EDWARD GRIEG – PIANIST, ACCOMPANIST, ENSEMBLEIST, CONDUCTOR: FEATURES OF THE PERFORMING STYLE

Abstract

The article is devoted to the performance of one of the great masters of piano art of the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century, Edvard Grieg. During his life, the periods of prolific compositional creativity and teaching work of the Norwegian artist were replaced by long concert trips, many performing activities as a pianist-soloist, accompanist, ensemble player, and conductor. Thanks to his works and performing arts, the European public got to know the musical culture of Norway. Through the creative efforts of E. Grieg, Norwegian music, together with the art of other European countries, became an equal component of world musical culture. Attention is paid to Grieg’s concert and performance work, the geography of his triumphant tours, the peculiarities of the formation of concert programs, creative cooperation with prominent musicians, including U. Bull, H. Wieniawski, P. Casals, and others. The peculiarities of the composer’s performance style are characterized, the most important features of his original pianism, and his unsurpassed interpretations of his own works are noted. An attempt was made to determine the role of E. Grieg’s concert activity in the history of world piano performance art. It was noted that E. Grieg as an artist cannot be assessed unambiguously. On the one hand, he is a bright representative of the era of romanticism, and on the other, he is a realist who had a sober and clear approach to all things and phenomena. As a romantic, Grieg had an amazing gift of poetic imagination, color; the main things in his art were the richness and subtlety of feelings. At the same time, the artist’s giftedness was also based on classicist features. Grieg avoids exaggeration in expression and form, keeping his imagination and achieving amazing balance, harmony and clarity of individual elements of the artistic whole. All this was characteristic of both the compositional and performing activities of the pianist, accompanist, ensemble player, and conductor.