Way back in 1979 when Bis was just starting out as a label, they released a wonderful disc of all Grieg's works for string orchestra by the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra under Terji Tønnesen. Twenty-six years later, Bis, by that time one of the biggest little labels in the world, released a disc of the nearly the same music by the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra under Ole Kristian Ruud. And while the new disc is nice in its way, it's nowhere near as fine as the earlier release. The Bergen has a bigger string sound but by no ...
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Way back in 1979 when Bis was just starting out as a label, they released a wonderful disc of all Grieg's works for string orchestra by the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra under Terji Tønnesen. Twenty-six years later, Bis, by that time one of the biggest little labels in the world, released a disc of the nearly the same music by the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra under Ole Kristian Ruud. And while the new disc is nice in its way, it's nowhere near as fine as the earlier release. The Bergen has a bigger string sound but by no means a sweeter or a fuller or a warmer or even a cleaner string sound, giving neither the contrapuntal details of the "Holberg" Suite enough lucidity nor the emotional depths of the "Elegiac Melodies" enough pathos. Ruud makes the most of emotions of the music but sounds more like an actor portraying the emotions rather than a person experiencing them. Tønnensen, on the other hand, gets deep beneath the surface of the music, wringing every drop of meaning out of the music and making it...
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