Planet Hugill: A brand new solo album from British pianist, Alexander Ullman, includes a totally pleasing and entertaining choice of music by Edvard Grieg

Not too long ago, Ullman made his début throughout the USA, China and South Korea and has carried out constantly in London on the Wigmore Corridor, Cadogan Corridor, the Purcell Room and Queen Elizabeth Corridor whereas farther afield he has appeared on the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Gewandhaus (Leipzig), Kimmel Middle (Philadelphia), Kennedy Middle (Washington DC), MUPA (Budapest), Seoul Arts Middle, Shanghai Oriental Arts Middle and the NCPA in Beijing. He has additionally participated within the Nottingham and Oxford worldwide piano sequence and is usually heard on BBC Radio 3, France Musique and MDR Klassik. 

Anyhow, with all Ullman’s globetrotting actions, he nonetheless discovered time to get again within the studio recording his third album for Rubicon Classics that includes music by Grieg, who, by the way in which, attended the opening of the Bayreuth Pageant in 1876 witnessing the première of The Ring of the Nibelung sharing the pink carpet with the likes of Tchaikovsky, Bruckner and Camille Saint-Saëns. And identical to Chopin, he was notably adept at crafting beautiful miniatures fairly than large-scale orchestral works. 

Though, saying that, his Piano Concerto in A minor, Op.16, of 1868, duly stays probably the most widespread of its type within the repertoire as we speak but it surely’s actually within the poetic musical expression of Grieg’s smaller-scale solo compositions which can be actually pleasing and shine particularly by the hands of Ullman who most positively ready and crafted an exquisite new transcription of Peer Gynt Suite, No.1, Op.46, particularly for this recording. 

Composed as incidental music to Henrik Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt, Grieg’s realization is extensively reckoned to be his most well-known work and I really feel that Ullman captures so nicely the spirit of the composer’s delicate and emotive writing bringing to the fore the color and texture of the unique orchestration while displaying off the craft and experience of his enjoying and, certainly, his interpretation. 

The suite accommodates such well-known and well-loved items as ‘Morning Temper’, used because the prelude to behave 4 and identified for its lovely and calming melody whereas ‘Within the Corridor of the Mountain King’ its iconic and simply recognizable theme, used extensively in widespread tradition, depicts the protagonist, Peer Gynt, tiptoeing by way of a corridor stuffed with trolls earlier than a chase ensues as they get up.  

Recognized for its dramatic build-up, the piece begins softly whereas step by step growing in velocity and quantity to create a way of escalating chaos and frenzy that Ullman conveys with willpower and articulated creativeness thus portray an fantastic summary image of this fulfilling scene. A few quiet and shifting items make up the suite – ‘Loss of life of Åse’ and ‘Anitra’s Dance’ – becoming so nicely the general image and ambiance of this most dramatic and interesting work. 

As an apart, I fondly recall London-based Pageant Ballet (now English Nationwide Ballet) based by Dame Alicia Markova and Sir Anton Dolin in 1950, mounting an excellent manufacturing of Peer Gynt usually introduced on the Royal Pageant Corridor. 

The half-dozen songs from Piano Transcriptions of Songs, Op.41, comprising ‘Lullaby’, ‘Little Haakon’, ‘I like thee’, ‘She is So White’, ‘The Princess’ and ‘To Spring’ are admirably performed and so, too, are the seven items of Moods, relationship from 1907, in all probability the final music that Grieg penned, comprising ‘Resignation ‘, ‘Scherzo-Impromptu’, ‘A trip at evening’, ‘Well-liked Air’, ‘Research (Hommage à Chopin)’ and ‘College students’ Serenade’.  

The final track of Moods – ‘The mountaineer’s track’- is so memorable and comforting, contrasting dramatic musical moments alongside melodic motifs thereby highlighting the emotional depth of the piece and summing up on the similar time the majestic (and chilling) grandeur of Norway’s breathtaking mountainous terrain which I’m so fond and accustomed to.  

The ultimate choice of Ullman’s new recording of Grieg affords a charming choice of songs from Lyric Items, Ebook 10, Op.71, that are extraordinarily pretty, stress-free and fascinating impressionistic-sounding items, peppered right here and there by conventional Scandinavian folk-tunes for good measure. Comprising ‘As soon as Upon a Time’, ‘Summer time’s eve’, ‘Puck’, ‘Peace of the Woods’, ‘Norwegian Dance’, ‘Gone’ and ‘Remembrances’, they’re very pleasing to the ear thereby placing the icing on the cake of this nice and evenly recorded CD by Rubicon that can absolutely supply heat, peace and tranquillity to any listener cuddled up by the fireplace on a chilly winter’s evening – perhaps with a G&T! 

As Grieg’s music is densely wealthy with Norwegian folks idioms as vividly illustrated and so nicely represented in Lyric Items, the well-respected conductor, Hans von Bülow – a key advocate of Wagner who carried out the primary efficiency of Tristan und Isolde in Munich in 1865 – referenced Grieg as being ‘the Chopin of the North’. I don’t suppose anybody would want to argue with that. 

Grieg – Alexander Ullman