Grieg: Lyric Pieces (Performed on Grieg's Piano) | Edvard Grieg, Leif Ove Andsnes

Grieg: Lyric Pieces (Performed on Grieg's Piano) | Edvard Grieg, Leif Ove Andsnes | A voyage to the coast of Norway!

classical music:

Grieg: Lyric Piece...

	Grieg: Lyric Pieces (Performed on Grieg's Piano) Edvard Grieg, Leif Ove Andsnes EMI Classics, 2002 average customer review:based on 14 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Grieg's 66 Lyric Pieces range from simple pretty tunes like the early "Arietta" that opens this disc to more extended pieces like the dashing "Wedding Day at Troldhaugen" to impressionistic miniature tone poems like the late "Summer Evening." Here, Andsnes plays 24 of them, well-chosen to cover a representative selection from the complete sets. He plays them beautifully, with a lovely tone, virtuoso polish when such is called for, as in the express ride of "March of the Trolls," and poetic depth of feeling, as in "The Brook," where in his interpretation you can almost smell the grass and see the light ripples of the water. Gilels's selection on DG, with minimum overlap, is still unmatched, but Andsnes's well-recorded recital is a source of endless pleasures. Of added interest, the recording was made at Grieg's home, now a museum, on his 1892 Steinway. --Dan Davis

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Sensitive modern pianism

Borrowing a phrase from the contemporary political philosopher Fukuyama a case can be made that the world of classical piano music has reached "the end of history". This notion is based on the often heard idea that it only takes two clicks to get superior performances of any piece worth recording at home and that this part of the universe has reached a state of completion. Add to that the ongoing decline in the appreciation of "classical" music and its economic repercussions and you end up thinking twice before advising your children to pursue a career in this field of employment.

Yet, while a catalog with Horowitz' Scarlatti, Gould's Bach, Kempff Schubert, Bolet's Liszt, Pollini's Chopin, Michelangeli's Schumann, Gieseking's Debussy, Schnabel's Beethoven, Casadesus' Ravel, Seeman's Mozart and Backhaus' Brahms has set historic standards that are hard to equal or surpass, a cd of standard regularly performed repertoire like this one refutes any fear that we have reached the day that the music died.

For starters, piano technique has significantly improved over the last 25 years. Likely due to the standards that the aforementioned pianists set, the next generation is of superior dexterity. While I grew up in times that Horowitz' performances of Liszt, his own Carmen Fantasy and Stars and Stripes transcriptions, and Gould's highly articulate light speed Bach were considered supernatural phenomena, these times are long past. And although the former's sense of tone and the latter's feel for counterpoint may not yet have found their match, most participants in any of the endless number of competitions have basic skills that are just as high and in many cases repertoires that are much wider.

Before coming to the review of this disc, one more personal side note. Since the piano is an instrument that anyone with two functional hands can master to such a degree that quite a number of masterpieces in the repertoire are within reach, I expect recordings to reflect technical mastery. As such, I do not belong to the group of those pianophiles who consider Fischer's Bach "acceptable", Cortot's Chopin "monumental" and Horowitz "live in Moscow" version of his standard Scriabin etude "earth shattering".

Thus we come to the present disc, which I consider a prime example of contemporary pianism. Playing on Grieg's own euphonic, but decidedly mellow piano, in the composer's own "piano room" that imposes significant sonic limitations on the resulting recording quality, his fellow country man Leif Ove Andsnes revisits his juxtaposition of the modern and the authentic that we encountered earlier in his superior Haydn piano concerto disc. While the orchestral part in that recording had clear "authentic" traits, the piano and its performance were truly 21st century. Especially in the light of earlier performances of these Grieg pieces by the likes of Gilels and Gavrilov, Andsnes approach is more restrained and, based on credible historic documentation that comes to use by oral history, less authentically romantic.

Is there something like "the importance of being authentic"? Based on the movement that initially tried to ban all professional musicians from performing baroque music, there certainly is. Nobody will argue that it is of importance to have a good understanding of the performance practices of a particular era. Yet, the mere fact that Bach is still performed worldwide more than 2.5 centuries after his death clearly refutes the notion that his music could only be appreciated within a certain set of parameters. Leaving aside the great dichotomy between the fervor with which the "authentics" have defended "the rules" and the clarity and precision with which they were committed to paper centuries ago, there is no convincing argument that a contemporary should not be able to enjoy Gould's Bach on the piano over Leonhardt's "authentic" performances on the harpsichord.

Released of the shackles of authenticity, aware of the historical record, and fluent in Grieg's lingo from early childhood Andsnes has made a both highly sensitive and textually very accurate reading of the Norwegian's small scale character pieces. Helped by a technique, that is at least as good as all of the luminaries that I mentioned in the second paragraph, this recording shows the virtues of the "less is more" approach. Previous reviewers have harped on the Gilels comparison. While I admire the late Russian lion's performances, I greatly prefer Andsness. Although, Gilels could play fast and slow, soft and loud I considered his technique often of the lazy kind. Especially when it came to use of the sustain pedal he often chose to correct with his right foot, that what he preferred his hands/fingers to save energy on. While some consider this over-pedaling to be an essential part of the romantic mysticism, I am glad that the new generation of pianists does no longer need it to suggest fluency.

Limiting the use of the right pedal often leads to a much better characterization of a composer's sonic signature and this recording is no exception. While it is clear that Grieg was aware of contemporaries like Schumann, Brahms, Chopin and Liszt, Andsnes like no other "nails" the Norwegian's own distinctive voice. What results is a restrained, yet highly sensitive and intimate reading. While the room limits the clarity in the louder passages, it does provide a historically correct context for these lyric pieces.

Andsnes, without a doubt, is one of the stars of the next generation. While mediocre clowns like Lang Lang may entertain the circus crowds, it is comforting to know that musicians like the young Norwegian will keep the eternal flame alive and are likely to add chapters to an as of yet never ending history.

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A voyage to the coast of Norway!

I never truly understood Grieg until Leif ove Andsnes revealed him. The notturno was especially touching!

Andsnes the piano man

Just finished listening to the disc and very pleased - lots of light and airy works some towards the end are very *soft* with surprising CRESENDOS at the end to wake u up! Another super disc to add to the andsnes collection !

Suspicious Reviewer

I am sure Emil Gilels' recording cannot be surpassed but why not get both? After all, there isn't much of overlap.

By the way, I can't help questioning the intention of one of the reviewers named Dag Johansen. He is proactively reviewing most of Andsnes' CDs and giving them very poor rating. In fact, all he is reviewing are Andsnes', no other.
I don't mind that if it is truly his honest opinion but there's something fishy here... why does he keep buying Andsnes' CDs if he hates his playing so much? It's as if he is trying to damage the artist's reputation... Shady....

I have not actully heard this CD or any of Andsnes'. Just felt I needed to report on this.

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