Search - Grieg, Grainger, Aarhus Municipal Orchestra :: Percy Grainger plays Grieg: Concerto for piano in A minor op 16 + His Own Works (Vanguard)

Hamelin is such a fascinating pianist that almost anything he plays is automatically interesting. However, some of his Grainger playing is too refined for its own good. The famous Country Gardens, for example, is too jaunty and mild; try Grainger's own rambunctious performance for a contrasting view of the music. And In Dahomey, labeled a rag by Grainger, has precious little ragtime feeling either in the arrangement or the performance. However, the lush decadence Hamelin evokes in Ramble on Love (a sort of meditation on Strauss's Rosenkavalier) is almost worth the price of the disc. Just don't expect to get the complete Grainger experience here. --Leslie Gerber