Latest / The Piano Maven with Jed Distler / Grieg's Ballade in G Minor Op. 24 on Disc

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Grieg's Ballade in G Minor Op. 24 on Disc · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

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  This is Jed Dissler, and welcome to The Piano
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  Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
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  find the link to do so in our episode description.
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  Subscribers get a free download at the start
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  of each month, and from time to time, we'll have
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  and talk piano. I'm sorry that I haven't had
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  a meeting in a while, actually, but I do plan
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  one sooner than you'd think. Moving on, a listener
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  suggested that I devote an episode to recordings
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  of the Ballade in G minor, Op. 24 by Edvard Grieg,
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  which is the Norwegian composer's largest solo
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  piano piece, except, of course, for the early
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  piano sonata in E minor, Op. 7. The Ballade is
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  actually a set of... variations, which is based
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  on a 16 -bar theme that Grieg appropriated from
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  a collection published in 1840, I think, of Norwegian
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  mountain tunes. The variations themselves run
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  the gamut between simple melodic embellishments
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  and recitative -like sequences to virtuosic episodes
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  that sometimes recall Schumann's mercurial scherzando
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  moods, or even out -and -out Franz Lisztian outbursts.
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  Actually, the first eight variations more or
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  less stick to the theme's melodic and harmonic
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  game plan. But things change in the ninth variation,
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  where the piano writing really starts to blossom,
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  and then the remaining variations go in one fell
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  swoop. This is a work that hasn't really securely
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  settled into the active concert repertoire, although
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  it certainly... been recorded many, many, many
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  times. Some feel that there's a disparity between
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  form and content in this work and that it can
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  go on too long for what it has to say. But others
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  feel that it's a neglected masterpiece. And I
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  tend to go toward the neglected masterpiece group
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  of thinkers. However, the Greek ballade held
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  a strong emotional significance for the composer
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  because he wrote it shortly after the death of
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  his parents in 1875 when he was going through
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  a period of depression. Greek himself described
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  the ballade as, and I quote, having been written
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  with my life's blood in days of sorrow and despair.
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  Grieg never performed the ballade in public.
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  He was a really excellent pianist and played
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  a lot of his music in public. But there is an
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  account of Grieg giving a private performance
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  in 1876 of the ballade for Dr. Max Abraham, who
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  was the director of the Peters Music Publishing
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  Firm. And apparently, when Grieg finished playing,
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  he was totally exhausted and agitated and shaken
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  by the experience, so much so that he couldn't
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  say a word for some time. But I do have a lot
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  of words to say about the recordings, so let's
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  talk about them now. The premiere recording of
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  the Grieg ballad was made in 1929 by Leopold
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  Godowski. Godowski met Grieg in 1907 in Berlin.
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  I don't know if Godowski had played the ballad
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  for Grieg or if they had discussed the work or
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  if there was any coaching going on. But it is
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  true that Grieg had hoped that the work might
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  be recorded. After all, Grieg himself made his
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  own series of recordings in 1903, so he understood
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  the value of the gramophone in disseminating
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  music. When Harold C. Schoenberg wrote about
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  Godofsky in his book The Great Pianists, he talked
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  about Godofsky's recordings, and he said that
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  basically the recordings really didn't do Godofsky's
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  reputation justice in that the recordings tended
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  to be kind of careful and inhibited and reserved,
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  sometimes a little stiff, and, you know, where
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  expression was kind of in check. But he made
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  an exception for the Greek ballade, where Schoenberg
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  said that this had all of the swing and fire
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  and poetry that he displayed, that Godofsky displayed
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  when he played in salons, in informal situations
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  for groups of professionals. And apparently this
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  is where Godofsky really, really came to life
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  as a pianist. And these qualities really do come
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  out in this recording. I think it is probably
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  Godofsky's best recording, and it is very well
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  engineered for its time. I honestly don't know
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  the other recorded versions of the Greek ballade
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  that came out in the 78 era, except for the one
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  that Eileen Joyce made in 1943, which has less
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  architectural sweep. in continuity than the Godofsky
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  performance, but it has a lot of spontaneity
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  and poetry, especially in how she uses rubato.
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  It's kind of a gentler performance, and I think
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  it's a very congenial and very convincing interpretation.
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  And you really hear that Eileen Joyce was a natural,
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  natural pianist. And speaking of natural pianists,
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  Arthur Rubinstein was on prime technical and
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  expressive form when he set down his recording
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  of the Greek ballade in 1953. Now, the sonics
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  are a little close up and dry, as were most of
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  the recordings that RCA Victor made, the solo
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  piano recordings that stemmed from... California.
