Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Edvard Grieg: The Original Piano Roll Recordings

• Booklet languages: English
• Time: 61:22

Review

These recordings of Grieg and Tchaikovsky's piano works played by Percy Grainger -- with a little help from Vladimir Horowitz, Shura Cherkassky, and Ossip Gabrilowitsch -- are about as close to reality as recordings get. Taken from piano rolls made between 1911 and 1930, these recordings are so honest that, as Grieg himself put it, "I am astounded … and join all the admiration and praise for this instrument." Re-created here from piano rolls in the collection of Australian teacher and historian Denis Condon, the sound one gets is of a real piano played in ideal circumstances and recorded under optimal conditions by artists long dead. This allows the listener to hear exactly what earlier pianists thought was the proper style for executing Grieg and Tchaikovsky. In the case of performer and composer Percy Grainger, this style is full of rolled chords, rubato tempos, stentorian sonorities, and a blithe disregard for the letter of the score in favor of the spirit of the music. Though they differ in details from Grainger, Horowitz, Cherkassky, and Gabrilowitsch's interpretations are likewise much freer in conception and execution than more recent pianists'. Anyone interested in earlier performance practices not already familiar with these recordings will surely enjoy this disc. ~ James Leonard, Rovi

Performances

Composer	Title	Time
Edvard Grieg	Peer Gynt Suite for orchestra (or piano or piano, 4 hands) No. 1, Op. 46	13:27
Edvard Grieg	Erotik, lyric piece for piano, Op. 43/5	4:30
Edvard Grieg	Kulok (Cow Call), Norwegian folk song for piano, Op. 66/1	1:03
Edvard Grieg	Det er den største dårlighet (It Is the Greatest Folly), Norwegian folk song for piano, Op. 66/2	1:02
Edvard Grieg	I ola-dalom, i Ola-kjønn (In Ola Valley, in Ola Lake), Norwegian folk song for piano, Op. 66/14	1:03
Edvard Grieg	Morgo ska du få gifte deg (Tomorrow You Shall Marry Her), Norwegian folk song for piano, Op. 66/10	2:28
Edvard Grieg	Ho vesle Astrid vår (Little Astrid), Norwegian folk song for piano, Op. 66/16	0:53
Edvard Grieg	Jeg går i tusind tanker (I Wander Deep in Thought), Norwegian folk song for piano, Op. 66/18	4:04
Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky	Dumka, for piano in C minor, Op. 59	6:53
Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky	Chant sans paroles (Song without words), for piano, Op. 2/3	3:15
Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky	Nutcracker, suite from the ballet, Op. 71a (March)	2:04
Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky	Nutcracker, suite from the ballet, Op. 71a (Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy)	1:53
Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky	Nutcracker, suite from the ballet, Op. 71a (Russian Dance)	1:05
Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky	Nutcracker, suite from the ballet, Op. 71a (Arabian Dance)	2:38
Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky	Nutcracker, suite from the ballet, Op. 71a (Chinese Dance)	1:01
Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky	Nutcracker, suite from the ballet, Op. 71a (Dance of the Flutes)	2:16
Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky	Nutcracker, suite from the ballet, Op. 71a (Waltz of the Flowers)	6:54
Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky	The Seasons, for piano, Op. 37 (No. 10. October)	4:53

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