In 2008 Sigurd Slåttebrekk and Tony Harrison recreated the only recordings made by Edvard Grieg in Paris in 1903. This was the beginning of an entirely new approach to historically informed performances.

”A true labour of love…these performances are of a moving poetic empathy and musical devotion.”
Bryce Morrison, Gramophone Magazine, (Editor´s Choice)

”Slåttebrekk triumphantly demonstrates the degree to which he follows the composer in bringing epic symphonic coherence to music that has often been regarded as four-square and lacking in organic unity.”
Erik Levy, BBC Music Magazine (Instrumental Choice)

”One of the most fascinating explorations of recorded sound I have ever encountered.”

Shirley Apthorp, Financial Times

”Nothing less than a revolution of a double CD.”
Olav Egil Aune, Vårt Land

”A huge, dangerous and shattering project for 1900-century music in general.”
Halfdan Bleken, NRK Radio P2

”An spontaner Frische, an eruptiver Musikalität und, im Kontrast dazu, an reflektiver Kantabilität, ist diese Einspielung nicht zu überbieten.”
Pizzicato

“What makes the results (the recreations) work is the intent behind them; we move beyond skilled impersonation to something quietly magical, Grieg’s miniatures gaining unexpected, touching profundity.”
Graham Rickson, Theartsdesk.com (CD of the month)

”This is an absolute gem for authenticity geeks and for those who enjoy an intellectual musical talking-point. That said, everyone will find these interpretations absorbing, once 21st-century ears have acclimatised to the apparent lack of symmetry and order.”

Charlotte Gardner, Classic FM Magazine

”This is certainly a project that gets you thinking”

Daily Telegraph

”From this moment on, everyone dealing with Grieg’s piano music will have to relate to Slåttebrekk’s recordings.”

Arnfinn Bø-Rygg, Stavanger Aftenblad

“The Ballade… breathes a life of its own, filled with warmth and humanity as well as a soul-searching poignancy.

Dominy Clements, Musicweb International

”Slåttebrekk and Harrison…seek to emulate rather than imitate such vibrant music making.”

Gramophone Magazine

I know it’s silly to talk about “the best” in a work so often recorded (The Piano Concerto), but if this performance isn’t the finest of them all, it’s so exceptional that it will make you forget about any others.”
David Hurwitz, Classics Today

“The Piano concerto is jaw-droppingly good.”
Graham Rickson, Theartsdesk.com

“All lovers of Grieg´s piano music will know Eileen Joyce´s early selection of Lyric Pieces, Gilels´ awareness of “a whole new world of intimate feeling” and, most recently, the recordings of Leif Ove Andsnes. Yet even they hardly equal Slåttebrekk´s expressive intensity and scintillating virtuosity. Here (in the Ballade) Grieg steps out to produce a work of epic grandeur and Slåttebrekk´s way with its flashing northern lights and final desolate leave-taking are unforgettable.”
Bryce Morrison, Gramophone Magazine

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