Leif Ove Andsnes: Ballad for Edvard Grieg

Status of copy at Case Memorial Library
Anthony Tommasini wrote in the New York Times: "Edvard Grieg was a fiercely proud Norwegian who embraced his role as a leader in the movement to foster a national identity for Norwegian music. … Grieg died on Sept. 4, 1907, at 64 in Bergen, his beloved hometown, and the centenary is being acknowledged with several programs in New York. … Record releases include 'Ballad for Edvard Grieg' on EMI Classics, featuring the superb Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes. Today Grieg is generally viewed as a composer of enduring popularity but secondary significance. This perception is not quite right on either count. An audience favorite? His Piano Concerto brought him international attention by his early 30s and remains a staple of the repertory; but if anything, this soulful, brilliant and rhapsodic piece is performed too often for its own good. … Grieg’s melancholy suffuses every work, even pieces with a sprightly surface character like the vibrant march 'Wedding Day at Troldhaugen,' which Mr. Andsnes plays with just the right balance of exuberance and wistfulness on the recent EMI release" (9/16/07).