All recordingsPrices shown exclude VAT. (UK tax is not payable for deliveries to United States.) See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Im Freien
Nils Anders Morensen (piano) | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Richard Farrell - The Complete Recordings, Volume 1
Fifty years ago on a country road near Arundel, Sussex, a car unaccountably left the road and hit a tree, killing all three of the vehicle's occupants. One of the passengers in the car was Richard Farrell. Richard was just starting an amazing career as a concert pianist. In 1956 he made what was to be his last tour of New Zealand. By this time he was tackling some of the mountain-peaks of the pianistic repertoire in his programmes - things like the Brahms F Minor Sonata and the "Handel" Variations, Ravel's "Gaspard de la Nuit", Chopin's Op.10 Etudes, and some Liszt transcriptions and paraphrases. As well, with the New Zealand National Orchestra, whose work with conductor James Robertson he praised, he played the "Emperor", and the Ravel Left-Hand Concerto. That same year Farrell had commenced what seemed a highly promising recording career in England with Pye Records, beginning with a coupling of the Grieg and Liszt E-flat concertos in which he was partnered by the Halle Orchestra under George Weldon. These two concertos are on this recording. “This music is wonderfully inventive, and Farrell brings out all the poetry and melancholy and humourin
a performance that could hardly be bettered.” Gramophone Magazine, April 1959 (on Grieg’s Ballade) “I enjoyed his playing very much, for he has what is today the rare virtue of being able to play slowly. Though he often tosses off quick passages at conventional speeds (and he has plenty of technique), he
always plays slow movements and slow sections of movements considerably slower than almost every other pianist listed above. And yet he is neither sentimental nor dull ; his playing, on the contrary, is
movingly contemplative and poetic.” Gramophone Magazine, July 1957 (on the Grieg Piano Concerto) | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Ballad for Edvard Grieg
“Andsnes is undoubtedly one of the finest living exponents of Grieg's… His masterly live performance in the Grieg Hall at Bergen is followed by a superb account of the evergreen Piano Concerto.” Gramophone Magazine, April 2008 “we learn a great deal about Grieg and his music and, if this is not a documentary to return to more than once or twice, the performances which follow are all outstanding, and are not duplicated on Andsnes's CDs...The recording is of high quality and the video direction is excellent.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Leif Ove Andsnes - Ballad for Edvard GriegPLEASE NOTE: These are great recordings but they are not new. This disc, issued in september 2007 is simply a re-issue of parts of 5575622 and 5572962. In our opinion the cover is mis-leading in this respect.
“I always feel a sense of homecoming when I perform Grieg yet I don’t think that this is necessarily because I am Norwegian. Grieg’s music has a universal feeling - a sense of drawing the listener in - and that is probably why he remains Norway’s most eminent composer even now, 100 years after his death.” Leif Ove Andsnes Lyric Pieces, recorded on Grieg’s own piano at his house in Troldhaugen, just outside Bergen “Andsnes is an aristocrat among pianists who has the gift of uncovering new depths without any loss of spontaneity of the slightest trace of artifice.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2007 ***** “How hard it is to over-praise the vitality and distinction of this princely pianist… His authority and finesse are total. Finely recorded, this disc is the best possible introduction to Grieg's range and character in his piano music.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2007 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Grieg: Chasing the Butterfly
Sigurd Slåttebrekk (Grieg's own piano at Troldhaugen), Edvard Grieg (piano, 1903 acoustic recordings) Tony Harrison (creative director) On this fascinating new release pianist Sigurd Slåttebrekk has attempted to recreate the performance of Edvard Grieg’s own pioneering acoustic recording from 1903 of several of his solo pieces. The session was recorded on Grieg’s own 1892 Steinway at Troldhaugen. On the bonus second CD he is joined by the Oslo Philharmonic and conductor Michail Jurowski in a performance of Grieg’s Piano Concerto. Sigurd Slåttebrekk has previously released acclaimed recordings of Ravel and Schumann, co-created the animated TV-series "Elias" for children (Emmy nomination 2006) and is now finishing his thesis on late 19th Century pianist performing styles. Tony Harrison is a classical music producer regarded as among the foremost and most creative in his field today. The 1903 acoustic recordings of Grieg playing nine of his own piano pieces are well known. Sigurd Slåttebrekk and creative director Tony Harrison were drawn to the artistic quality of the playing itself, and this evolved into a historic pioneering project of 'musical archaeology', reviving a performance tradition from over a hundred years ago. They have listened in depth to each detail of Grieg's own playing and tried to imitate the performances at Grieg's piano at Troldhaugen. Slåttebrekk has not only recorded the pieces Grieg himself made, he has also further applied what he has learned about Grieg’s