As a schoolboy, I was offended by the critic F. Bonavia's refusal to call Grieg's Piano Concerto a masterpiece, especially since he failed to explain why. Whatever the case, it is certainly the thrilling and original piece of music that Liszt thought it, and it's pleasant to meet a performance coupled with that composer's Second Concerto, a work which happens to share the same tonic. Grieg was in his early twenties when he composed this work and a youthful quality emerges throughout, so it seems appropriate that Leif Ove Andsnes, besides being Norwegian, will be only 21 this year.
He is a sensitive artist, as we hear at once from his handling of the lyrical second subject in the first movement, and the impression I have is that he is anxious to strip away routine and tawdy display from the Concerto. But in the process he goes too far; the first subject is reserved both in tempo and tone, and the result is not only short of sparkle but also makes the rapid transition to the second theme too much of a contrast. In fact, the movement ceases to be an Allegro, even one with the qualifying molto moderato marking, and when Andsnes carries this deliberate style into the cadenza it gets too self-conscious for comfort. After this, such a slow tempo is chosen by the conductor for the orchestral opening of the Adagio that its youthful dream gives way to a languid quality; and when this theme returns at 4'23'' almost twice as fast one begins to ask regretfully if this performance has been fully thought out by all concerned. The finale goes better, but it is too late to redeem matters and a safer recommendation is the well focused recent performance by Pascal Devoyon with the LPO under Jerzy Maksymiuk, at bargain price on Classics for Pleasure, where the coupling is the Schumann Concerto.
The Liszt A major Concerto also proves something of a disappointment. The conductor begins in a way that seems more reluctant than purposeful, and the pianist's first exchanges with the orchestra sound hampered. There is more of the same to come (Kitaienko has a curious idea of the marking Allegro moderato at the start of track 5, and the pianist's Un poco piu mosso on track 7 is again too slow). However, there are good things too, and some fiery playing from Andsnes, while the recording is vivid with exciting brass and percussion. However, other accounts of this work in the catalogue hold its structure together more effectively.
The generous addition of Grieg's six Lyric pieces occurs after over half a minute's pause (the longest I have come across between works on a CD), but offers some characterful playing and I want to hear this pianist again, despite my degree of disappointment in this issue.'