0 Grieg: Music for String Orchestra

Richard Tognetti (artistic director and lead violin)
Australian Chamber Orchestra

“Tognetti's masterstroke is to have fully assimilated all the characteristics of Grieg's scoring...Transferring this procedure to the Quartet serves to enhance dramatic impact on its music narrative...The Australian Chamber Orchestra delivers playing of incredible passion and precision. Tognetti's inspired direction brings every movement to life...A triumph in every respect.” --BBC Music Magazine, July 2012 *****

“[the String Quartet is] a striking piece, driven and agitated on the one hand, sweetly lyrical on the other. The performers give it vitality and beauty and a programmatic narrative which compelling. The original solo lines are sometimes left as they were, rather poignantly so in the dramatic first movement...the Australians offer a spirited and sensitive account [of the Two Elegiac Melodies].” --International Record Review, June 2012

“The Australian Chamber Orchestra is renowned for its crisp, clean playing, superb ensemble and intonation, and vivacious style...[The Elegiac Melodies and Holberg Suite] have dozens of rivals but, while one might find equally fine renditions, I doubt there are many better ones. Excellent sound, as usual from this label.” --Gramophone Magazine, August 2012

Detail: Grieg: Music for String Orchestra

0 Grieg & Schumann: Piano Concertos

Claudio Arrau recorded these concertos twice for Philips, the present performances in 1963, and then again in 1980 with Colin Davis and the Boston Symphony. There’s very little to chose between them. Tempos are almost identical, and contrary to what one might expect, the slow movement of the Schumann concerto is actually a bit faster in the later version.

Arrau’s way with the music is wholly characteristic of the man: serious, even reverential (at the beginning of the Schumann), and played with drop-dead gorgeous tone. The result enhances the stature of both works, but the Grieg in particular. The climax of the finale has an epic grandeur without a hint of bombast that you simply won’t find in any other performance. Dohnányi’s accompaniments are also distinguished: he lets Arrau lead but isn’t afraid to permit the orchestra to assert itself where necessary; and of course the playing of the Concertgebouw is top-notch. If you haven’t heard Arrau in this music, it really doesn’t matter which of his recordings you wind up with, but do try to get at least one of them. --classicstoday.com [4/17/2000]

Detail: Grieg & Schumann: Piano Concertos