• Brand / Label: Alto (Musical Concepts)
• Composer: Edvard Grieg
• Work: Lyric Pieces (selection)
• Performer: Mikhail Pletnev (piano)
• Recording Year: 1986/8 (original); this edition 2016
• UPC: 5055354413308
• Catalogue Number: ALC 1330
• Genre: Classical / Piano / Romantic

Product Features

• Format: CD
• Discs: 1
• Total runtime: 69 minutes 36 seconds
• Recording type: DDD
• Re-mastered in Moscow by Nikita Razlukin; mastered for Alto by Paul Arden-Taylor
• Condition: Brand New, Factory Sealed

Overview

Grieg's Lyric Pieces are 66 short piano miniatures, written across his whole career and published in ten books — the musical diary of a composer who kept returning to the same intimate, song-like form. This Alto disc collects a generous selection of them, played by Mikhail Pletnev, whose 1986–88 recording has long been regarded as one of the finest accounts in the catalogue.

Pletnev's reading earned three stars in the Penguin Guide, which singled out the poetic feeling and the remarkable colour and dynamics he finds in pieces like "Bell-Ringing." These are not virtuoso showpieces; they're small, concentrated worlds — a butterfly, a brook, a march of dwarfs, a grandmother's minuet — and the challenge is to give each one freshness and depth without overplaying it. Few pianists manage it as completely as Pletnev does here.

The programme ranges across many of Grieg's most loved miniatures, from the folk-tinged "National Song" to the wistful "Vanished Days" and the playful "Puck." Re-mastered for this Alto release, with the recording's intimacy intact.

A natural choice for piano lovers, Grieg enthusiasts, and anyone who wants a single well-chosen disc of the Lyric Pieces in a benchmark performance.

Interesting Facts

• Mikhail Pletnev is celebrated as both a pianist and a conductor; he founded the Russian National Orchestra in 1990.
• Grieg composed his Lyric Pieces over roughly 35 years (1867–1901), and they trace the development of his entire musical style.
• "March of the Dwarfs" (Op. 54/3) and "Bell-Ringing" (Op. 54/6) are among the most popular pieces from the set and are frequently performed on their own.
• The Penguin Guide awarded this recording three stars, praising the freshness and depth Pletnev brings to the miniatures.
• The recording was re-mastered in Moscow by Nikita Razlukin and prepared for Alto by Paul Arden-Taylor.
• Grieg himself often performed selections of the Lyric Pieces in recital, and they remain his most widely played solo piano music.

Track Listing

1. Bell-Ringing, Op. 54/6
2. Cradle Song, Op. 38/1
3. Butterfly, Op. 43/1
4. Elegie, Op. 47/7
5. Melody, Op. 4/3
6. Secrecy, Op. 57/4
7. National Song, Op. 12/8
8. Home-Sickness, Op. 57/6
9. Brooklet, Op. 62/4
10. Valse-Impromptu, Op. 47/1
11. Grandmother's Minuet, Op. 68/2
12. Vanished Days, Op. 57/1
13. March of the Dwarfs, Op. 54/3
14. Summer's Eve, Op. 71/2
15. Elegie, Op. 38/6
16. Scherzo, Op. 54/5
17. Lonely Wanderer, Op. 43/2
18. Puck, Op. 71/3
19. Nocturne, Op. 54/4

(Track timings aren't printed on the packaging; total runtime is 69:36.)

Publishers

© 1990 Gramzapis; 2002 CDK Music; © & ℗ 2016 Musical Concepts (Alto). Re-mastered in Moscow by Nikita Razlukin; mastered for Alto by Paul Arden-Taylor.

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