Pianist Sheng Cai devotes his latest recording to piano works by Edvard Grieg, Norway’s most famous composer.

At the age of 22, Grieg wrote his only Piano Sonata, op.7, dedicated to his teacher, the influential Danish composer Niels Gade. The piano arrangement of Peer Gynt, Suite no.1, op.46, is recorded here in a piano transcription by Grieg and by the Russian pianist Grigori Guinzburg (1904-1961).

The Ballade in G minor, op.24, was composed during the winter of 1875-1876. Unlike Chopin’s large narrative Ballades, Grieg’s Ballade is a theme followed by 14 variations on a Norwegian mountain melody. Completed in 1881, Three Scenes of Folk Life, op.19, form a triptych that combines melodies and rhythms inspired by Norwegian music.

Born in China, Sheng Cai studied at Shanghai Conservatory of Music and was a top prize winner at the 1998 National Competition. The following year, his family immigrated to Canada where he began studying at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. He earned his Bachelor of Music Degree under full scholarship at New England Conservatory in Boston. His most important teachers include legendary pianists Anton Kuerti and Russell Sherman.