Starter Packs

Complete your collection with these curated titles, grouped at a special discount.

Shop Now
BIS

Grieg: Choir Music / Pedersen, Norwegian Soloists Choir

$21.99

Details

Composer
GRIEG, EDVARD
Artist
Grete, Trine Wilsberg, Pedersen-Helgerod, Lund
Format
SACD
Label
BIS
Released
Aug 01, 2007
Catalog #
BIS-SACD-1661
UPC
7318599916613

About

This is an, err… enchanting disc of Grieg’s choral music – both original and arranged for choir. The opening, resonant, full bodied choral arrangement of the popular “At Rondane”, op.33, No.2 (originally for voice and piano) is plain gorgeous in its moody way. Two religious songs were prepared for mixed choir by Grieg himself of which “Withered, Fallen – At the Bier of a Young Wife” sounds a bit predictable, but touching in its cathedral-like piety. In this song, as in “Ave, Maris Stella” or indeed most of the other works on this glorious sounding (multi-channel/stereo) hybrid SACD, the non-Norwegian ear will always pick up a certain preciousness, that silver-voiced, Christmas-choir touch with scents and touches of mulled wine, snow boots, and blond locks under a woolen hat.

“Margaret’s Cradle Song” op.15, No.1, a short gem some 90 seconds long, was written in appreciation of the birth of his daughter Alexandra in 1868. It is set to the Ibsen poem of the same name and hauntingly beautiful. Alexandra, however, never got to appreciate her song; she died shortly after it was written. (Which is tragic and yet, given that it was set to something by Ibsen, also so terribly appropriate.)

Grete Pedersen, who conducts the Norwegian Soloists’ Choir also sets the first of the Lyric Pieces op.71 “Det var engang” for mixed choir. It might be the only miscalculation in that the result sounds nice and pleasant but also — in its dum-de-dum new-agey way — cheap.

Norway was already an independent nation when Grieg composed the 1907 Four Psalms op.74, his last work. It’s a somber end to his musical output – with “Jesus Christ is Risen” being an especially austere, if moving, setting of this Hans Adolf Brorson text. The four psalm settings are based on a collection of Norwegian “newer and older mountain tunes” that Grieg wanted to help preserve with his musical adoption. He has achieved that all over again by having them included in this very fine reminder that Grieg is so much more than the Grieg of a certain mountain king’s hall, or of lyric pieces, or a piano concerto.

