Morning: The Timeless Music of GriegABC Classics 476 5326TPT: 67’04”reviewed by Alice Woode
If you’ve had a terrible day at the office, this is just the sort of recording to unwind to with its track after track of some of the most gentle music ever written. Edvard Grieg, a diminutive figure who, as he aged, looked more and more like a superannuated pixie, was a dab hand when it came to writing music that enshrined noisy climaxes – but some of his most endearing ideas for the listener more often than not relate to music that soothes the ear rather than assaulting it. Norwegian-born Grieg whose forbears came from Scotland, was particularly sensitive to nature in its varying moods and his exquisite Morning Mood from his incidental music to Peer Gynt would surely charm even the grumpiest listener. Is there a lovelier depiction of sunrise? The Death of Ase is profoundly moving, too, its poignant essence captured like a moth in the gentlest of hands by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra under the direction of David Stanhope. Roger Woodward is a keyboard virtuoso in the grandest of grand manners – but he is no less adept in his interpretations of introverted music. Listen to Woodland Peace. With notes clothed in golden tone, it is lulling in the gentlest sense. Much the same can be said of Woodward’s reading of Berceuse in which notes reach the ear through a glowing sonic aura; the playing is masterly here. Last Spring is played by the TSO, again under the direction of David Stanhope, who coaxes from his forces a response that is the apotheosis of tenderness. There’s more magic in Ave, Maria Stella, beautifully sung by the Choir of Trinity College, University of Melbourne. The quality of harmonic tissue here is excellent. Soprano Yvonne Kenny is in fine form in I Love Thee, arguably Grieg’s best loved song to which this fine Australian musician brings a wealth of feeling. While the lion’s share of this compilation is devoted to music that soothes, for listeners who might want something in rather more jovial mood, then listen to track 9. Here, David Stanhope puts aside his conductor’s baton and turns to the piano in Wedding Day at Troldhaugen which comes across in the most engagingly high-spirited way. Another delight is Simon Tedeschi’s account of the slow movement from Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor, arguably the most loved work of its kind in the concerto canon. This recording is one of a series of CDs on the ABC Classics label devoted to The Timeless Music of…………. Copyright 2007 Alice Woode
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