Grieg: 25 Norwegian Folksongs & Dances, Op. 17

“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

“These are the first four volumes of a complete Grieg cycle which stretches to no fewer than 14 discs. Since they are all at super-budget price they make a very competitive alternative to other complete or near-complete surveys. Einar Steen-Nøkleberg came into prominence during the 1970s and won numerous Norwegian and other prizes. He was professor of the piano at the Hanover Musikhochschule for a number of years and is the author of a monograph on Grieg's piano music and its interpretation.
8 550881: The first disc juxtaposes early pieces, the Sonata, Op 7, the Op 6 Humoresques and the Funeral March for Rikard Nordraak, all written in the mid-1890s with his very last piano work, Stimmungen (or 'Moods'), Op 73. He plays these bold and original pieces with great flair and understanding. Whatever its limitations there's much greater range in Grieg's piano music than is commonly realised and Steen-Nøkleberg is attuned to the whole spectrum it covers, whether in the Bartókian 'Mountaineer's Song' from the Op 73 to the charm and innocence of the Allegretto con grazia, the third of the Humoresques, Op 6. 8 550882: The 19Norwegian Folksongs (1896) are remarkable pieces as Grieg himself knew. He wrote to the Dutch composer, Julius Röntgen, of having 'put some hair-raising chromatic chords on paper.
The excuse is that they originated not on the piano but in my mind.' Readers will recognise No 14 as the source of the theme for Delius's Onhearing the first cuckoo in spring. Steen-Nøkleberg plays them with great tonal finesse and consummate artistry.
8 550883: The most substantial work on this disc is the Ballade which Grieg wrote on his parents' death. This recording can hold its own with the best in this healthy area of the catalogue – even if there are moments when Steen-Nøkleberg seems too discursive. Yet what an imaginative colour he produces in the Adagio variation when the music suddenly melts pianissimo.8 550884: The Norwegian Peasant Dances are amazing pieces for their period, and though their audacity and dissonance were later overtaken by Bartók, they still retain their capacity to surprise. The playing conveys the extraordinary character and originality of these pieces as do few others. The smaller pieces contained on this disc – as well as on its companions – are full of rewards.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010