RECORD REVIEWS : Grieg Plays Grieg, With a Little Help From His Friends

GRIEG: Grieg and His Circle Play Grieg. Pearl GEMM CD 9933. A more honest title for this historical compilation would be “Two Recordings by Grieg and Some More by People Who Knew Him or Met Him Once or Not at All.” At any rate, unity of style, technique or outlook is absent here. Grieg’s own 1903 recording of “Norwegian Bridal Procession,” for instance, a light and frolicsome performance, takes 2 minutes 50 seconds; Johanna Stockmarr’s more relaxed, jaunty 1926 account of the same piece lasts 3:01, whereas Percy Grainger, a favorite of the composer’s, plays the work at a stolid 3:41 in a 1921 recording. Similarly, Arthur de Greef’s semi-indulgent 1929 recording of “To Spring” bears little relation to Grieg’s rather harried 1903 run-through. Walter Gieseking’s delicately traced readings of “Cradle Song” and “French Serenade” are highlights, and the first release of an impetuous performance of the Piano Concerto by Severin Eisenberger also interests. Dabblers beware: plenty of hiss.