Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite No. 2, Op. 55

Edvard Grieg wanted to give Norway its unique voice within European concert repertoire, and he did that with songs, piano pieces, and particularly with his symphonic works, to be released by Audite in a 5-volume complete recording with Eivind Aadland and the WDR Symphony Orchestra.

This first SACD presents Grieg’s principal collections: his four Symphonic Dances of 1898, where the composer draws on his experiences as a conductor of the leading European orchestras; and his two suites from the incidental music to Henrik Ibsen’s drama Peer Gynt, the story of the “Nordic Faust” which inspired Grieg to compose a sonic panorama of the Norwegian character: from the melancholy song of the abandoned Solveig to the furious chase in the Hall of the Mountain King.

Eivind Aadland’s roots in the Norwegian folk tradition audibly influence his interpretations. He comes from a family where folk music played an important role and as a child he came into intensive contact with Grieg’s music. Aadland was chief conductor and artistic director of the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra from 2003 until 2010 and has also worked with many other international orchestras. He initially studied the violin with Yehudi Menuhin and from 1981 until 1989 he was concert master of the Bergen Philharmonic. From 1987 until 1997 he was music director of the European Union Chamber Orchestra. He has subsequently devoted himself fully to his conducting career and studies with Jorma Panula.

Parallel to the release of the first SACD, a video will be available which will be also presented on www.audite. de. The second volume is scheduled for release in August.

The composer Edvard Grieg was at the forefront of a flourishing of creativity that took place in Scandinavian culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, alongside his contemporaries, Nielsen and Sibelius.

His imagination was particularly fired by the folk music and stories of his native Norway; it is, therefore, unsurprising that the music that resulted from this passion is some of his most popular with listeners. One such example is Peer Gynt, incidental music composed for Henrik Ibsen’s play, based on the Norwegian folk tale Per Gynt. Although the play itself met with a mixed reception, Grieg’s music, extracted and turned into two orchestral suites in 1888 and 1891, has become a staple of the concert hall – there cannot be many listeners unfamiliar with the fantastical sounds of ‘In the Hall of the Mountain King’ or the sublime evocation of sunrise in ‘Morning Mood’.

Conductors Gennady Rozhdestvensky and Dmitri Kitayenko share the conducting honours on this wonderful release of Grieg’s most popular orchestral compositions. The USSR Radio Orchestra and the Moscow Philharmonic Chamber Symphony Orchestral revel in these concert hall perennials!