LEIF OVE ANDSNES

 

Edvard Grieg (1843–1907)

Ballad for Edvard Grieg

 

1-3) Piano Concerto in A minor Op. 16

i. Allegro molto moderato

ii. Adagio

iii. Allegro moderato molto e marcato - Andante maestoso

4) Ballade in G minor, Op. 24

5-10) Lyric Pieces

i. Lyric Pieces, Bk VI Op. 57: Lyric Pieces Op. 57: No. 6 Homesickness

ii. Lyric Pieces, Bk VII Op. 62: Lyric Pieces Op. 62: No. 6 Homeward

iii. Lyric Pieces, Bk IX Op. 68: Lyric Pieces Op. 68: No. 5 Cradle song

iv. Lyric Pieces, Bk VIII Op. 65: Lyric Pieces Op. 65: No. 6 Wedding Day at Troldhaugen

v. Lyric Pieces, Bk IX Op. 68: Lyric Pieces Op. 68: No. 4 Evening in the mountains

vi. Lyric Pieces, Bk X Op. 71: Lyric Pieces Op. 71: No. 7 Remembrances

 

September 4th 2007 marks the centenary of the death of Edvard Grieg, Norway’s greatest composer, and one of the most popular composers in musical history, whose tuneful melodies have been enjoyed by generations of music lovers in the concert hall, cinema and musical theatre. To commemorate the anniversary, EMI Classics will release Leif Ove Andsnes Ballad for Edvard Grieg, featuring the 2006 and 2007 Brit Awards’ Instrumentalist of the Year. Andsnes, arguably today’s leading interpreter of Grieg’s piano music, is Norwegian himself and one of his country’s best-known and loved exports of recent years.

 

The album features a new recording of the Ballade in G minor alongside Andsnes’ award-winning recording of the A Minor Piano Concerto, with the Berlin Philharmonic and Mariss Jansons plus some of the later Lyric Pieces, recorded on Grieg’s own piano at his house in Troldhaugen, just outside Bergen

 

The fact that the Ballade in G minor is cast as a theme and fourteen variations isn’t the only unusual thing about the work, as Andsnes points out. ‘In complete contract to Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, who invariably began their variation sets with relatively simple themes, Grieg opens with the most beautifully harmonised melody – in some ways it’s the best part of the piece! This immediately created the problem of where to go from there, and as a result the work is less to do with symphonic development on a grand scale but is rather a series of interrelated mood pictures that capture his frame of mind at the time. ‘That said, he does manage to build the piece up to a spectacular climax over the last few variations, which is very difficult for the pianist to bring off. Some of the piano writing is enormously demanding and one has to find elegant pianistic solutions to some of the problems, especially towards the end where the music begins to dance and you have to drive it on with complete confidence. That was one of the reasons that I hadn’t played the Ballade in public until now. In the past I had found it a rather uneven piece and had never felt very close to it, but now it feels like a special discovery.’

 

To close this celebratory programme in Grieg’s centenary year, Andsnes has selected some of his later piano miniatures. Composed between 1867 and 1901, the 66 Lyric Pieces (originally released in ten volumes) are testimony to Grieg's remarkable ability to establish a compelling atmosphere in just a few bars, in much the same way as Mendelssohn's Songs without Words and Bartók’s Mikrokosmos. ‘The essence of these pieces is in the harmony,’ says Andsnes. ‘Grieg can say something incredibly personal in a single melodic line, but when the harmonies begin a whole musical world just opens up before you.’

 

“I always feel a sense of homecoming when I perform Grieg yet I don’t think that this is necessarily because I am Norwegian. Grieg’s music has a universal feeling - a sense of drawing the listener in - and that is probably why he remains Norway’s most eminent composer even now, 100 years after his death.” - Leif Ove Andsnes

 

EMI 3943992