Edvard Grieg - Peer Gynt Suites; etc. (Ole Kristian Ruud)

Information

Composer: Edvard Grieg

1. Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 , Op. 46: I. Morning Mood
2. Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 , Op. 46: II. The Death of Aase
3. Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 , Op. 46: III. Anitra's Dance
4. Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 , Op. 46: IV. In the Hall of the Mountain King
5. Peer Gynt Suite No. 2, Op. 55: I. The Abduction of the Bride. Ingrid's Lament
6. Peer Gynt Suite No. 2, Op. 55: II. Arabian Dance
7. Peer Gynt Suite No. 2, Op. 55: III. Peer Gynt's Homecoming (Stormy Evening on the Sea)
8. Peer Gynt Suite No. 2, Op. 55: IV. Solveig's Song
9. Funeral March in Memory of Rikard Nordraak
10. Old Norwegian Melody with Variations, Op. 51
11. Bell Ringing, Op. 54 No. 6

Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
Ole Kristian Ruud, conductor
Date: 2006
Label: BIS
http://bis.se/conductors/ruud-ole-kristian/grieg-peer-gynt-suites

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Review

A home-grown, laid-back approach to Grieg that misses out on the drama

The longest single work here, the Old Norwegian Melody, is a late and elusive score. Beecham, always adept in variation form, made a 1950s recording (EMI, 4/99) at a time when the RPO was at its peak, treating the music as a kind of Norwegian Pictures at an Exhibition. Grieg, who himself considered the piece “difficult to make into a well integrated whole”, talked of “a kind of drama” and described the physical excitement he wanted to feel in a performance - and berated a contemporary conductor for taking 23 minutes. Ruud takes more than 24, and mellow and clear as the Bergen orchestra sounds in its own fabled acoustic, that “drama” of the score eludes them.

A similar restraint makes their Peer Gynt suites worthy rather than essential. After starting the “Mountain King” at a very slow tempo, Ruud and his brass certainly frighten us at the end. Elsewhere, a cool beauty - however idiomatic the timbre of the playing - does not always provide the greatest dividends. Even the progressive orchestral sound effects of Bell Ringing (Grieg's eventful orchestration of one of his Lyric Pieces) feel reported rather than experienced.

The Norwegian composer Rikard Nordraak died in his twenties; time enough, though, to have been a vital influence on Grieg and his (and others') search for a genuinely national music. The Funeral March, heard here in a version for large wind band that was revised three times, is one of Grieg's major compositions. It receives a superlative performance, somewhat redressing the balance of a collection which, although recorded and played with a fine consistency, rarely rivals the best the catalogue has to offer.

-- Mike Ashman, Gramophone

More reviews:
MusicWeb International  RECORDING OF THE MONTH
ClassicsToday  ARTISTIC QUALITY: 9 / SOUND QUALITY: 10
http://www.allmusic.com/album/grieg-peer-gynt-suites-mw0001853357
https://www.amazon.com/Peer-Gynt-Suites-Greig/dp/B000IZJ1OS

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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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