Arthur de Greef (1862-1940): Grieg - "March of the Dwarves"

Arthur de Greef was one of the Liszt pupils from the late 1870s through the 1880s, contemporary with Rosenthal and Albéniz. He is best known for his 30-year association with Grieg, who spoke of de Greef as the finest performer of his works there was.

De Greef stands out amongst the Liszt pupils, and indeed from almost everyone of his generation, for the quite modern approach he had to interpretation. His performance is "anti-interventionist" and highly objective, in a non-romantic sort of way. His performances of Chopin prefigure the approach taken by Artur Rubenstein, of great delicacy and a certain cool straightforwardness.

His solo piano work has one failing - that of failing to generate the widest range of dynamic levels, and absence of a certain kind of beckoning intimacy. To be quite honest, I am not personally a fan of his solo performance, though it will appeal to many who find the 19th century style of piano too affected. The performances bear repeated hearings though, and my initial negative reaction often softens into one of "I see exactly what you mean, and you do it very well for all that, but I just wouldn't do it that way myself."

This is Grieg's Lyric Piece op.54 no.3. The recording dates from 1920.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Arthur
• de
• Greef
• piano
• recording
• classical
• grieg
• lyric
• piece
• op.54
• no.3
• march
• of
• the
• dwarves

[OrangeSodaKing]

Is this Grieg himself performing it?

And I like it when it's played a little more conservatively like this-not so fast and heavy and urgent! Great performance!

[d60944]

No, this is Liszt's pupil Arthur de Greef performing - read the video notes on the top-right for info about how much Grieg liked his playing though.

[kokoandco]

Clean the noise!

For example - Cooledit Pro...

[d60944]

Hiss removal beyond what has already been done ruins the piano tone. Over-cleaned transfers of 78 rpm records may sound tidy, but they tell us very little about the sorts of sounds realy being made by the pianists :-)

[UncleNathan]

Well said! Do you have his set of the Saint-Saens 2nd concerto w/Landon Ronald?

[d60944]

Yes - check my playlists from my channel

[Mickysina]

After watching several... I'll say it, filths of this song, this comes comes as a gentle refreshment. The dynamics and ritardando moments are little iffy, but he didn't stray too far off at all off from the original version, however - I actually liked where he placed some of the changes :)

Finally something that wouldn't make Grieg turn in his grave :D

[Erlgard]

I like the faster versions a bit more...

but if we imagine that the dwarves arent famous for their dexterity and speed, but for their strength and stubborn behavior, this version here may show the dwarves mentality more authenticly .. somebody is with me?

[manise29]

Okay since this was recorded in 1920 I'm gonna play it with that tempo

[ironpianist]

@jimmyhayers but i cant imagine a fast moving dwarf unless it is tumbling down a slope hahaha.

[theanguished1]

what the hell is march of the dwras and trolls the smae thing

[MrMrMikayel]

Bravo!

[jimmyhayers]

@Erlgard I like both versions, the faster versions make me think of them rushing about underground being industrious and casting metals, working foundries etc, this makes me think more of them just going about their dwarfish business in the woods or something lol

[09Benavides]

A bit too slow...

But this piece has authenticity.

[FilippoBass]

stupendo!!!!!!!!!!

[fodads]

Very nicely played

[prettypianogirl654]

this is such a relief after all the superspeed ones i've been hearing. I play this song at about this speed.