Edvard Grieg - Olav Trygvason; Orchestral Songs (Ole Kristian Ruud; Marita Solberg)

Information

Composer: Edvard Grieg

1. Olav Trygvason, Op. 50: Scene 1. Though to Whom Fancy Lends Many Titles
2. Olav Trygvason, Op. 50: Scene 2. Tis not Enough that ye Invoke
3. Olav Trygvason, Op. 50: Scene 3. Give to all Gods a Grace-Cup of Gratitude
4. At the Cloister Gate, Op. 20
5. 6 Orchestral Songs, EG 177: I. Solveig’s Song, Op. 23 No. 19
6. 6 Orchestral Songs, EG 177: II. Solveig’s Cradle Song, Op. 23 No. 26
7. 6 Orchestral Songs, EG 177: III. From Monte Pincio, Op. 39 No. 1
8. 6 Orchestral Songs, EG 177: IV. A Swan, Op. 25 No. 2
9. 6 Orchestral Songs, EG 177: V. Last Spring, Op. 33 No. 2
10. 6 Orchestral Songs, EG 177: VI. Henrik Wergeland, Op. 58 No. 3
11. In the Hills, Op. 33 No. 9

Solveig Kringlebotn, soprano (1-4)
Ingebjørg Kosmo, mezzo-soprano (1-4)
Trond Halstein Moe, baritone (1-3)
Bergen Vocal Ensemble (1-3)
Voci Nobili, chorus (4)
Bergen Philharmonic Choir (1-4)

Marita Solberg, soprano (5-11)
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
Ole Kristian Ruud, conductor

Date: 2006
Label: BIS
http://bis.se/orchestras-ensembles/bergen-philharmonic-orchestra/grieg-olav-trygvason-orchestral-songs

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Review

Grieg demonstrates his fine operatic credentials in a Norwegian ‘Lohengrin’

The first 30 minutes of this CD – the last in the Bergen orchestra’s series of the composer’s orchestral music – offer proof most positive that Grieg, the supposed miniaturist, could write Romantic grand opera. The collaboration with Norway’s “other” great dramatic poet, Bjørnsterne Bjørnson, broke down, however, after just three scenes of their tale of Norway’s conversion from the old gods (Odin, Frigg and company) to Christianity, Olav Trygvason. The titular hero – to appear in scene 4, in a shining suit of armour and (doubtless) a shining major key – never got onstage.

If that sounds like Lohengrin on paper, it sometimes sounds like Lohengrin in practice. Grieg deploys great masses of choral sound (including the uncanny soprano echo effect which Wagner developed to enrich Elsa’s plea), moody pedal points and sharp rhythmic attacks for the “dark” powers, and, for the mezzo-soprano Volvic priestess, a perhaps conscious echo of the scalic figure that accompanies Telramund’s “du wilde Seherin” in the earlier opera. Alongside that stand the characteristic sweetness of the folk melodies in the dances in scene 3, the muted brass snorts (anticipating Peer Gynt’s Trolls) and the composer’s continual ability to vary colour and texture when setting words. The major solos are well and naturally taken by leading Norwegian opera singers, some of whom took roles when Norwegian Opera presented an anniversary completion of the score by Ragnar Søderlind: Kringelborn, Trond Halstein Moe (now a Wotan), and Ingebjorg Kosmo, perhaps a little young for the Ortrud-like priestess but in beautifully secure voice. The Bergen choir,too, is exceptional.

Of equal worth to collectors is another Bjørnson-derived scena, At a Southern Convent’s Gate, a slab of dark Victorian sexual guilt for solo soprano and coro interno – Grieg warming up for dramatic music to come. The six orchestral songs, frequently recorded since the time of Kirsten Flagstad, make a logical, but in Marita Solberg’s pure but neutral reading, not especially individual, makeweight. The sound is cool and clear and Ruud works up quite a head of steam in Olav Trygvason. For this alone, purchase is essential.

-- Mike Ashman, Gramophone

More reviews:
MusicWeb International  RECORDING OF THE MONTH
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2007/July07/Grieg_songs_bissacd1531.htm
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/feb/16/classicalmusicandopera.shopping
http://www.allmusic.com/album/grieg-olav-trygason-orchestral-songs-mw0001421188

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Edvard Grieg (15 June 1843, Bergen – 4 September 1907, Bergen) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use and development of Norwegian folk music in his own compositions put the music of Norway in the international spectrum. He is the most celebrated person from the city of Bergen, with numerous statues depicting his image, and many cultural entities named after him
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edvard_Grieg

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Ole Kristian Ruud (born 2 October 1958, Lillestrøm) is a Norwegian conductor. He studied clarinet with Richard Kjelstrup at the Norwegian Academy of Music, and studied conducting at the Sibelius Academy. Ruud was principal conductor of the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra and Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. He has been professor of conducting at the Norwegian Academy of Music since 1999. In 2005, he completed recording the complete orchestral works of Grieg with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, for BIS records.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ole_Kristian_Ruud

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