Also, Symphonic Dances; In Autumn Overture. Havard Gimse, piano; Bjarte
Engeset, Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Naxos 8.557279.
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Naxos has always
offered good value for the classical buyer’s dollar, as this album of Grieg’s
music demonstrates. The performances and sound may not rank with the absolute
best, but they’re close enough for most folks, I’m sure, and the seventy-one
minutes of playing time provide plenty to listen to.
The opening movement
of Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A
minor, a staple of the piano concerto repertoire and therefore having many
alternative rivals, is famous for its dramatic opening drum roll and cascading
crescendos from the piano. Pianist Havard Gimse, Maestro Bjarte Engeset, the
Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the Naxos engineers nicely capture the
theatrical effect of this opening, and, indeed, the whole of the first movement
follows closely the excitement set out in the beginning. Throughout the work,
Gimse follows this pattern in exemplary fashion. Tempos remain moderate but
flexible; intonation is nuanced; transitions, as into the second subject, sound
smooth and fluid; and Gimse seems always sensitive to Grieg’s designs.
The second movement
comes across wonderfully hushed and continues to portray the beauty of nature
as Grieg intended. It’s in the final movement that the Concerto itself begins to suffer, as the finale has never seemed to
hang together well with the rest of the piece. The last movement is like a
miniature concerto unto itself, very folksy in its outer sections and sweetly
quiet in its middle. But it doesn’t have much to do with anything that went
before it, and neither Gimse nor conductor Engeset can do much about that. In
fact, by playing up the extremes, the performers only make matters worse. Oh,
well; it’s not a serious complaint.
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Accompanying the
Concerto is the brief tone poem “In
Autumn” and the suite of folk tunes called “Symphonic Dances.” They also come
off well, very colorfully and pictorially presented, although I doubt that most
buyers would be attracted to the disc by anything but the
Concerto.
The Naxos sound is
excellent in terms of the piano tone in the Concerto,
very vibrant, clean, and alive. As for the orchestral sound, it’s a little less
so, both in the accompaniment to the Concerto
and in the coupling. I found it a bit lean in the bass and not entirely
transparent in the midrange. Still, it’s more than adequate, broad and
spacious.
Finally, I should
mention that as good a bargain as this Naxos release is, one can still buy the
two-disc, mid-priced Philips set that includes one of the best Grieg Concerto performances of all, with
Stephen Kovacevich and Colin Davis, along with piano concertos from Schumann
(Kovacevich), Addinsell (Dichter), Tchaikovsky (Argerich), and Brahms
(Kovacevich again), making the Philips set one of the ultimate great bargains
in the history of recorded music.
To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click here:
JJP
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