Eloquence, Decca’s
budget re-release series, has been mining the vaults for performances
that haven’t seen recent attention. Here we have a collection
of Grieg’s orchestral works in recording sessions spanning
sixteen years. Most of these pieces are with the National
Philharmonic Orchestra under Willi Boskovsky. My copy of
the Holberg, performed sixteen years later with Järvi and
the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra on Deutsche Grammophon,
is much superior in sound quality, but there are reasons here
for the re-release of Boskovsky’s Holberg. In the slower movements,
which are, overall, longer in playing time - the Sarabande
over a minute longer and the Air almost a minute - which gives
an expansiveness to these pieces that compensates for the
drier sound of the strings. As was typical for the time,
the stereo separation is wider than more modern recordings,
which leaves the cello section crammed somewhat uncomfortably
into one corner of my living room when they take over the
melody line.
Grieg’s line of sight
was, considering the volume of his output, not as often directed
toward orchestral music as to, say, solo piano. Many of the
pieces here on this disc were piano pieces, either before
or shortly after their orchestral incarnations. Grieg tended
not to think terribly highly of his pieces for orchestra.
His famous comment using “manure” with regard to Peer Gynt
being one example, but, Grieg’s misgivings aside, the — to
his mind perhaps overly folksy — music to that play hasn’t
achieved great popularity without artistic reason. One of
the gems is Aase’s Death. Here we have more of a sense
of great sadness and beauty that was missing in the performance
on Regis of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with James Judd
(see review).
My preference is still for my first love, the San Francisco
Orchestra with Edo de Waart on Philips. Boskovsky goes out
in suitable pomp and circumstance with the triumphal march
from the rarely-performed incidental music to the forgotten
play Sigurd Jorsalfar, which Grieg penned before Peer
Gynt. Contrasted with a lyric theme, the march is an enjoyable
curtain-closer that, to these ears, is no great innovation
on triumphal marches.
Stanley Black next
takes the stage with the LSO for the Op. 54 lyric pieces.
Recorded in 1969, these show their age slightly more, with
tape noise — and a very prominently-placed harp — but these
performances have passion and grip, the lamenting first piece,
Shepherd’s Boy, is a standout in this regard, with
great dynamic control and power. The Norwegian Rustic
March that follows has a better sound; the strings coming
across well here, though the brass seems somewhat compressed.
The stereo separation is less distracting than for the Boskovsky
sessions that open the disc.
Sir Charles Mackerras
closes the disc with the London Proms Symphony and the orchestration
of Wedding Day at Troldhaugen. This is the one piece
here not orchestrated by the composer. The oldest recording
in this collection by almost a decade, the sound fares better
than the Boskovsky-led pieces that open the disc. The sound
is fuller and less brittle, with more resonance and presence
from the basses.
The price for this
release is quite attractive. Other more recent recordings,
such as the aforementioned Deutsche Grammophon disc with Järvi,
pack more punch and have crisper sound, but the performances
here are quite enjoyable and are worth a listen.
David Blomenberg
AVAILABILITY
Buywell
Just Classical
