Grieg Piano works. Leif Ove Andsnes (pf).

Virgin Classics (Full price) (CD) VC7 59300-2 (72 minutes: DDD).

Piano Sonata in E minor, Op. 7. Poetic tone-pictures, Op. 3—[No.] Nos. 4, 5 and 6. Album Leaves, Op. 28—No. 1 in A flat; No. 4 in C sharp minor. Agitato. Lyric [Piece] Pieces—Book 3, Op. 43; Book 5, Op. 54.

Leif Ove Andsnes was 22 last year when he made the recording of Grieg's Sonata—exactly the composer's age when he wrote it. It is a young man's work, Schumann-inspired, yet demonstrating considerable hesitation in the grasp of form. Despite the heroic opening, Andsnes does not save the first movement from sounding repetitive. It is the two inner movements that display real character and imagination and the pianist rises to the occasion in both. He is much more poetic than Daniel Levy on Edelweiss. The finale is pretty stunningly played.

The Agitato, also composed in 1865, apparently has never been recorded before. It is a restless, waltz-like piece that, at a guess, I would have said was by one of the late-nineteenth-century Russians. Grieg is out to charm too in the first of the Album Leaves. The fourth, which follows, however, improvisatory in mood and with curious phrase-lengths, has much more harmonic interest; Andsnes plays it with a broad, though sensitive tone.

He is to be heard at his very best in the Lyric Pieces, Op. 43, which is the most familiar set of all. One relishes the glinting colours in "Butterfly", the simple heartfelt yearnings of "Solitary Wanderer" and the delightful twittering energy of the "Little Bird". This is a pianist with sufficient insight and subtlety not to feel the need to prettify the music. Many of the numbers from Op. 54 are good too. The final piece, "Bells", reminds one of late Liszt in its daring impressionistic effects. Here Andsnes makes the most of the hazy tone colours implied in the score. This nicely-crafted CD has pleasant piano sound, not over-close in impact.

JM-C