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  I don't know what studio they used, but the California
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  sessions tend to sound kind of dry. I mean, a
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  lot of the Rubinstein recordings, certainly the
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  Jose E. Turby recordings, maybe some of the Horowitz
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  recordings, although the ones that Horowitz made
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  for RCA in Town Hall in New York sound very resplendent.
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  Anyway, this is a marvelous recording. And when
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  Rubinstein was asked about the Grieg ballade,
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  he replied that, oh, Godofsky made me learn this
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  piece. And Rubinstein also met Grieg briefly
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  in 1902, although I think that was just like
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  a fleeting moment where they shook hands and
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  that was that. But Rubinstein's Grieg ballade.
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  unquestionably was the early mono era's reference
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  LP version, and I think the performance still
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  holds up quite well. Another distinctive, although
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  relatively reserved, interpretation that was
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  released during the 1950s came from the New Zealand
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  -born pianist Richard Farrell, who was tragically
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  killed in a 1958 automobile crash. In contrast
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  to Rubinstein's interpretation, the sound quality
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  of the Richard Fowler recording that was originally
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  issued on the British Pi label, P -Y -E, the
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  sound quality is more reverberant and plummy,
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  for the lack of a better word, as if it was recorded
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  from a concert hall perspective. And this was
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  reissued. and the first of a series of three
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  double album CD sets on the New Zealand label
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  Atoll, A -T -O -L -L. And this series encompasses
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  Richard Farrell's complete commercial recordings
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  in addition to various broadcast and archival
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  recordings. And these three releases, unfortunately,
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  are not easy to source, but I have provided a
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  link to a program I did. on Richard Farrell for
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  my radio show Between the Keys that aired back
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  in 2023. So you can get to hear his playing.
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  And certainly his ballade is well worth hearing.
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  And I think you can find it on YouTube. I'm going
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  to look around and if I find a link, I'll put
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  it in the episode description. George Bolette.
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  played for Godofsky when he was a student at
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  the Curtis Institute in the 1930s. But I'm not
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  sure if they ever had a Greek ballad coaching
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  session together. Now, Bollett did not record
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  the Greek. Balad commercially. But there is a
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  very fine live performance from 1987 in Amsterdam,
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  issued by the Marston label in a six -disc collection
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  called George Balad Volume 2, Ambassador from
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  the Golden Age. But it should be said that the
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  Audita label, issued in 1961, broadcast with
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  Bolet playing the Greek ballad, where he is really
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  on tip -top form. And I think it's even more
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  exciting and more scintillating and detailed
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  than in the 1987 performance. But the problem
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  is that he makes a few cuts in the work. And
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  that's kind of a problem if you're expecting
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  the whole work. So this represents the best of
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  how Bolette played the balade, what survives.
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  But if you want to hear him play the entire text,
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  you have the 1987 performance, which is not bad
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  in and of itself, but it's the 1961 radio recording
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  issued on Audita that really shows what Bolette
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  could do in this piece. Aldo Ciccolini. recorded
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  the Greek ballad for the EMI label in 1964. It
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  was just reissued as part of that big box set
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  on Warner Classics with the complete Ciccolini
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  recordings for the EMI label. I love this recording.
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  I like... Ciccolini's brisk and forthright and
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  direct treatment of the theme, which pianists
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  tend to stretch out forever. And also, Ciccolini
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  really keeps the music moving and unified, but
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  he always finds room for subtle harmonic inflections
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  and shapely bass lines. And I think this is a
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  marvelous interpretation, and it's definitely
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  worth checking out. For a more brooding and yet
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  poetically sensitive interpretation. There's
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  a 1984 recording by the Norwegian pianist Robert
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  Riefling. and his idiomatic authority imprints
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  on every page of the score, and you get such
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  exquisite phrasing and wide, dynamic contrasts
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  from him. I don't have the CD release in my collection,
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  but I did find it on YouTube, and I provided
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  a link in my episode description, and I really
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  enjoyed this performance, and I think you will,
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  too. also describe Peter Jablonski's 1997 recording
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  for Decca. as totally idiomatic and natural and
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  flexible. Now, the climaxes may not have the
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  fiery abandon of a Godofsky or Rubinstein, but
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  you sense that they arise from everything that's
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  been building up before, especially in how Peter
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  Jablonski's sonority just really, really opens
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  up in these passages. This release was on Decca,
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  and it might not... be so easy to source in physical
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  format, but the Universal Music Group has posted
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  it on YouTube, so this YouTube link is legitimately
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  sanctioned, if you get my drift. You know, there
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  really should be a box set of Peter Jablonski's
