Edvard GRIEG (1843-1907)
Songs
Lise Davidsen (soprano)
Leif Ove Andsnes (piano)
Rec. 5-8 September 2021, Stormen Konserthus, Bodø, Norway
DECCA 485 2254 [60:00]
Two Norwegians at the top of their game, recorded in their homeland. Simple as that.
Lise Davidsen has been singing Grieg since childhood—you can hear it in the marrow of these performances. This isn’t repertoire she’s learned for a disc project; it’s music that seems to have formed her voice from the inside out. The sheer ease with which she navigates the language, the way certain vowels bloom and darken without apparent effort — the rhythmic flexibility that never feels imposed…
these things can’t be manufactured in a studio. Andsnes, of course, has been Grieg’s most persuasive advocate for years now. His piano sound here—captured in the warm but not overly reverberant acoustic of Stormen Konserthus—has that peculiar clarity and weight that makes you reconsider pieces you thought you knew.
Listen to “Våren” (Last Spring), how he shapes those opening chords with just enough hesitation to suggest the tentative emergence of spring in a harsh climate, before Davidsen enters with a tone so pure it’s almost painful. The program is intelligently constructed, though one might quibble with the sequencing. We get the Haugtussa cycle complete—all eight songs—and here Davidsen’s dramatic instincts serve her beautifully.
“Veslemøy ved rokken” finds her spinning out the softest pianissimo I’ve heard from her on disc, the voice floating above Andsnes’s nuanced filigree. By the time we reach “Ved Gjætle-Bekken,” there’s genuine anguish in the sound, a rawness that recalls Kirsten Flagstad at her most vulnerable. But it’s in the individual songs that this recital truly distinguishes itself.
“En Svane” demands—and receives—that impossible combination of sustained legato and dynamic shading that separates the great Grieg singers from the merely competent. Davidsen’s breath control is extraordinary; phrases that would require most sopranos to break for air simply unfold in long, arching lines. The voice itself has darkened slightly since her earlier recordings, gaining a smoky quality in the middle register that suits these songs perfectly.
Andsnes never allows himself to become mere accompaniment. In “Jeg elsker dig,” he shapes the piano part as an equal partner in the dialogue, finding harmonic ambiguities that keep the familiar melody from settling into sentiment. His touch in the upper register has a bell-like clarity—listen to those right-hand figurations in “Solveigs sang,” how they shimmer without ever becoming precious.
Some may find Davidsen’s interpretations too large-scaled for the intimacy of the genre. Her voice, after all, has been filling opera houses in Wagner and Strauss. But I’d argue that she scales down remarkably well, and when she does open up—as in the climax of “Til En I”—the effect is overwhelming precisely because it’s been so carefully calibrated.
This isn’t a Wagnerian soprano slumming in Lieder; it’s a complete artist working in a repertoire she owns. The recorded sound favors presence over atmosphere, which is probably the right choice. You hear every consonant, every breath, the precise moment when Andsnes’s fingers meet the keys.
Some might want more hall ambience, but I prefer this clarity—it serves the intimacy of the collaboration. If there’s a reservation, it’s that the program could have used more variety in mood and tempo. The predominance of slow, introspective songs creates a certain sameness over the full hour.
A few more of Grieg’s playful or satirical pieces might have provided relief. But this is a minor complaint about what is essentially a major achievement. This is the Grieg song recital we’ve been waiting for—idiomatically sung, gorgeously played, and — well — captured in sound that does justice to both artists….
Essential. Richard Dyer
