# Grieg Piano Concerto



## Judith (Nov 11, 2015)

Very surprised to hear on the radio a vocal piece called "Sempre Ricordo". It is also the second movement of Griegs Piano Concerto. Which was composed first?


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

Judith said:


> Very surprised to hear on the radio a vocal piece called "Sempre Ricordo". It is also the second movement of Griegs Piano Concerto. Which was composed first?


As it's a track recorded by the ... ahem ... 'Opera Babes', I guess Greig got there first by at least a century!


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## Judith (Nov 11, 2015)

Pat Fairlea said:


> As it's a track recorded by the ... ahem ... 'Opera Babes', I guess Greig got there first by at least a century!


Yes, was on Classic FM chart. Prefer the concerto. Did they modify it? Grieg would turn in his grave!!!


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

Judith said:


> Yes, was on Classic FM chart. Prefer the concerto. Did they modify it? Grieg would turn in his grave!!!


Listen very carefully....


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

He's probably hasn't stopped spinning since _Song of Norway_...


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

Nereffid said:


> He's probably hasn't stopped spinning since _Song of Norway_...


Indeed! And why is G's lovely and subtle Piano Concerto the go-to work for so many pianists' first recording? I know it's not the most technically demanding - even I can manage parts of it - but it deserves more respect.


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

I played it with my university's student orchestra, back in the day. The newspaper review headline was: "Orchestra Roars While Pianist Scores."


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Pat Fairlea said:


> Indeed! And why is G's lovely and subtle Piano Concerto the go-to work for so many pianists' first recording? I know it's not the most technically demanding - even I can manage parts of it - but it deserves more respect.


More than that, it's one of the most well-constructed and memorable piano concertos ever written. It's amazing to think that Grieg went back and tinkered with it at least seven times without ruining it. It's his final version that's always played. How he managed to get the fresh air of a Norwegian spring into his music is something I'll never be able to explain, but it's there just as surely as the cold sky and dark pine forests of Finland are in Sibelius.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

My question is, why is it almost always paired with Schumann's piano concerto? They are like Gainsborough's Blue Boy and the girl in pink by another artist I can't recall at the moment. Unrelated except they are both lone compositions. One would think Robert's would be better paired with Clara's.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Weston said:


> My question is, why is it almost always paired with Schumann's piano concerto? They are like Gainsborough's Blue Boy and the girl in pink by another artist I can't recall at the moment. Unrelated except they are both lone compositions. One would think Robert's would be better paired with Clara's.


Perhaps, but the record companies likely feel that a Robert/Clara mix won't sell as well.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Weston said:


> My question is, why is it almost always paired with Schumann's piano concerto? They are like Gainsborough's Blue Boy and the girl in pink by another artist I can't recall at the moment. Unrelated except they are both lone compositions. One would think Robert's would be better paired with Clara's.


Well, they're both singletons and both in A minor. Also, it's generally believed that Grieg's work was deeply influenced by Schumann's. Finally, I suppose the labels think that people who'll like one will like the other as well.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Grieg clearly got his key of A minor, his commanding introductory gesture, and the manner of presenting the first theme of his first movement from Schumann. 

Mendelssohn's violin concerto and Bruch's first violin concerto have been similarly paired on innumerable recordings, despite the lack of any notable similarity between them. I suppose all four works share a moderate length and an easy melodic charm, and appeal to a wide cross-section of listeners.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

One of my favorites. Very catchy themes, awesome cadenza, wonderful slow movement, uplifting ending.
Both Liszt and Rachmaninoff liked it, two of the titans of the instrument, so we're in good company.
And of course there's the famous story that Liszt sight-read the concerto when Grieg visited him. What the ...?

"After witnessing him sight read, Edvard Grieg exclaimed:
He was literally over the whole piano at once, without missing a note, and how did he play! With grandeur, beauty, genius, unique comprehension. I think I laughed—laughed like an idiot."


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## chill782002 (Jan 12, 2017)

A wonderful piano concerto and it's something of a shame that it's the only one that Grieg wrote. Walter Gieseking's 1944 recording with the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Wilhem Furtwangler is my go to version. It would have been wonderful had Sibelius written a piano concerto but it doesn't appear to be an instrument that he was particularly interested in.


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

chill782002 said:


> A wonderful piano concerto and it's something of a shame that it's the only one that Grieg wrote. Walter Gieseking's 1944 recording with the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Wilhem Furtwangler is my go to version. It would have been wonderful had Sibelius written a piano concerto but it doesn't appear to be an instrument that he was particularly interested in.


Sibelius famously claimed that he only wrote piano music on his days off!


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