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Whom do you recommend?

There's a new recording of both concertos on EMI by Leif Ove Andsnes with Mariss Jansons. I believe both performances are very good and should rank with the very best.

I got my copy at Tower. The EMI number is 7243 5574862.

There are so many recordings, but a long-standing favorite is Kovacevich/Davis on Philips.

I don't know who conducted the preformances, but Michelangeli plays a tremendous Grieg concerto as well as Schumann...I love the Grieg in particular because he, in my opinion, has sort of a Lisztian effect in the piece, bringing out the virtuosity especially well in the first movement cadenza.

I have the Richter Schumann....and I don't like it.

Wow, you folks have a great job. The Andsnes recording is excellent and the Kovacevich has often been considered the finest available - the "one" copy everyone should have.

for the Schumann, I've always enjoyed Arthur Rubinstein with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He captured much of the joy of the work - and there's decent sound as well.

Ken

There's a wonderful story of when Grieg brought his concerto to Liszt. Of course, Liszt could play it at sight and immediately dashed through the first couple of lines at about 3 times tempo. Grieg corrected Liszt - but was amazed at the vituosity of Liszt. In another instance, Grieg started to play the piano portion of his Sonata for Violin and Piano. He was struggling a bit - so Liszt offered to play it. Grieg was enjoying himself -- and then was shocked that Liszt had also integrated the violin portion into his performance.

Ken

My favorite performances of these concertos are:

Grieg: Artur Rubinstein; Schumann: Dinu Lipatti

I find Zimerman's Schumann/Grieg Concerti with Berlin Philharmonic also quite good.

Which one do you have? I've got one from a few years ago and he burns through the piece. It's not 100% to liking, but I just learned that he re-recorded it with a milder approach (similar to the first release of Gould's Goldberg compared to the later one?).

I have a DVD of Rubinstein playing the Grieg Concerto with London Symphony Orchestra in 1975. He was 88 years old! Of course, technically, he's not as good as a pianist half his age, but I was really amazed by the energy he had for someone that old. It was a good performance.