Pianist
Peter Donohoe
has been known mostly for recordings of 20th century English music, but he was astute in seeing an opening in the market for a cycle of
Grieg
's lyric pieces, especially one that ran counter to the somewhat sentimental type that has been generally available. This recording, the first volume in what will be a complete recording of
's 66 lyric pieces, climbed onto best-seller charts in the summer of 2022.
Donohoe
, thankfully, will not plow through the lyric pieces sequentially, but chooses a variety that should make each volume listenable on its own. He offers some seemingly artless pieces that draw on Norwegian folk models, and there are a few hits mixed in, such as
Bryllupsdag pa Troldhaugen
(Wedding Day at Troldhaugen), but
is at pains to avoid depicting
as a kind of naif, and this is all to the good. His clean, rather dry renditions work well in such pieces as
Klokkeklang (Bell Ringing), Op. 54, No. 6
, an elegantly Debussyan melding of form and content, and in the
Kanon in B flat minor, Op. 38, No. 8
. The pictorial aspects of a work like
Erotikk, Op. 43, No. 5
, can stand on their own. Those who have the traditional outlook on
may find
a bit dispassionate, but many others will hear these pieces in a new way here, and look forward to future releases.
Chandos
' Potton Hall sound is a major plus. ~ James Manheim