# SS 09.11.19 - Grieg "Symphony In C Minor"



## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

A continuation of the Saturday Symphonies Tradition:

Welcome to another weekend of symphonic listening!

For your listening pleasure this weekend:*

Edvard Grieg (1843 - 1907)*

Symphony In C Minor

1. Allegro molto
2. Adagio espressivo
3. Intermezzo: Allegro energico
4. Finale: Allegro molto vivace
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Post what recording you are going to listen to giving details of Orchestra / Conductor / Chorus / Soloists etc - Enjoy!


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## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

Another weekend is upon us and another Symphony is up for your listening enjoyment. This weekend it's Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg's only completed Symphony. I've only heard this one maybe once or twice before so I'm looking forward to checking it out again. I hope everyone else can join in.

I'll be listening to this one:




Neeme Jarvi/Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra


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## Malx (Jun 18, 2017)

I'm listening to this disc as I type:

Gothenburg SO, Okko Kamu.


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## D Smith (Sep 13, 2014)

I'll go for the Engeset/Malmo recording on Naxos.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

A story too good to pass up, and it may even be true. A comment from YouTube:

“Grieg wrote the symphony when he was 18 and later rejected it. He gave the score in manuscript to the Bergen library with the instructions that it should never be played again. Musicians were allowed to see it and study it, one of which was a Russian professor who made a photocopy and took it back to Russia and prepared a playing version. Hearing that the piece was being performed in Russia, Bergen decided to prepare an official version of the symphony and allow it to be performed. The Russian version was flawed because the photocopier didn't pick up the pencil corrections that Grieg wrote in the score. The official version included these corrections.

“I know all this because I was also allowed to study the piece and the librarian told me the whole story.”

I’ll be listening on YouTube to the Malmö Symphony Orchestra conducted by Bjarte Engeset. Sounds a bit brighter and tighter than the alternative performance by Jarvi and the Gothenburgers.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

A while ago I got stuck choosing between the Jarvi complete Grieg and the Naxos box, so I gave up. While we're on the subject, are there any opinions on which one is better?


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I haven't heard this one. Will go with the Jarvi courtesy of realdealblues.


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

I shall be trying this version via Spotify


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Manxfeeder said:


> A while ago I got stuck choosing between the Jarvi complete Grieg and the Naxos box, so I gave up. While we're on the subject, are there any opinions on which one is better?


Based only on comparing the first couple of minutes on YouTube, I preferred the Engeset (Naxos) to the Jarvi (DG).


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## cougarjuno (Jul 1, 2012)

Going with Grieg's hometown orchestra -- the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Dimitri Kitayenko


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

I'll go with the Naxos.


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## Mika (Jul 24, 2009)

realdealblues said:


> Another weekend is upon us and another Symphony is up for your listening enjoyment. This weekend it's Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg's only completed Symphony. I've only heard this one maybe once or twice before so I'm looking forward to checking it out again. I hope everyone else can join in.
> 
> I'll be listening to this one:
> 
> ...


This is my choice also. I am using spotify


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

cougarjuno said:


> Going with Grieg's hometown orchestra -- the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Dimitri Kitayenko


Good choice RDB. I'm going with this one. I actually listened to it last week. It's a piece I like.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

cougarjuno said:


> Going with Grieg's hometown orchestra -- the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Dimitri Kitayenko


Same recording here, but if I'm to be brutally honest I think the fill-ups are of more interest. Grieg was essentially a miniaturist and I can appreciate why - the symphony has always been a work which, for me at least, has never been anything more than a sidebar curio.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

I'll give the Kamu an outing. When the first recording came out decades ago, it was a real thrill to hear something that had been hidden for so long. The symphony may not be as bad as Grieg thought, but it's really not indicative of his greater works to come. Kind of like the symphonies of Wagner. For some reason having to do with copyright law, the Grieg is in the public domain worldwide except one place: the US. Too bad, because it would make a nice addition to the repertoire of amateur orchestras.


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## D Smith (Sep 13, 2014)

I listened to the Naxos recording. It was pleasant enough but also instantly forgettable. As EG said, more of a curiousity.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Listened to Engeset’s version on Naxos, by way of YouTube. I agree with others that the work is pleasant enough but not at all memorable. I read that Grieg withdrew it after hearing Johan Svendsen’s 1st Symphony in the later 1860s, a symphony he thought quite superior to his own, which was written during his already-discarded “Schumann phase.”

Be that as it may, there are plenty of symphonies inferior to Grieg’s whose authors put them forward with great pride. This symphony may not be among the finest of its era, but perhaps Grieg was being a bit too critical when he quashed it like that!


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

Have to agree with others here, something of a curiosity pleasant and enjoyable.
That said it is always good to hear lesser known works and step outside the mainstream classics


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## 13hm13 (Oct 31, 2016)

I'm going thru a few of the C-minor's as I compose this post.
The 2005 Naxos recording (Malmo) seems to be the best of the ones I've heard (thus far) -- both in terms of performance and recording. I think it got a Classics Today 9/9 (fwiw!!!). The jarvi GSO isn't a bad performance, but that DG recording is awful.

Ref:

https://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-14022/


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I don't know what the critics say but I have been happy enough with this record (of course, I also have others of the piano concerto but I do greatly enjoy Noriko's take on it). I didn't see it mentioned above. It is an attractive youthful work - I might rate it a little higher than many here did a few months ago.


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