Disky’s budget Royal Long Players series normally touts back burner stuff–outdated performances of questionable artistic merit–but if you’re after ‘Grieg’s Greatest Hits’ and not troubled by the absence of music notes, this set might suit your needs. Disc I is devoted to Paavo Berglund’s orderly readings of the first and second Peer Gynt Suites, Op. 46 and 55, and Grieg’s under-rated Op. 64 Symphonic Dances. Sure, these aren’t in the ‘must have’ category of Rachmaninov’s, but Berglund finds substance and drama in these pieces, based on Nordic folk melodies. The playing of the Bournemouth Symphony isn’t world class, but it’s amply secure and responsive, particularly in Anitra’s Dance from the first Peer Gynt Suite. Despite an effectively judged crescendo in the Mountain King’s hall, there remains a degree of impersonal detachment here (try Ingrid’s Lament or the Death of Ase). If you need this music, the scope is almost limitless, but Herbert Blomstedt’s San Francisco Symphony performance stands out for its elegant shaping of Grieg’s melodies (particularly the slower and more introspective ones) as well as the clarity and sonic impact of Decca’s engineering.
The rest of this set is largely forgettable: you might have preferred more than just two Grieg songs from Schwarzkopf and Parsons, and fewer bottom-drawer orchestral fragments. Though Paul Tortelier’s idiosyncratic reading of the Holberg Suite is heard complete, it’s just as dispensable as Gina Bachauer’s trudging 1960 performance of the perennial piano concerto. In the latter, bargain hunters need look no further than Jeno Jando’s Naxos version (the coupling is the Schumann, but don’t confuse this with his earlier Grieg recording for Laserlight). Jando keeps the music powerfully on course without relying on the familiar over-indulgent vagaries that have often tested this concerto’s credibility down the years. In sum, given the competition this is a mixed bag, a somewhat dubious bargain.
