Edvard Grieg already had the renowned Piano Concerto and Sigurd Jorsalfar behind him when he was commissioned to write incidental music for a staged version of Henrik Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt. This resulted in some of Grieg’s most famous music, from the Norwegian trolls and hobgoblins of In the Hall of the Mountain King to the movingly simple Solveig’s Song. The suite From Holberg’s Time takes us back to Baroque style and traditions with irresistible melodic charm. Wedding Day at Troldhaugen was a wedding anniversary present for Nina, Grieg’s wife, and the sprightly Norwegian Dances are a precursor to the larger-scale Symphonic Dances (available on VOXNX3038CD). These classic VOX recordings by Maurice Abravanel and the Utah Symphony Orchestra were originally issued in 1976 and have been newly remastered from the original tapes.

These VOX Audiophile Edition recordings were first released in 1976 on a quadraphonic LP pressing QSVBX 5140. They also appeared in the 1990s as part of a 2-discs VOX Box edition CDX 5048, but the vintage nature of these and numerous other VOX label releases have made them less easily obtainable and certainly less of a bargain than they were. In any case these recordings have been given a new lease of life by going back to the original Elite Recordings master tapes, which have been newly transferred to disc in 192 kHz/24-bit high definition.

This release appears alongside its companion Grieg disc from Utah, VOXNX3038CD with the Symphonic Dances and other much-loved orchestral works. While there have been numerous recordings of this repertoire since the 1970s, these performances have stood the test of time and have been widely admired since their first appearance.

This release joins our previous re-releases of Tchaikovsky’s symphonies and other orchestral works with the Utah Symphony conducted by Maurice Abravanel, considered ‘undoubtedly an event of significance, [featuring] impressive performances of Tchaikovsky's masterpieces, which demonstrate the outstanding skills of the conductor and the orchestra’ (Online Merker).

The Elite Recordings for VOX by legendary producers Marc Aubort and Joanna Nickrenz are considered by audiophiles to be amongst the finest sounding examples of orchestral recordings.

‘Standing today as my personal fave, the late Maurice Abravanel whose ’76 Utah set on VOX made him yet one of the few to comprehensively record Grieg up to that point – produced a recording that, at first hearing, made me stand up alone in my room to shout bravo.’ – The Classical Music Guide Forums