Customer Reviews

Mozart: Piano Sonatas with additional second piano; Grieg: Peer Gynt Suites Nos. 1 & 2

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What's on offer here is the first complete recording of the four Mozart piano sonatas Edvard Grieg supplied with second-piano "accompaniments". Mozart worshipers may now cry "blasphemy" and get that off their collective chest. My advice--"get over it." Recordings and scores of the originals are available ad nauseam everywhere and remain unchanged-no one is forcing you to listen to this! Doubtless there will be those who insist on censoring everyone else's enjoyment with cries of "such things shouldn't be done!" I, for one, refuse to be deterred (and neither should the adventurous and open-minded) from savoring the contents of this exotic candy-box.

That off MY chest, I confess to being absolutely enchanted by what Grieg has perpetrated here, and it is NOT sacrilege! Grieg's contributions are sometimes limited to merely enriching the texture of a left-hand accompaniment with a few extra notes, or doubling short bits of melody in thirds or sixths. More often, he adds witty asides, echoes and counterpoints that leave one smiling in surprise and delight. The harmony is enriched with seventh and ninth chords. Sometimes, with the judicious addition of a single note, Grieg momentarily inflects the tonality towards a different key.

The Trenker-Speidel Duo has opted for a performance style that is very Grieg "period style"-i.e., trills usually begin on the main note, not the auxiliary (as they should IF this were Mozart pur sang, which it is NOT), and the rubato, although somewhat "romantic", is tasteful and not overdone. The recorded sound is natural and beautiful.

I heartily recommend this to Grieg lovers and the adventurous-this is just plain FUN. Lovers of Godowsky's Chopin etude parapharases may also be intrigued. Mozart worshipers may be scandalized, but they WERE warned!