DIVE IN!
Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto is super engaging to listen to. Enjoy getting to know a bit more about the piece and composer, and have a great time listening!
RESOURCES
A great short “behind the scenes” clip with pianist Alexandra Dariescu
A recent performance with inspirational pianist Alice Sara Ott
A historical performance with iconic pianist Arthur Rubinstein
HIGHLIGHTS
Edvard Grieg was born in Bergen, Norway. He completed his only concerto for piano in 1868 at just 25 years old! It was premiered in Copenhagen in 1869 and has remained one of the most performed and celebrated piano concertos since then.
The Piano Concerto is in 3 movements and is a little less than half an hour long.
Potentially unsettling but definitely interesting fact: Grieg composed the piano concerto in a fit of artistic inspiration (fun!) after the birth of his daughter (yay!) with his wife of just a year (sweet!) — his cousin Nina. (um… okay…)
Grieg was a huge fan of Robert Schumann, who composed his only piano concerto just ten years earlier. There are similarities between Schumann’s concerto and Grieg’s including both being in the key of A Minor, and general stylistic similarities. For this reason they are sometimes confused with one another even though Grieg incorporated Norwegian folk elements into his concerto.
Famous pianist and composer Sergei Rachmaninoff said this was the best concerto ever written.
This piece is one of the most popular and consistently performed piano concertos. For this reason it has also made its way into numerous popular culture references including the films Intermezzo and The Seventh Veil, the Broadway musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, a Jethro Tull tour, and the video game Civilization V. The one that has fortunately / unfortunately stood the test of time for some of us is the early 80s aerobics album Hooked On Classics. Look for it there, nestled between the Hallelujah Chorus and March of the Toreadors. You’re welcome!
Grieg’s score calls for solo piano, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, tuba, timpani, and the usual string section of violins, violas, cellos and basses. It pretty much looked like a musical Noah’s Ark until he later changed it to add 2 more horns and converted the tuba to a third trombone. Maybe that’s also what happened to the unicorns…
LISTENING MAP
Here is a listening map that can guide you through the piece. Read it in advance or while you’re listening!
MOVEMENT 1:
Allegro molto moderato
(in English: Very medium fast)
This music gets started with flare! First a timpani roll and then an impressive and dramatic series of rhythmic chords in the solo piano from the higher register to the lower register of the instrument before we get to the main theme. Toward the end there is a cadenza for the piano soloist to really tear it up, and then to tie it all up we hear dramatic material similar to the beginning of the movement.
MOVEMENT 2:
Adagio
(in English: Slow)
This music is slower and more lyrical. It guides us through a ruminative meditation and elides directly into the final movement.
MOVEMENT 3:
Allegro moderato molto e marcato
(in English: Very medium fast and marked)
This music is rollicking fun, based on Norwegian folk music and the “halling dance" which is an athletic dance mostly performed by an individual dancer.
NERD ASSIGNMENTS
CONSIDER AND DISCUSS:
Edvard Grieg is considered a major cultural icon in Norway, and is generally recognized as a leading Romantic era composer. Still, some of the expressions of this found worldwide can seem a little odd. For example, there is a large statue of Grieg in Seattle, a crater on Mercury is named after him, and one of the largest hotels in his hometown is named after him. Consider how a person’s reputation and legacy can eclipse the specific thing they “do”. In Grieg’s case he was a musician and composer, but due to his documentation of Norwegian folk music he became more broadly revered as a cultural advocate and prominent historical figure. Have a “Consider and Discuss” conversation with your buddies about big and small examples of this you can find. Include yourselves in this conversation!
SEARCH!
The main theme of the last movement is influenced by the Norwegian “halling dance”, which is a very rhythmic and athletic type of solo folk dance. You can hear this reflected in the music as Grieg chooses heavy accented sounds amid playful quick sounds. Have some fun searching on the internet for various styles of popular dance throughout the 20th and 21st centuries and try to imagine how you might make a piece of music for orchestra that reflected these dances!
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