RECORDING OF THE MONTH
Edvard GRIEG (1843-1907)
String Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 27 (1878) [32:04]
Two Elegiac Melodies, Op. 34 (1880) [7:56]
Erotikk, Op. 43 No. 5 (1886) [3:24]
Fea Holbergs Tid (Holberg Suite), Op. 40 (1884/1885) [18:56]
Australian Chamber Orchestra/Richard Tognetti
rec. October 2010, Eugene Goossens Hall, ABC Centre, Sydney, Australia
BIS-SACD-1877 [63:30]
Impressed by Richard Tognetti’s Mozart Violin Concertos (see review)
and being a great enthusiast for good string orchestra playing, this substantial
Grieg programme from BIS had my name written on it from the start.
I don’t know too many recordings of Grieg’s String Quartet No. 1 Op. 27
in orchestral arrangements, though have been aware of one on the Intim Musik
label IMCD076 with the Musica Vitae ensemble. This is a nice enough performance,
though by comparison the first and second movements are rather heavier, if
just short of stodgy. Tognetti’s touch is a good deal lighter in the first
movement, with sharper contrasts and more acutely observed dynamics and articulation.
If you feel unlikely to be convinced that a string orchestra can add much
to a piece for string quartet have a listen to the last few minutes of the
first movement, from about 9:15. The addition of the extra octave of bass
adds a gravitas and extra emotional twist which makes these passages linger
in the mind. Tognetti brings out the lyrical charm of the second movement’s
opening through a kind of urbane simplicity, reminding us of a world of fashionable
salon music which is now rarely heard. The extra string weight adds drama
to the swifter music later on, with playing very much in the spirit of chamber
music style and some witty concerto-grosso exchanges between a solo group
and the main string body, and effect which the SACD dimension really brings
to life. The folksy rhythms of the Intermezzo really take flight
in this recording, and again there are some lovely solo moments. There are
some stunning dissonance/resolution moments in the opening of the Finale,
subsequently taken over by a dancing and bitter-sweet unification of “Mediterranean
gaiety… capering along the edge of a glacier of Nordic melancholy”, as Malcolm
MacDonald puts it in his booklet notes. Just as I was about to send in this
review the Oslo Camerata’s latest Naxos programme popped up (see review).
This is a comparable sized string ensemble to Tognetti’s, but recorded with
a more general sound and less up-front impact. This is a very nice recording
of the Op. 27 String Quartet, but doesn’t beat the BIS disc for accuracy
of performance, variety of colour and dramatic contrast.
The Two Elegiac Melodies are themselves song transcriptions, but
best known as string orchestra pieces. It is BIS’s own recording with the
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra on BIS-SACD-1491 which provides one of this
piece’s stiffest competitors (see review).
The massed strings of the Bergen Phil of course have a different character
to Tognetti’s Australian Chamber Orchestra so the challenge is an uneven one,
but even with Ole Kristian Ruud’s eloquence I don’t find Tognetti’s forces
lacking in any way, and in fact the close-knit family feel of the smaller
ensemble packs an even more personally tender and emotionally revealing punch.
Tognetti gives himself a chance to play soloist in his arrangement of one
of Grieg’s Lyric Pieces. Called Erotikk, this is by far
the most sentimental sounding track on the programme, and entirely transformed
from the piano original through vibrato and sustain in notes normally. It’s
a soft target for the arranger’s pen and a clear crowd pleaser and I’ll leave
it at that, other than to say that there would have been room on the disc
for a few more.
The Holberg Suite was deliberately written by Grieg in the manner
of a Baroque dance suite and is a tremendously effective string orchestra
piece. Once again, Tognetti’s nimble players prove more flexible and articulate
than the previously mentioned Bergen PO, who do a fine job, but are always
going to sound that much heavier. Tognetti undercuts their tempi consistently,
but not by a great deal. He is unhurried but dynamic as usual, developing
sonorities and phrasing from a sometimes vanishingly light touch and an in-built
feel for layering and transparency of texture. The beautiful Sarabande
is a masterclass in dynamics and colouration, and the sighing ‘affect’ of
Baroque rhetoric is very much present. This is a very fine performance indeed,
and one which satisfies as much and more than most symphonic-scale recordings.
Comparison with another chamber orchestra version, that of the Oslo Camerata
on Naxos 8.557890, shows where the subtlest of gradations in performance make
all the difference. These Oslo players are terrific, and offer plenty of extra
miniatures which Tognetti might easily have picked up on for his programme.
The BIS recording offers a state of the art transparency and sense of string
tone and colour which the Naxos disc can’t quite match, and Tognetti manages
to play with Grieg’s harmonic subtleties in ways which have a greater impact
on the emotions. Without labouring the point musically, he picks up on moments
which others tend to throw away, and the result is a cumulative build-up rather
than a series of transitions and climaxes.
This is another triumph for Richard Tognetti’s Australian Chamber Orchestra,
and a recording to covet and bring out at special occasions. Many of you will
already know and love the Holberg Suite from other recordings, but
please allow yourself to sample this version for the way it explores behind
the notes, employing techniques from early music research to heighten and
amplify Grieg’s inspired transformation of Baroque style to a quasi-quasi
idiom – not quite Romantic, but certainly filled with poetry and deeply felt
expression to go along with the fun dances, which are great fun indeed.
Dominy Clements
A disc to covet.