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GRIEG - Piano Concerto (Jorge Bolet)

Posted by John C. - Aussie (A) on April 6, 2015 at 23:57:09

This concerto was the first I ever purchased so has some sentimental value. That performance was by Walter Gieseking (wait for it) on three 78 rpm shellac discs. The introduction to it was at school where a group of us had a spare period so were assembled in a room to hear this concerto over and over again via a wind up gramophone.

Smitten by the music I approached the lady in the record store who "happened" to have disc one for sale. Well of course that was bait so the pennies were scratched together for disc 2 and ultimately disc 3. I then had the complete work to listen to at home on our family wind up gramophone :-)

I must confess to have avoided this standard classical fare lately but today decided to give the Bolet disc a listen. I had actually heard the man at a concert many years ago and was intrigued by his young wife up in the balcony with us, cuddling a stuffed toy. What pieces of music were played escapes the memory as it was 30 years ago but I digress.

Initially I was a bit taken aback by the relatively slow and deliberate tempos Bolet used for the Grieg (and also the Schumann) but soon appreciated the clarity of his playing and came away with a very positive impression. The audio quality is excellent on this Decca disc, giving prominence and gratifying forward balance to the piano relative to the orchestra. In this I find recordings more satisfying than live concerts as the piano often got lost in orchestral sound at the two Grieg piano concerto performances I attended. But then one's seat in the auditorium can make a huge difference so one must be careful not to generalise.

Tastes vary enormously so many could find Bolet's approach to these two concertos pedantic and too measured but bottom line is I thoroughly enjoyed them and was interested to later discover other reviewers felt the same.

The best coupling of these two concertos in this collection is that of Mariss Jansons, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Leif Ove Andsnes on the piano, but the Bolet disc (no longer at Amazon but many on e-bay at low prices) is an interesting contrast. So, recommended, with caution.

John

What can be more subjective than music? It reflects our personal tastes and preferences.

• The Leif Ove Andsnes disc at Amazon   (Open in New Window)

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