Eyvind Alnæs; Christian Sinding - Piano Concertos (Piers Lane)

Information

Composer: Eyvind Alnæs; Christian Sinding

• Alnæs - Piano Concerto in D major, Op. 27
• Sinding - Piano Concerto in D flat major, Op. 6

Piers Lane, piano

Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra

Andrew Litton, conductor

Date: 2006

Label: Hyperion

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Review

It’s a while since I’ve heard anything from the Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto series, so it’s been interesting to catch up with what they’ve recently been uncovering from the byways of musical history. Here, they’ve set out to show that there’s more to Norwegian piano concertos than the Grieg. Some specialist pianophiles will possibly have come across the Sinding concerto, as it’s had a couple of decent recordings in the past, including one on Vox’s – wait for it – Romantic Piano Concerto series, where stalwarts like Michael Ponti and Roland Keller tackled most of the repertoire. There has also been a much more up-to-date Norwegian recording coupled with the Symphony in D minor, which appears to have been deleted, so even the better known of these two pieces is likely to be really welcomed in this new performance. As for the Alnaes, I have to confess complete ignorance of him, so this one really was a voyage of discovery for me, and, I suspect, for many others.

So what of the quality of the music on offer? Well, as you would expect of big romantic concertos from this period, there are tunes aplenty, rich orchestration and bags of bravura fireworks from the soloist. Structurally they are pretty safe, keeping within the three movement norm, though the Sinding does use a more interesting Liszt-like cyclic form where the main theme undergoes metamorphic transformations. There are lots of audible influences, chief among them Wagner, which is not really surprising given that both composers finished their composition studies in Leipzig. There’s also Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov, particularly in the Alnaes, which is a very attractive piece. The sleeve writer quotes a contemporary who describes Alnaes as ‘a healthy and true musician, keeping both feet on the ground and remaining firmly within a style accessible to his listeners’. Fair enough, and it’s beautifully scored, as for instance in the delectable passage for piano and cello at 6:16 into the first movement. The slow movement is perhaps not quite as tragic as the note writer suggests, and it has a glorious main melody. The finale’s drum roll opening immediately recalls Grieg, which might also be inevitable, but the light, waltz character is distinctly Viennese-flavoured. The big tune at 2:02 is more than reminiscent of variation 18 of Rachmaninov’s Paganini Rhapsody, so much so that one is brought up short to realize that the Russian’s piece came much later. The superbly committed playing of Hyperion regular Piers Lane definitely helps the work’s cause, as does Andrew Litton’s controlled yet vital accompaniment.

Sinding is pretty well known to the wider public purely for his piano miniature Rustle of Spring, so it’s always welcome in these cases to hear the ‘big’ works of such composers. Again Wagner, and this time Liszt, feature more overtly than the nationalism of Grieg and the note writer rightly mentions critics over the years drawing attention to the main theme’s similarity to a motif in Wagner’s Götterdämmerung, though it really doesn’t sound like deliberate cribbing. There is an attractive slow movement and rousing finale. If I have a complaint it concerns the rather thick scoring of the outer movements and the development of the material, which is simply less memorable than it perhaps might be in other hands. Again, the strong performance really helps to keep these doubts at bay and let us simply wallow in the sheer romantic splendour of it all. Hyperion’s engineers have captured the proceedings in warmly resplendent sound, fully in keeping with the music. Lovers of this type of repertoire can buy with confidence, particularly for the Alnaes, here getting its premiere recording.

— Tony Haywood

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Eyvind Alnæs (29 April 1872 – 24 December 1932) was a Norwegian composer, pianist and organist. He studied at the Music and Organist School in Oslo, then in Leipzig with Carl Reinecke, and in Berlin with Julius Ruthardt. Alnæs was organist at Bragernes Church, Uranienborg Church and Oslo Cathedral between 1895 and 1932. He co-founded the Norwegian Composers' Union in 1917 and was its chairman from 1921 to 1923. Alnæs wrote music in a late Romantic style. His compositions include two symphonies, a piano concerto, symphonic variations, piano pieces, organ chorale preludes, choral works and art songs

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Christian Sinding (1856–1941) was a Norwegian composer. He studied in Oslo and later at the Leipzig Conservatory in Germany under Salomon Jadassohn. Best remembered today for his lyrical piano work Frühlingsrauschen (1896), his works include over 130 opus numbers: four symphonies, three violin concertos, a piano concerto, an opera, and about 250 songs. Sinding's music combines the chromaticism of Liszt and Wagner with Nordic lyricism. Though celebrated in his time, his legacy was tarnished by a late-life affiliation with the Nazi Party. Modern scholarship and recordings are helping to revive interest in his music.

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Piers Lane (born 8 January 1958) is an Australian classical pianist. Born in London and grew up in Brisbane, he graduated with a Medal of Excellence from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, where his teacher was Nancy Weir. Lane first came to prominence at the inaugural Sydney International Piano Competition in 1977, at which he was named Best Australian Pianist. Since 2007, he is the artistic director of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music held annually in Townsville. Lane has an extensive discography on the Hyperion label and has also recorded for EMI, Decca, BMG, Lyrita and Unicorn-Khanchana.

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