Grieg: Funeral March: Rikard Nordraak in memoriam

“[this disc] should really be heard not only by all admirers of this composer but also by his detractors...in terms of tempos and of internal orchestral balance, Aadland places this music on altogether a higher plane than it usually occupies, and obtains really fine playing from the West German Radio Symphony Orchestra of Cologne. This is notable music-making” International Record Review, July/August 2011

“Aadland is a native of Grieg's Bergen, steeped through his family in the Norwegian folk-music tradition...To the WDR players he has communicated a lightness of touch and a fine Grieg balance in which the winds sing out almost like concertante soloists...With recording matching the scale of the music-making, Aadland's new cycle...has hit the ground running.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2011

“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

“The playing is full of imagination, character and sensitivity and the recordings... are very natural too. I would recommend them strongly even had they been at full price.” Gramophone Magazine