MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
Classicsonline  Crotchet

 

Edvard GRIEG (1843–1907)
The Complete Songs - Volume 7
Five Songs without Opus Number:
Prinsessen, EG133 [2:55] Claras Sang, EG124 [1:25] Osterlied, EG146 [1:54] Morgenbøn paa Skolen, EG139 [0:59] Den blonde Pige (1st version), EG130 [4:15]
Den Bergtekne, Op. 32 [4:18]
Three Songs without Opus Number:
Møte [2:40] Suk, EG134 [2:53] Den blonde Pige (2nd version), EG138 [2:48]
Fem Digte af Otto Benzon, Op. 69:
I. Der gynger en Båd på Bølge [2:46] II. Til min Dreng [3:29] III. Ved Moders Grav [2:34] IV. Snegl, Snegl! [3:12] V. Drømme [3:32]
Fem Digte af Otto Benzon, Op. 70:
I. Eros [2:55] II. Jeg lever et Liv I Længsel [2:36] III. Lys Nat [1:55] IV. Se dig for [1:53] V. Digtervise [4:06]
Four Songs without Opus Number:
Ragnhild, EG181; Den syngende Menighed, EG122; Valgsang, EG149; To a Devil, EG154
Monica Groop (mezzo); Roger Vignoles (piano)
rec. March 2007, Kuusankoski Hall, Finland
Texts and English translations enclosed
BIS BISCD1757 [68:38]
Experience Classicsonline


The 100th Anniversary of Edvard Grieg’s death last year generated a flood of recordings. BIS, who have specialised in complete oeuvres, were in the forefront with a number of orchestral issues, released during the last few years and culminating in 2007. Their complete survey of the Norwegian master’s songs has, on the other hand, been quite slow in the making, the first volume recorded and issued as early as 1993. I bought it when it was new, having just heard Monica Groop live for the first time, and was immensely impressed. The disc contained some of Grieg’s best known songs: Jeg elsker dig, En Svane, Med en Vandlilje and the cycle Haugtussa, Op. 67, which is one of his most important late works. For some reason I never invested in the following volumes, though I have quite a distinguished collection of his songs anyway. Coming back to Grieg and Ms Groop fourteen years on and the concluding volume in the series was an encounter which produced slightly mixed feelings.
 
To be honest there is something of the scrapings about the material here. Many songs are youthful essays. Den syngende Menighed, to a text by the Danish pastor N.F.S. Grundtvig, was composed in 1860, when Grieg was only seventeen. Some of them were published only posthumously in 1908 and some reached the public only in Edvard Grieg’s Collected Works (GGA) in 1991 or 1995 (they appeared in different volumes). This is not to say that they are of little value. Great composers are of interest also in their minor works and works of their youth are important to give a fuller picture of their development.
 
From the first collection the first two songs, Prinsessen and Claras sang are both settings of Bjørnson, whose poetry inspired Grieg on many occasions, and they are in Grieg’s easily recognisable folk-tone idiom. Morgenbøn paa Skolen is simple and hymn-like while Den blonde Pige – Bjørnson again – are heard here in two different versions, and very different they are. In the second group Møte stands out through a nice melody. This is incidentally a first version of Op. 67 No 4, i.e. the fourth song in Haugtussa, which Monica Groop recorded so long ago.
 
About the two groups Op. 69 and 70, Grieg’s last collections, written in Copenhagen in 1900, the composer wrote that they ‘are totally cosmopolitan’. There is more than a grain of truth in that. The second song of Op. 69, Til min Dreng, is certainly Nordic in tone, but the rest is in a more generalized Central European vein. There is power and drama in Der gynger en Båd på Bølge and one can hear the North Sea roaring. The Op. 70 songs are also powerful, only No. III and IV are poetic, especially the nocturnal Lys Nat. We also note that the piano part is uncommonly active and independent in several of them; listen to the marching Digtervise.
 
Of the remaining songs Valgsang was originally composed fore male choir and there is incontestable nationalist pathos here. It was written in late 1893 – Bjørnson’s poem was published in Verdens Gang on 8 December that year and the text reflects the hostile attitude towards Sweden at the time. The tension continued to grow and eventually resulted in the disbanding of the union in 2005. The ironical and jolly – listen to the piano accompaniment – To a Devil was composed to a text by Otto Benzon, who obviously wrote it in English. This is one of the songs that was not published until 1991.
 
The one well known song and by most commentators hailed as one of Grieg’s masterpieces, is Den Bergtekne, a setting of a traditional text. It was conceived for voice and orchestra and intended for a male singer, but Grieg also prepared a version for voice and piano, although it was never published. The piano version which was published was by Holger Dahl and it was approved by Grieg.
 
Monica Groop was born in Helsinki in Finland but comes from a Finland-Swedish family, which means that Swedish is her first language. Being Swedish speaking means that she with little effort masters Norwegian and Danish as well so on linguistic ground this is the authentic thing. She has always been a vivid and accomplished interpreter of songs. Now in her late forties – she actually turned fifty in April this year – she is as responsive as ever to the texts and her interpretations are well considered and expressive. Since I last heard her in the flesh a few years ago her vibrato has widened marginally and under pressure it might be annoying to some listeners but her care over nuances and her insight still make her an excellent Grieg interpreter. Grieg’s favourite singer – of his songs – was his wife Nina, but it wasn’t the voice in itself that he admired; it was her way of employing it to convey what was in the songs. Hers was a light lyric soprano but Grieg also admired the international Swedish born dramatic soprano Ellen Gulbranson (1863–1947) for the same reasons. Monica Groop is neither a light soprano nor a Brünnhilde but I believe Edvard Grieg would have liked her way with his songs too. Some of the bloom from earlier years is inevitably gone but so much else is retained and she has the power to make even the most dramatic songs of Op. 69 and 70 tell. With Roger Vignoles at the piano we can rest assured that the accompaniments are up to the requirements and the recording is exemplary. A good essay by Rune Andersson and texts and translations are further attractions.
 
This may not be an essential buy for the general song lover but there is a lot of interest also to non-specialists and to Grieg collectors it is a must.
 
Göran Forsling
 



 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.