Edvard Grieg's Three Violin Concertos?

[mariusberg]

However odd it sounds with Grieg's violin "concertos", I like the result! In my opinion a sonata doesn't easily transfer into a full-blown concerto in terms of length of lines, etc., but if viewed as a kind of concertinos these versions of the sonatas will be an interesting addition to any Grieg fan's library.

[Alan Howe]

I agree.

[Alan Howe]

The CD turns out to be a distinctly guilty pleasure. Strangely, I actually wanted more from the orchestra (the recording quality's a bit murky and one-dimensional), but I rather liked the arrangements. My mother will love 'em!

[Alan Howe]

On reflection, maybe the arrangers should have called them "Three Concertinos" - that would have been much nearer the mark.

[petershott@btinternet.com]

I wonder why it is that, generally, I can't easily stomach chamber works all got up in outlandish togs masquerading as orchestral works, whereas transcriptions of orchestral (or operatic works) for chamber ensembles or solo keyboard) are wholly palatable? In crude terms I'm happy with 'scaling down' but hardly ever with 'scaling up'.

For example, I've spent hours of sheer contentment drooling around with Klindworth's transcriptions of Wagner, or Liszt's versions of Beethoven symphonies or opera transcriptions.

When people start fiddling around with, for example, orchestral arrangements of Brahms' piano quartets, Grieg violin sonatas, or (worst offender) Beethoven's Grosse Fugue for full string orchestra or whatever I rapidly turn off.

Largely tangential to the thread I appreciate, but do others share the same prejudice? I suspect I'm in a very small minority. Ach, well, we can't all have identical inner ears.

[Alan Howe]

I'm the opposite - hate reductions, love upscale arrangements. Still, variety's the spice of life...

[Mark Thomas]

I've no problem at all with up-, down- or sideways-scaling (Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.5 anyone?) established works for other instrumental combinations, but I'm afraid that I can't raise much enthusiasm for this exercise. Like Alan, I found the orchestral contribution apologetic and half-hearted, which is a shame as the soloist, Henning Kraggerud, is very good and his orchestration sounds idiomatic and convincingly Griegian (ish?). There's nothing heroic in these winsomely pretty pieces and Kraggerud is appropriately charming throughout, but I just felt that in this recording the music wasn't that far above the level of musical wallpaper.

[Alan Howe]

Griegian (ish?)

'Griegian' seems to be correct:
http://www.griegsociety.org/filer/1085.pdf

[Mark Thomas]

I'm obliged.

[Alan Howe]

...as am I to the Grieg Society.

[Mark Thomas]

Griegians one and all, obviously!

[jerfilm]

Well, I'm not much for either ups or downs.   If the composer had wanted a work to be written as an X, he would have done so himself.  As some have.

For me, the Rachmaninoff "5th" was a perfect example.  Sure it sound like Sergei - why wouldn't it?  it's his music.  But the transcriber failed, in my opinion, to write a piano part that even remotely sounds like something Rachmaninoff would have done.   But, as has been acknowledged so many times, we all gotta be somewhere......

Jerry

[Alan Howe]

...and so back to Grieg.

[eschiss1]

Well, how's the 2012 Naxos CD of Grieg's 1.5 quartets arranged (by an A. Ardal) for string orchestra (plus a work by Nordheim)? Well arranged? Well performed? (the quartet in G minor, and the quartet in F (EG 117) completed by a friend of his named Julius Röntgen - no relation to the other Julius Röntgen whose name has been ... yes, yes, it's the same...)

[JollyRoger]

I would most likely never listen to the sonatas, and I doubt if I would ever have heard these Grieg works.
Much of Debussy's orchestrated solo piano works are in the same category..and I am certainly eager to hear these pieces as well. Perhaps it is bad taste for purists, but some of us just have a simple preference for larger ensembles.