Comparison Recordings:
In Autumn, Beecham, RPO [ADD] EMI CDM
64751
In Autumn, Dances, etc. Abravanel, Utah
Symphony Orchestra [ADD] Vox CDX 5048
Concerto, Rubinstein, Previn, LSO [ADD]
Decca "London" NTSC LD 071
200-1
Concerto, Katchen, Kertész, Israel
Philharmonic Orchestra [ADD] "Double"
Decca
460 831-2
I have always loved
the In Autumn Overture and considering
the number of similar pieces written
since some others must have also. The
classic Beecham performance is still
supreme. The Abravanel performance is
in stereo and quite good, but the string
sound is raw and astringent. This new
performance has the best sound, but
the overall dramatic outline of the
work does not emerge and hence it lacks
impact. If you have either Beecham or
Abravanel, no need to replace them yet.
If you don’t like the
Grieg Concerto, you’re not alone:
"We have experienced only displeasure
and disapproval for the vulgarities
and absurdities assembled under the
pretext of the national Norwegian character"...(Edouard
Bernsdorf) "Has anyone noticed
how awful the people from the North
become when they try to be Mediterranean?
... the piece is not really so individual
at all: it begins with an imitation
of Schumann and ends with something
worthy of Excelsior*...I have
never been able to understand why there
are fragmentary interpolations of fanfares
of warlike trumpets which generally
announce the arrival of a little cantabile
section at which we are meant to swoon
... (Claude Debussy**) I suppose I don’t
actually dislike it but I have heard
it a lot and have laughed myself sick
over the Hoffnung
Music Festival [review]
parody so that even when listening to
it "straight" I can still
hear all the silly little riffs from
that satire and can’t help at least
chuckling. It was through his chamber
music that I eventually came to really
respect and admire Grieg as a composer.
And, remember, he was an indirect ancestor
of Glenn Gould.
Gimse and Engeset turn
in a fine performance of the Concerto
here by apologising for nothing and
playing with intelligence, grandeur,
and mystery, as though it is a new masterpiece
they’ve just discovered. If this isn’t
the best version ever done, it can stand
proudly alongside any of them. Katchen’s
performance is more aggressively
masculine, more self-consciously virtuosic,
even brash, and the sound is closer
and actually more dynamic than the DVD-Audio
(but not quite so clear, of course).
In the Katchen performance the quiet
passages are not so much mystical or
romantic interludes as moments of grateful
repose before we have to get up and
fight again. But there is no retreat
from the brilliant excitement of the
climaxes.
The Previn/Rubinstein
performance is probably the best overall,
not the best sound, not the most exciting,
but the best crafted and with the unfair
advantage of having a video track. It
first captured my attention as a bad
cassette recording of a television broadcast,
and when the laserdisk finally emerged,
I was bowled over all over again.
The really fine performance
on this disk is the Symphonic Dances
which are played with just the right
balance of aggression and repose, drama,
and lift, and here the sound is at its
best also. You might find you actually
like these old chestnuts better than
you thought you did.
*I assume he meant
the Longfellow poem, not the Whitman
poem.
**translated by Richard
Langham Smith. Debussy was apparently
offended because Grieg had cancelled
an engagement in France in outrage over
the Dreyfuss affair. Debussy was after
all a royalist.
Paul Shoemaker
Håvard
Gimse, piano 
NAXOS
5.110060 [71.38] 