Grieg: Peer Gynt; Symphonic Dance No. 2; In Autumn; Old Norwegian Folksong with Variations

Grieg: Peer Gynt; Symphonic Dance No. 2; In Autumn; Old Norwegian Folksong with Variations

Grieg: Peer Gynt; Symphonic Dance No. 2; In Autumn; Old Norwegian Folksong with Variations
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CD Details

Composer: Edvard Grieg
Conductor: Thomas Beecham
Performer: Beecham Choral Society
Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Performer: Ilse Hollweg
Edition: Music CD
Format: Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 1999-01-12
Music Label: EMI Classics
Soundtracks:
  1. 'Peer Gynt' - Incidental Music: Wedding March
  2. 'Peer Gynt' - Incidental Music: Ingrid's Lament
  3. 'Peer Gynt' - Incidental Music: In The Hall Of The Mountain King
  4. 'Peer Gynt' - Incidental Music: Morning
  5. 'Peer Gynt' - Incidental Music: Ase's Death
  6. 'Peer Gynt' - Incidental Music: Arabian Dance
  7. 'Peer Gynt' - Incidental Music: Solveig's Song
  8. 'Peer Gynt' - Incidental Music: Anitra's Dance
  9. 'Peer Gynt' - Incidental Music: Return of Peer Gynt - Storm Scene
  10. 'Peer Gynt' - Incidental Music: Solveig's Lullaby
  11. Symphonic Dance, Op.64 No.2
  12. Concert Overture 'In Autumn', Op.11
  13. An Old Norwegian Folksong With Variations, Op.51

Music reviews of Grieg: Peer Gynt; Symphonic Dance No. 2; In Autumn; Old Norwegian Folksong with Variations

Music Review: A CLASS ACT
Rating: 5 Stars

Much as I dislike the word, it's simplest to use it - Beecham had class. I do not believe I can even think of anything he ever did badly, or anything that is lacking in grace and elegance. There is strength there too, and obviously a touch (or more than just a touch) of arrogance. He was no great enthusiast for Bach, Beethoven or Brahms, and it's hard not to suspect that this was at least partly because these gardens of the muses were particularly well-tended by so many others. He was impatient and easily exasperated by Bruckner and Vaughan Williams, and I have to confess so am I. That left a great deal for Beecham to outshine all others in, and here he is outshining them all in Grieg's Peer Gynt.

It does not seem to me that Grieg is even remotely equal to the theme of Ibsen's Peer Gynt, which I believe rivals the story of Faust itself in its contemplation of the issues of love, death and redemption. Grieg does not have the `size' for that. What he is able to do is embroider the theme with musical numbers that are by turns picturesque, sentimental and sometimes even deeply felt beyond mere sentiment. It is a kind of music that called up Beecham's special wizardry in particular. The opening wedding march has the familiar Beecham swagger, the trolls in the Hall of the Mountain King are almost worthy of Peter Jackson, the hackneyed Morning breaks like the first morning, and Ase's death strikes a deeper note. Here the composer actually does get somewhere close, in a simplified way, to the complex tenderness and pathos of the scene where Gynt eases the worn-out old woman out of this world. The orchestral tone Beecham obtains near the end, and the exquisite timing of the final chords, are things worth getting this disc for on their own. Ilse Hollweg as Solveig is quite outstanding in the famous Solveig's Song and in the final lullaby.

For its time the recorded quality is quite extraordinarily good. Beecham was particularly adept at obtaining good recordings, by what combination of personal magnetism and outright intimidation I don't know although it's probably easy to guess. There is a fine little selection of makeweights bringing the playing time of the set to an hour and a quarter.

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