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  complete Decca recordings, because he did quite
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  a bit for that label. Although I have to say
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  that since he's been with the Ondine label, his
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  artistry has really ripened and deepened, and
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  he's been charting all kinds of adventurous repertoire
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  territory. I mean, he's really playing at the
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  peak of his powers these days. What a wonderful
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  artist he is. Leif Ove Ansnes got a lot of attention
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  for his recording of the Greek ballad. He plays
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  the theme in a sensitive yet rather austere manner,
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  as if to foreshadow his emphasis on the music's
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  darker undercurrents as the piece unfolds. At
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  first, I would have wanted Variation 4 to scintillate
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  much more than Ansnes allows, but to compensate,
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  he gives a special kick. and a very special kind
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  of characterization to the left -hand's cross
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  rhythms. And the Listian climaxes manage to exude
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  both impulsive energy and aristocratic refinement,
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  with Unsness holding out that strange, disruptive
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  low E -flat seemingly forever. I like this recording
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  a lot, although I have to admit that... it took
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  time for it to grow on me, and I had to listen
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  to it many, many times over the years, and now
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  I'm really, really warming toward it, and it's
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  really up there with my reference versions. Next,
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  I'm going to bring up two Norwegian pianists
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  whose recordings of the ballade are part of their
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  respective recorded cycles devoted to Grieg's
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  complete piano music. One is by Ava Nordhall,
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  who lived from 1927 until 2006. She recorded
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  a Greek cycle, I think mostly at the end of the
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  1970s, for the Bis label, who issued it on LP,
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  and then they brought it out on CD. And she plays
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  the ballade with idiomatic authority, although...
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  I think her Beast recording is kind of a workaday
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  performance. It's not all that super special.
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  Certainly compared to the vibrancy and the fluidity
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  of a 1973 broadcast with her that was issued
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  on the CMAX label. And I've provided links to
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  both of these performances so that you can listen
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  and compare for yourself. But I find Einerstein
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  Nuckelberg far more imaginative and colorful
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  in the balade, with a lot more sweeping continuity.
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  His recording is one of the very best to my mind.
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  In fact, his whole Greek cycle for the Noxus
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  label is so well worth acquiring. Andre Gunyen
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  on the Hyperion label has received generally
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  excellent reviews for his Greek recording for
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  his ballade, and there's much to enjoy in his
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  rounded and refined pianism, which is similar
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  in certain ways to Unsness and to Richard Farrell.
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  However, and this is my however recommendation,
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  with apologies to David Hurwitz, you know how
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  at the end of his videos he'll say, however,
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  you only have to have one recording. Well, however,
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  for... a pianist who fuses the fire in Godofsky,
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  the narrative suite of Nokelberg, the directness
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  of Ciccolini, the elegance of Jablonski, and
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  the seasoned authority of Robert Riefling, I
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  keep returning to Antonio Pompobaldi on the centaur
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  label and his Greek ballade. may well be my modern
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  -day reference version at this juncture. His
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  cycle of Grieg's piano music on the Centaur label
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  is consistently satisfying, although I do have
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  to give honorable mention to Håkon Ostbo, who
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  recorded a lot of Grieg for the Brilliant Classics
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  label. And he holds the ballade together through
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  animated pacing and assiduous tempo relationships
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  from one variation to the next. And this is quite
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  a wonderful and lively performance with no dead
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  spots whatsoever. I would put Håkon Ostbo's Greek
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  cycle on Brilliant Classics. at the head of the
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  class alongside Antonio Pompobaldi and Einar
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  Steen -Nokkelberg. I think these are the three
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  great Greek piano music cycles that we have.
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  Also, I should mention Sigurd Slaterbrek, who
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  recorded the ballade very beautifully on Grieg's
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  1892 Steinway that's preserved at the composer's
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  home in Trolltaugen. This is part of a release
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  that includes Grieg's own 1903 G &T recordings,
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  plus Slatterbrick's interpretive recreation of
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  Grieg's self -interpretations. I should do a
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  separate podcast episode about this release,
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  which is called Chasing the Butterfly. It's a
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  fascinating disc. It also contains a great performance
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  of the Greek concerto, by the way. So there we
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  have it. This has been a rather limited yet...
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  hopefully well -rounded look at Grieg's Ballade
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  in G minor, Op. 24 on disc. And please feel free
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  to explore all of the links that I've provided
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  to access the performances. This is Jed Disler,
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  and you've been listening to The Piano Maven,
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  your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
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  Thank you for joining me for this episode, and...
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  Please join me for the next episode and all episodes
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  to come. Take good care of yourself.