Bergen Philharmonic/Edward Gardner et al
Chandos CHSA 5301 63:48 mins
Grieg’s dances may not be as symphonic as Rachmaninov’s, of which Edward Gardner is a vivid interpreter. The melodies aren’t his own, either, and there are reams of repeats. But what he does with folk material is so enchanting that, in this beautiful incarnation with the Bergen players delivering so freshly and responding so well to Gardner’s rhythmic drive in the livelier sequences, you’ll be compelled throughout.
The tunes chosen are all winners and palpably Norwegian; loveliest of all is the oboe melody – not the famous one, from the earlier Norwegian Dances, but equally fine – which weathers its four appearances most attractively.
Most Grieg compendiums include oddities, among which the ‘melodrama’ Bergliot, to an olde-Norse heroic scenario by his distinguished friend Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, is strangely compelling. The speaker holds sway for the most part, Juni Dahr mesmerising as the widow of the slain Tambarskjelve, beaten by Harald Hardrada. The orchestra comes to the fore in three plaintive laments, more original perhaps than the early Funeral March for Grieg’s friend and fellow composer Rikard Nordraak.
Conviction wins the brief Before a Southern Convent a place in the sun. It’s a scene from Bjørnson’s Arnljot Gelline in which a chieftain’s daughter seeks refuge among Italian nuns after the murder of her father, but carries its own revelation without any further necessary context. Soprano Mari Eriksmoen and mezzo Astrid Nordstad set the dramatic mood from the start, and the female chorus, uncredited in the booklet, sings with conviction. Faultless performances in very natural sound throughout.
