Breakthrough

Donald Macleod looks at Grieg’s breakthrough works and the encouragement he was given by Liszt and Ibsen. All the recordings featured in today’s programme were conducted by Sir Neville Marriner, as BBC Radio 3 celebrates what would have been his 100th birthday.

Donald Macleod looks at the people and places that had a significant impact on Edvard Grieg’s life and work, meeting Norwegian fiddlers, folksong collectors and nationalist firebrands along the way. From Henrik Ibsen, who commissioned Grieg to write his most famous work, to the composer's wife Nina, for whom he wrote all his songs, this week Donald explores the key influences on the composer’s outlook and development.

Today, Donald Macleod explores Grieg’s breakthrough works, which came fairly early on in his career and are generally still the ones he’s best remembered for: the Piano Concerto and Peer Gynt.

Holberg Suite: I. Praeludium
Academy of St Martin in the Fields
Sir Neville Marriner, conductor

Symphonic Dances: III and IV
Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Sir Neville Marriner, conductor

Piano Concerto No 1: II and III
Cécile Ousset, piano
London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Neville Marriner, conductor

Peer Gynt Suite No 1
Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Sir Neville Marriner, conductor

Produced by Megan Jones for BBC Audio Wales and West