-- Jens F. Laurson, WETA 90.9

Tracklist 13 tracks

  1. 1 12 Songs, Op. 33: No. 9. Ved Rondane (At Rondane) (arr. for choir) 03:00
    Track
    1
    Title
    12 Songs, Op. 33: No. 9. Ved Rondane (At Rondane) (arr. for choir)
    Duration
    03:00
    Composer
    Edvard Grieg
    Performer
    Trine Wilsberg Lund
    Ensemble
    The Norwegian Soloists' Choir
    Conductor
    Grete Pedersen-Helgerod
  2. 2 Album for mandssang (Album for Male Voices), Op. 30: No. 1. Jeg lagde mig sa sildig (I Lay Down so Late) 04:30
    Track
    2
    Title
    Album for mandssang (Album for Male Voices), Op. 30: No. 1. Jeg lagde mig sa sildig (I Lay Down so Late)
    Duration
    04:30
    Composer
    Edvard Grieg
    Performer
    Bard Bratlie
    Ensemble
    The Norwegian Soloists' Choir
    Conductor
    Grete Pedersen-Helgerod
  3. 3 6 Songs, Op. 39: No. 5. Ved en ung hustrus bare (At the Grave of a Young Wife) (arr. for choir) 05:03
    Track
    3
    Title
    6 Songs, Op. 39: No. 5. Ved en ung hustrus bare (At the Grave of a Young Wife) (arr. for choir)
    Duration
    05:03
    Composer
    Edvard Grieg
    Ensemble
    The Norwegian Soloists' Choir
    Conductor
    Grete Pedersen-Helgerod
  4. 4 Ave, maris stella, EG 150 (arr. for choir) 03:26
    Track
    4
    Title
    Ave, maris stella, EG 150 (arr. for choir)
    Duration
    03:26
    Composer
    Edvard Grieg
    Ensemble
    The Norwegian Soloists' Choir
    Conductor
    Grete Pedersen-Helgerod
  5. 5 4 Songs, Op. 15: No. 1. Margretes vuggesang (Margaret's Cradle Song) (arr. for choir) 01:32
    Track
    5
    Title
    4 Songs, Op. 15: No. 1. Margretes vuggesang (Margaret's Cradle Song) (arr. for choir)
    Duration
    01:32
    Composer
    Edvard Grieg
    Ensemble
    The Norwegian Soloists' Choir
    Conductor
    Grete Pedersen-Helgerod
  6. 6 Barnlige Sange (Children's Songs), Op. 61: No. 5. Kveldssang for Blakken (Goodnight Song for Dobbin) 02:00
    Track
    6
    Title
    Barnlige Sange (Children's Songs), Op. 61: No. 5. Kveldssang for Blakken (Goodnight Song for Dobbin)
    Duration
    02:00
    Composer
    Edvard Grieg
    Ensemble
    The Norwegian Soloists' Choir
    Conductor
    Grete Pedersen-Helgerod
  7. 7 Landkjending (Land-Sighting), Op. 31 05:33
    Track
    7
    Title
    Landkjending (Land-Sighting), Op. 31
    Duration
    05:33
    Composer
    Edvard Grieg
    Performer
    Audun Iversen, Kåre Nordstoga
    Ensemble
    The Norwegian Soloists' Choir
    Conductor
    Grete Pedersen-Helgerod
  8. 8 12 Songs, Op. 33: No. 2. Varen (Last Spring) (arr. for choir) 05:21
    Track
    8
    Title
    12 Songs, Op. 33: No. 2. Varen (Last Spring) (arr. for choir)
    Duration
    05:21
    Composer
    Edvard Grieg
    Performer
    Janne Berglund, Silje Aker Johnsen
    Ensemble
    The Norwegian Soloists' Choir
    Conductor
    Grete Pedersen-Helgerod
  9. 9 I Folketone (In The Folk Style) (based on Lyric Pieces, Book 10, Op. 71: No. 1. Once Upon A Time) 01:50
    Track
    9
    Title
    I Folketone (In The Folk Style) (based on Lyric Pieces, Book 10, Op. 71: No. 1. Once Upon A Time)
    Duration
    01:50
    Composer
    Edvard Grieg
    Performer
    Berit Norbakken Solset
    Ensemble
    The Norwegian Soloists' Choir
    Conductor
    Grete Pedersen-Helgerod
  10. 10 No. 4. I Himmelen (In Heaven above) 06:11
    Track
    10
    Title
    No. 4. I Himmelen (In Heaven above)
    Duration
    06:11
    Composer
    Edvard Grieg
    Performer
    Audun Iversen
    Ensemble
    The Norwegian Soloists' Choir
    Conductor
    Grete Pedersen-Helgerod
  11. 11 No. 3. Jesus Kristus er opfaren (Jesus Christ Our Lord is Risen) 07:57
    Track
    11
    Title
    No. 3. Jesus Kristus er opfaren (Jesus Christ Our Lord is Risen)
    Duration
    07:57
    Composer
    Edvard Grieg
    Performer
    Bard Bratlie
    Ensemble
    The Norwegian Soloists' Choir
    Conductor
    Grete Pedersen-Helgerod
  12. 12 No. 2. Guds Son har gjort mig fri (God's Son hath Set me Free) 06:05
    Track
    12
    Title
    No. 2. Guds Son har gjort mig fri (God's Son hath Set me Free)
    Duration
    06:05
    Composer
    Edvard Grieg
    Performer
    Audun Iversen
    Ensemble
    The Norwegian Soloists' Choir
    Conductor
    Grete Pedersen-Helgerod
  13. 13 No. 1. Hvad est du dog skjon (How Fair is Thy Face) 05:50
    Track
    13
    Title
    No. 1. Hvad est du dog skjon (How Fair is Thy Face)
    Duration
    05:50
    Composer
    Edvard Grieg
    Performer
    Bard Bratlie
    Ensemble
    The Norwegian Soloists' Choir
    Conductor
    Grete Pedersen-Helgerod