IDAGIO | Grieg: Orchestral Music, Vol. 1: Piano Concerto - Symphonic Dances

Featuring

Bjarte Engeset
Håvard Gimse
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Edvard Grieg

Did you know?

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Notable Performances

The first performance of Grieg's Symphonic Dances was conducted by Johan Svendsen, a composer whose Norwegian Rhapsodies Grieg greatly respected.

Critical Reception

A critic named Edouard Bernsdorf expressed 'displeasure and disapproval' for Grieg's music, calling it 'vulgarities and absurdities' that used 'national Norwegian character' as a pretext.

Composer Biography

Grieg's views on Norwegian folk-music evolved from wanting to refine it to intuitively approaching its aesthetics without a Romantic filter, similar to Béla Bartók's later adaptations.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Edvard Grieg aimed to express Norwegian nature, folk-life, history, and folk-poetry through his music.

Performer Biography

Håvard Gimse, the pianist on this recording, won the prestigious Grieg Prize in 1996 and has recorded the complete piano music of Sibelius for Naxos.

Compositional Technique

The main theme of the last movement of Grieg's Piano Concerto is a Halling dance, where Grieg reinterpreted elements from the Hardanger fiddle, a Norwegian folk instrument.

Recording & Production

The cover painting for this album is 'Vårnatt i hagen, 1909' by Nikolai Astrup, a Norwegian artist who focused on his childhood experiences of nature and folklore.