Description
Erato: Leif Ove Andsnes — Grieg: Piano Concerto & Lyric Pieces (Audio CD)
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Product Details:
- Product Type: Audio CD
- Brand / Label: Erato (Warner Classics, Red Line series)
- Composer: Edvard Grieg (1843–1907)
- Pianist: Leif Ove Andsnes
- Orchestra: Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
- Conductor: Dmitri Kitayenko
- Catalogue Number: 5099923228627
- UPC / Barcode: 5099232286627
- Release Year: 2011 (compilation; recordings 1991 & 1993)
- Genre: Classical
- Style: Romantic, piano concerto and solo piano
Product Features
- Format: CD
- Discs: 1
- Total runtime: 67:43
- Repertoire: Piano Concerto in A minor Op. 16; Lyric Pieces Op. 43; Lyric Pieces Op. 54
- Booklet notes: English, German and French
- Made in the E.U.
Overview
Grieg was Norway's national composer, and this disc pairs his single most famous work — the Piano Concerto in A minor — with two of the great sets of Lyric Pieces. The match is ideal: the concerto's sweeping drama, then the intimacy of the miniatures, all of it steeped in the landscape, folk melody and fairy-tale atmosphere of his homeland.
Leif Ove Andsnes is the obvious interpreter. A Norwegian himself and one of the most admired pianists of his generation, he plays this music as a native speaker — unforced, idiomatic, beautifully weighted. The concerto is taken with his home-city orchestra, the Bergen Philharmonic, under Dmitri Kitayenko, recorded in 1991.
The two books of Lyric Pieces are the heart of the solo material. Op. 43 holds favourites like "Butterfly" and "To Spring"; Op. 54 contains the famous "March of the Trolls" and "Notturno." These small pieces are where Grieg is most personal, and Andsnes gives them real character without overplaying.
Issued on Warner's mid-price Red Line series, the disc runs nearly 68 minutes and offers a generous, well-recorded survey of Grieg at the keyboard.
Interesting Facts
- Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16, written when he was just 24, is his only completed concerto and one of the most popular ever written.
- Leif Ove Andsnes, like Grieg, is Norwegian, and the concerto here is performed with the Bergen Philharmonic — the orchestra of Grieg's own home city.
- Grieg composed ten books of Lyric Pieces across nearly his whole career; the sets gathered here, Op. 43 and Op. 54, are among the most beloved.
- Op. 54 includes "March of the Trolls" and "Bell Ringing," pieces that show Grieg's gift for evoking Norwegian folklore and atmosphere in miniature.
- The recordings date from 1991 (concerto) and 1993 (Lyric Pieces), reissued as a compilation in 2011 on Warner Classics' budget Red Line line.
- The booklet carries notes in three languages — English, German and French.
Track Listing
Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16 1–3. (with Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra / Dmitri Kitayenko) — 30:23
Lyric Pieces, Op. 43 4–9. — 12:11
Lyric Pieces, Op. 54 10–15. — 22:40
Total time: 67:43
Publishers
Compilation released by Erato / Warner Classics in 2011, catalogue 50999 2 32286 2 7. ℗ 1991 (tracks 1–3) & 1993 (tracks 4–15) Erato / Warner Classics, Warner Music UK Ltd. Made in the E.U.
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