approach to performance in his completion of the Sonata in E minor, and the epic Ballade in G minor. “Primitive recording technology had previously rendered these precious historical documents musically indecipherable, but thanks to the painstaking efforts of producer Tony Harrison they now sound amazingly vivid...Slåttebrekk has fully absorbed Grieg's fresh and engaging interpretative approach, and imaginatively applies it to his own marvellous performances” BBC Music Magazine, April 2011 ***** “Slåttebrekk has painstakingly and brilliantly mimicked every last inflection, nuance and tempo employed by Grieg. Flick between the two men playing the same tracks and, if it weren't for the hiss over the 1903 version, you'd struggle to tell them apart. Slåttebrekk's overall aim was more than mimicry though...His reading of the Piano Concerto, recorded without a 1903 version to imitate, demonstrates his success, positively crackling with freshness and vitality.” Classic FM Magazine, May 2011 ***** “The performances by Sigurd Slåtterbrekk stem from a forensic examination of those recordings, during which every nuance of Grieg's playing was studied.” The Guardian, 31st March 2011 *** “This is a strange set, but a curiously compelling one as well...Just how exactly the two pianists match one another can be judged from a bit of studio trickery in which the well-known Wedding Day at Troldhaugen splices their performances together...this is certainly a project that gets you thinking.” The Telegraph, 7th April 2011 **** “[The performances] seek to emulate rather than imitate...Tempi are invariably on the brisk side and Grieg's own performances, heard very much through a glass darkly, are of a zest, freshness and freedom that themselves are at the heart of Slåttebrekk's playing...these performances are of a moving poetic empathy and musical devotion.” Gramophone Magazine, June 2011 BBC Music Magazine
Instrumental Choice - April 2011 |
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| |  | Great Norwegian Performers 1945-2000, Volume 2
Chopin: | Impromptu No. 1 in A flat major, Op. 29 Nocturne No. 5 in F sharp major, Op. 15 No. 2 Mazurka No. 15 in C major, Op. 24 No. 2 | Grieg: | Ballade in G minor, Op. 24 Lyric Pieces Op. 43: No. 6 - To Spring | Kjerulf: | Spring Song, Op. 28, No. 5 | Rachmaninov: | Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43 Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Mariss Jansons | Scarlatti, D: | Keyboard Sonata K33 in D Major Keyboard Sonata K13 in G major | Sinding: | Frühlingsrauschen (Rustle of Spring), Op. 32 No 3 |
One of the most notable musicians in post-war Norway, Eva Knardahl was a vibrant and spirited figure in the musical life of the nation, performing, participating in public debate, and involving herself in various boards and committees. She was justly referred to as a breath of fresh air, both with regard to the richness of her musical expressivity, and to the manner in which she ardently defended her views. Eva Knardahl gave her official debut recital at the age of eleven and immediately came to the attention of the Norwegian public. At her debut concert she performed no less than three piano concertos, and it was soon clear that hers was a unique gift. Following studies with, amongst others, Mary Barratt Due, in 1947 at the age of 27 she moved to the USA. In 1952 she took up the post of pianist with the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra, and soon became recognised as the foremost artist on the instrument in that area of the United States. In 1965 she was encouraged to return to her native Norway by the conductor Karsten Andersen, and the next period of her life can be divided into two sections, the first being from 1965 to 1984 when she performed as a soloist, and the second from 1984 to1994 when she held the post of professor of chamber music at the Norwegian Academy of Music. Although her repertoire as a pianist included the concertos of Brahms, Beethoven and Mozart, as a result of her time in the States, the modern American piano tradition was very much in her veins, and she was a great champion of works like Leonard Bernstein’s 2nd Symphony, “The Age of Anxiety”. Her recordings of the complete works solo piano by Grieg for BIS in the 70’s are still considered to be amongst the best. | | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
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| |  | Grieg - Orchestral Music Volume 2
“…the combination of spontaneous, winning interpretations, terrific playing, great sound, and the rarity of some of the arrangements makes this offering completely irresistible.” Classics Today | | | (also available to download from $6.00) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Grieg: Works for Piano, Vol. 3
Antonio Pompa-Baldi (piano) | |
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| |  | Grieg - The Complete Piano Music, Volume 6
| | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Grieg: Piano Music Vol. 3
Einar Steen-Nokleberg (piano) “Einar Steen-Nokleberg has risen to the demands made on him. His playing is crisp and clear, brilliant when brilliance is needed, and he also has a feeling for the tender wistfulness and warmth, which surely Grieg put at the heart of his music” Classic CD | | | (also available to download from $6.00) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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