CD REVIEW: Peer Gynt
CD REVIEWS
by Sarah Bryan Miller
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 26, 2005
Edvard Grieg's incidental music to Ibsen's play Peer Gynt is familiar from the two orchestral suites he arranged from it. But there's much more to this score -- from folk fiddling to choral singing -- than you get from the suites, which sound almost anemic once you've heard the original versions.
I first got to know the more complete version from a now-out-of- print recording by Edo de Waart and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, from the early 1980s; it was a revelation. This one has better sound and a more idiomatic treatment; it also has three additional selections, for a full hour of music.
The real differences come in the sections that were written for singers. Solveigs sang (Solveig's Song) is occasionally heard with a soprano soloist, but I Dovregubbens hall (In the Hall of the Mountain King) is far more exciting when it builds up to the chorus entrance, exploding with Slagt ham! (Kill him!). Purely instrumental versions just don't cut it after you've heard that, and it's a mystery why anyone with access to the original would waste time on the "Music Minus One (Group)" arrangement.
Paavo Jarvi has a wonderful feel for the score, and he has superb collaborators for this recording. Mezzo-soprano Charlotte Hellekant sings lusciously as Anitra, and soprano Camilla Tilling is a sweet- but-resolute Solveig. There's also some robust vocalism from baritone Peter Mattei. The fine Ellerhein Girls' Choir and the Estonian National Male Choir are well-supported by the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra.
The difference between the suites and this recording is like the difference between white bread and whole grain; there's just so much more substance here. Highly recommended.
by Sarah Bryan Miller
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 26, 2005
Edvard Grieg's incidental music to Ibsen's play Peer Gynt is familiar from the two orchestral suites he arranged from it. But there's much more to this score -- from folk fiddling to choral singing -- than you get from the suites, which sound almost anemic once you've heard the original versions.
I first got to know the more complete version from a now-out-of- print recording by Edo de Waart and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, from the early 1980s; it was a revelation. This one has better sound and a more idiomatic treatment; it also has three additional selections, for a full hour of music.
The real differences come in the sections that were written for singers. Solveigs sang (Solveig's Song) is occasionally heard with a soprano soloist, but I Dovregubbens hall (In the Hall of the Mountain King) is far more exciting when it builds up to the chorus entrance, exploding with Slagt ham! (Kill him!). Purely instrumental versions just don't cut it after you've heard that, and it's a mystery why anyone with access to the original would waste time on the "Music Minus One (Group)" arrangement.
Paavo Jarvi has a wonderful feel for the score, and he has superb collaborators for this recording. Mezzo-soprano Charlotte Hellekant sings lusciously as Anitra, and soprano Camilla Tilling is a sweet- but-resolute Solveig. There's also some robust vocalism from baritone Peter Mattei. The fine Ellerhein Girls' Choir and the Estonian National Male Choir are well-supported by the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra.
The difference between the suites and this recording is like the difference between white bread and whole grain; there's just so much more substance here. Highly recommended.
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