Post Description

The magic of a "time machine" brings Percy Grainger's original performance back to life in this modern surround-sound recording with the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra conducted by Rolf Gupta. Edvard Grieg himself bears witness to the validity and authenticity of Grainger's interpretation through his own enthusiastic endorsement:...
 
..."I had to become sixty-four years old to hear Norwegian piano music interpreted so understandingly and brilliantly. He breaks new ground for himself, for me, and for Norway. And then this enchanting, profound, serious, and childlike naturalness! What a joy to gain a young friend with such qualities!"
In 2007, conductor Rolf Gupta gave the first Norwegian performance of Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor with the legendary Australian pianist Percy Grainger (1882-1961) as the posthumous soloist... 
 
Tracklisting:
01. Piano Concerto a minor op 16 allegro molto moderato 12:27
02. Piano Concerto a minor op 16 adagio 05:38
03. Piano Concerto a minor op 16 allegro molto moderato e marcato 09:53
04. Wedding Day at Troldhaugen op 65 no 6 05:24
05. Album Leaf op 28 no 1 01:33
06. Album Leaf op 28 no 2 02:57
07. Erotikon op 43 no 5 02:53
08. To Spring op 43 no 6 02:50
09. Sonata for Violin and Piano no 3 in c minor op 45 allegro molto 08:38
10. Sonata for Violin and Piano no 3 in c minor op 45 allegretto 06:34
11. Sonata for Violin and Piano no 3 in c minor op 45 allegro animato 07:25
 
This is a surprisingly effective disc, which I'm rating highly for the simple reason that I've found it very enjoyable on repeated listening. A piano teacher friend also concurs. However, my high ranking is based on what this disc seeks to achieve, and these goals do not include the best possible presentation of a famous romantic warhorse for a full size symphony orchestra and virtuoso pianist...
 
...According to the explanatory program notes, the music rolls on a Duo-Art reproducing piano and a foot-pedaled pianola were fitted in front of a Steinway concert grand piano and “reperformed” with the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra. Now, you might wonder how or whether they were able to seamlessly integrate Grainger with a newly recorded version of the orchestral accompaniment in an ultra high-resolution recording that would surely reveal the inconsistencies born out of this technical hocus-pocus...
 
Bonus tracks:
1. Humoresque, op.6 nr.2 (Edvard Grieg playing) 2:58
2. Leaf, op.28 nr.3 (Arthur De Greef playing) 2:53
3. Berceuse, op.38 nr.1 (Edvard Grieg playing) 2:23
4. Papillon, op.43 nr.1 (Edvard Grieg playing) 1:38
5. Puck, op.71 (Arthur De Greef playing) 2:05
 
Like the performances on the main CD, the bonus tracks for this album all derive from some form of perforated piano roll. The Humoresque and the Berceuse are the two remaining rolls that Grieg recorded for Ludwig Hupfeld in Leipzig in April 1906. He may have recorded more, of course, and the pile of rolls in the evocative photograph of Grieg listening to an unnamed Phonola player in 1907 in Berlin is tantalisingly unclear, but only six rolls were ever issued in Hupfeld's various catalogues. The Album Leaf and Puck are performances recorded by the Belgian pianist, Liszt pupil and long-term friend of Grieg, Artur de Greef, for the Aeolian Company's Duo-Art reproducing piano, the former in London in about 1920, and the latter in New York some ten years later. Grieg's own Duo-Art recording of Papillon (Butterfly) is more unusual, since the Duo-Art was not introduced until March 1914, nearly seven years after Grieg had died. The recording began life in Aeolian's Autograph-Metrostyle series, a non-recorded roll on which a tempo line had been drawn, under Grieg's own supervision, during a visit to Troldhaugen by George Reed of Aeolian in London. Although Aeolian never explained the process by which this tempo-marked roll was converted to Duo-Art, the likelihood is that it was pedalled, on an Aeolian 88-note Pianola attached to the Duo-Art recording piano in New York, by one of the American Duo-Art recording producers, who were in the main expert Pianola players as well.