Grieg Piano Concerto in A minor

Piano Concerto in A minor (Op. 16) Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)

The music of Grieg personifies Norway, yet on his father’s side his ancestors came from Scotland, emigrating to Bergen in 1770. The British connection continued with both Edvard Grieg’s grandfather and then his father holding the position of British Consul in Bergen. Grieg came from a very musical family. His mother was a fine singer and pianist. Grieg did not get on well at school and at the age of 15 left to go to the Leipzig Conservatoire on the advice of Ole Bull, a relative and famous violin virtuoso of the time. He did not enjoy his studies there, but he did the musical life, going to hear Wagner’s Tannhäuser 14 times! Also, while in Leipzig he heard Clara Schumann play her husband’s Piano Concerto which was to influence Grieg’s own concerto so highly.

Grieg’s piano concerto is a very happy work. He wrote it while on summer holiday at Søllerød in Denmark in 1868. He had only been married to Nina, his cousin for just over a year and they had just had a daughter that April. The concerto is breezy throughout and is very much inspired by nature. It was first performed in April 1869 in Copenhagen and created a real storm of applause. It was not initially so well received in Germany, but at its first performance in England at the Crystal Palace in 1874 it also created a sensation.

I. Allegro molto moderato – The concerto starts with a timpani role leading to a flourish by the whole orchestra, followed by a descending figure by the piano. Then follows a march like theme first by the woodwind and then the piano before its moves onto some new material. The influence of Norwegian folk material can be heard in typical two-stroke rhythms.

II. Adagio – The second movement is a more lyrical love theme invoking the image of a Scandinavian summer sunset. An atmospheric song is heard by muted strings, before being taken over and embellished by the piano. After a climax by the piano, the song returns more dramatically. With the agitation subsiding, the movement ends in peace.

III. Allegro moderato e marcato – The finale invokes happiness and hope. It enters without a break using two folk like themes, the first initially in the piano, but then repeated in the orchestra. The second is lighter in nature. There is much joyous treatment of the themes by the piano and then the orchestra which eventually brings the concerto to a dramatic conclusion.

Programme notes by Jonathan Hodgetts