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Grieg - Holberg Suite

Composer Edvard Grieg
Performer Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
Ole Kristian Ruud, conductor
Period Romantic
Catalogue Number BIS-1491 SACD
EAN 7318599914916
Format SACD Hybrid

This hybrid disc plays on both CD and SACD players
SACD Surround - SACD Stereo - CD Stereo

Release date Nov 2005
Total time 59'15


Classics Today 10/10; Penguin Guide Key recording; International Record Review: outstanding.

Gathered on this disc are all of Grieg's works for string orchestra, together with Evening in the Mountains from Op. 68, which also features oboe and horn. All of them are the composer's own arrangements, of some of his most popular songs or piano pieces.
At the time, they functioned as vehicles for Grieg himself as a conductor - the role he usually filled on his many international concert appearances. As other similar works from the same period, they weren't necessarily composed for small ensembles - in many cases the number of divisi parts presupposes a fairly large string orchestra in order to get a full sound.
Here it is the strings of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra who amply fulfil any expectations that the orchestra's previous Grieg recordings will have given rise to: the full-bodied sound of a large orchestra's string section combined with the fleetness and rhythmic flexibility of a chamber ensemble. This is especially clear in movements such as the Rigaudon of the Holberg Suite, Grieg's paraphrase on the 18th century dance suite and one of his most well-loved pieces.
About our recently released Peer Gynt, MusicWeb International wrote ‘these discs provide a wonderfully refreshing view of Grieg’s music, in fine idiomatic performances’ while Sigurd Jorsalfar, an earlier disc in the series, earned the following words from the reviewer from Classics Today.com: ‘I can't imagine finer interpretations than those offered by conductor Ole Kristian Ruud and a clearly energized Bergen Philharmonic.’ On this disc, Ole Kristian Ruud and the Bergen strings again give us performances that are as fresh as the dew on a Norwegian mountain top, while remaining firmly rooted in a Grieg tradition that no orchestra could know better than this one, Grieg's own.
 
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  Edvard Grieg
  Holberg Suite (Fra Holbergs tid), Op.40 19'58
01 I. Prelude 2'43
02 II. Sarabande 4'00
03 III. Gavotte 3'48
04 IV. Air 5'35
05 V. Rigaudon 3'52
 
  Two Elegiac Melodies (To elegiske melodier), Op.34 8'50
06 I. The Wounded Heart (Hjertesår) 3'14
07 II. Last Spring (Våren) 5'36
 
  Two Melodies (To melodier), Op.53 9'03
08 I. Norwegian (Norsk) 4'26
09 II. The First Meeting (Det förste Möte) 4'37
 
  Two Nordic Melodies (To nordiska melodier), Op.63 11'52
10 1. Popular Song (I folketonestil) 7'24
11 II. Cow Keepers´ Tune and Country Dance (Kulokk & Stabbelåten) 4'28
 
  Two Lyric Pieces (To lyriske stykker), Op.68 7'42
12 I. Evening in the Mountains (Aften på Höyfjellet) 3'55
13 II. At the Cradle (Bådnlåt) 3'47
 
  Album total 59'15
ConductorRuud, Ole Kristian
ComposerGrieg, Edvard
OrchestraBergen Philharmonic Orchestra

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