Bob Kasenchak ([log in to unmask]) wrote:

>I have heard many times (for what its worth) that Grainger is the
>'supreme' interpreter of the Grieg Piano Concerto, and several recordings
>exist.  Apparently the two were friends? I guess they could have been,
>but...their lifespans only overlap by a couple of decades.

They met in London, IIRC, a few yeras before Grieg died.  Grieg certainly
considered PG his ultimate interpreter, saying that PG played his concerto
the way he, Grieg, would if he'd had the technique.

There are a couple (maybe three) live recordings, all taken fromthe last
couple of decades of PG's life.  He also made a piano roll of the concerto,
from which a (oresumably anal-compulsive) person removed all the wholes
corresponding to the orchestral accompaniment so that it could be recorded
with a real orchestra (Australi, c10975 IIRC).  In 1989 or so the roll was
used at the Last Night of the Proms and a lifesize PG cardboard cutout
apparently took a bow.

>Anyway, I was wondering if a Grainger version of the above-mentioned
>Sonata exists? And whether it recieves the accolades his Grieg Pno
>Concerto does?

AFAIK no. There is a good deal of Grainger's solo output available on
CD, but I've not heard anything of this one.  As the Sonata is hardly a
mainstream repertoire item, nor was it then AFAIK, it's unlikely that he
recorded it.

Deryk Barker
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