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Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Edvard Grieg - Lyric Music (Claire Booth; Christopher Glynn)


Information

Composer: Edvard Grieg
  1. Den hvide, røde Rose, EG137
  2. Norwegisch (from Lyric Pieces Book I. Op. 12)
  3. Volkweise (from Lyric Pieces Book I. Op. 12)
  4. Mens jeg venter (from Digte, Op. 60)
  5. Sylphe (from Lyric Pieces Book VII, Op. 62)
  6. Med en Vandlilje Ibsensangene, Op. 25
  7. Sommerfugl (from Lyric Pieces Book III, Op. 43)
  8. Melodi (from Lyric Pieces Book IV, Op. 47)
  9. Prinsessen, EG133
  10. Dulgt Kjærlighed from Romancer, Op. 39
  11. Hjemad (from Lyric Pieces Book VII, Op. 62)
  12. Haugtussa, Op. 67: I. Det Syng
  13. Haugtussa, Op. 67: II. Veslemøy
  14. Haugtussa, Op. 67: III. Blåbaer-Li
  15. Haugtussa, Op. 67: IV. Møte
  16. Haugtussa, Op. 67: V. Elsk
  17. Haugtussa, Op. 67: VI. Killingdans
  18. Haugtussa, Op. 67: VII. Vond Dag
  19. Haugtussa, Op. 67: VIII. Ved Gjætle-Bekken
  20. Drömmesyn (from Lyric Pieces Book VII, Op. 62)
  21. Jeg elsker Dig (from Hjertets melodier, Op. 5)
  22. Når jeg vil dø (from Elegiske Digte, Op. 59)
  23. Den Ærgjerrige (from Fem Digte, Op. 26)
  24. Svundne Dage (from Lyric Pieces Book VI, Op. 57)
  25. Ved en ung Hustrus Båre (from Romancer, Op. 39)
  26. Klokkeklang (from Lyric Pieces Book VI, Op. 54)
  27. Stambogsrim (from Ibsensangene, Op. 25)
  28. Arietta (from Lyric Pieces Book I, Op. 12)

Claire Booth, soprano
Christopher Glynn, piano

Date: 2019
Label: Avie Records
http://www.avie-records.com/releases/edvard-grieg-lyric-music/

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Review

As with September’s Recording of the Month (from the pianist Denis Kozhukhin), Grieg’s Lyric Pieces are once more brought out of their turn-of-the-19th-century cupboard to share a recital programme, this time with Grieg himself as song-writer. According to a note by the performers themselves, this strong and rare idea was suggested by research into Grieg’s own recital programmes on tour with his soprano wife Nina Hagerup. Those concerts were noted for a lively presentation which nicely upset the otherwise rather sacred atmosphere of such events at the time, especially in Britain.
Booth and Glynn are certainly on fire here. The solo piano items tell a real story – Grieg’s very own ‘Lieder ohne Worte’. It’s a bonus for gramophone collectors if you compare the result with the still special Emil Gilels DG selection or the recordings by Leif Ove Andsnes (EMI/Warner, 4/02). These tend to emphasise the serious classical, Leipzig-trained formality of the music as opposed to the storytelling pictures and echoes of folk-like leanings. Whereas the Lyric Pieces chosen and performed here stand up clearly as miniature symphonic poems – and you’re positively anticipating Booth to be joining in at any moment to amplify Glynn’s solo numbers. Moreover, their selection of songs, with its dips into the higher poetry of Grieg’s two contemporaries – playwrights Bjørnson (‘The White and the Red Rose’, ‘The Princess’) and Ibsen (‘With a Waterlily’, ‘Album Lines’), both sometime collaborators of his – complements and ups the ante on the more everyday tales of nature and frustrated love.

In this context the placing of the cycle Haugtussa in the middle of the programme is inspired. Booth here goes all out – not unlike Katerina Karnéus before her (Hyperion, 10/08) – to capture the yearnings and frustrations of the shepherd girl with a truly contemporary lack of inhibition. The historic performances by Kirsten Flagstad (Decca, Naxos) sound emotionally prim in comparison, an effect emphasised by the then habitual placing of the singer so far forwards. Like Anne Sofie von Otter’s DG performance (6/93), the engineering places Booth in the middle of her accompaniment. Such a performance and balance helps to push the still undervalued dramatic status of Haugtussa across any language barrier – and Booth also enjoys detail like the spiky sounds in the comic, and often cheeky, names of the girl’s goats in ‘The Kid’s Dance’.

This new recital, strongly recommended, contributes greatly to the catalogues as a kind of heightened guide both to Grieg’s song-writing and the still unsuspected range of his Lyric Pieces.

-- Mike Ashman, Gramophone

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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, as well as helping to develop a national identity, like Sibelius and Dvořák for their own countries. 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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British soprano Claire Booth has become internationally renowned both for her commitment to an extraordinary breadth of repertoire, and for the vitality and musicianship that she brings to the operatic stage and concert platform. Her numerous concert appearances have resulted in close associations with the BBC Symphony and the BBC Proms, City of Birmingham Symphony, Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Ensemble Intecontemporain, the Aldeburgh and Holland Festivals and other recent debut appearances with both the Berlin Deutsche Symphonie, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony and the London Philharmonic.
http://www.claire-booth.com/

***

Christopher Glynn (born 5 September 1974 in Leicester) is an English classical pianist and festival director. Glynn studied piano with John Streets in France and Malcolm Martineau at the Royal Academy of Music. He is especially noted for his work as an accompanist with many leading classical singers, including Claire Booth, Bernarda Fink, Jonas Kaufmann, Dame Felicity Lott, and Bryn Terfel. Glynn has performed at venues including Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Royal Opera House, Aldeburgh Festival and the BBC Proms. He is also Artistic Director of the Ryedale Festival.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Glynn
http://www.cglynn.com/

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