Search - Tveitt, Gimse, Sussmann :: Piano Concerto 4

Moment of Discovery: Treasures Hidden by Time, Accident, and

Grady Harp | Los Angeles, CA United States | 10/22/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Just when you think you are up on all aspects of contemporary music and the vast amount of compositions of the 20th Century, up pops a composer brought to your attention through the auspices of Classical Public Radio to prove there are many more hidden treasures to discover. Driving home from a LA Phil concert the car radio music on KUSC was so exciting, so fresh, and so defiant of classification that it demanded investigation. It happened to be a performance of Geirr Tveitt's 'Baldur's Dream: Symbolic Play for Dance and Orchestra' and the three voices were enmeshed in a score of wide percussive entanglements and pulsating rhythms, a work that was so excitingly strange and beautiful that it drove me to explore this newly discovered composer Geirr Treitt.



What a revelation! This recording of two works for pianos/piano and orchestra is an excellent starting point. Treitt is an uncommonly interesting composer from Norway whose rather large and very important output of scores were destroyed by fire in 1970. Due to the diligence of scholars, many of these scores are being reconstructed (the 'Baldur's Dream' I heard was reconstructed based on a live radio performance!), so hopefully we will begin to hear this amazing body of work.



Treitt has the same passion for folksongs that so influenced Mahler, Bartok, Kodaly, Grieg and now Golijov, Gorecki etc. His orchestral writing (it seems from the small amount I have begun to collect) emphasizes imaginative percussive elements while his use of the piano as a solo instrument in a concerto goes beyond the usual format: his drive seems to have been one of creating rich colors and ethereal moods. The results are exquisitely beautiful music. The performances on this recording by Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Bjarte Engeset with pianists Havard Gimse and Gunilla Sussmann are exciting. This recording, and especially this composer, are Highly Recommended! Grady Harp, October 05

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Tviett Rules

G.D. | 12/07/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"THis record is sure to rock your socks off!"

Highly recommended!

Paul Graziano | Burlington, VT United States | 12/31/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am not a musician, so I can not elaborate in technical terms what makes the 4th piano concerto so special. However, as a lover of the medium, I feel it is one of the best from the later half of the 20th century. The title of "Aurora Borealis" seems particularily apt to me, as the work seems less an expression of nature through a human's eyes, as it is a sheer force of nature in itself. It is somewhat modernistic, and I think if Bartok doesn't make you squeamish, you'll enjoy this greatly. Tveitt's earlier piano concertos (with more touches of Rachmaninov and Prokofiev) , while not as distinctive, are very worthwhile as well. But the 4th concerto is the real gem! I hope this doesn't go out of print!"