Classical CD reviews: Grieg, Glass and more

The best of the new releases Grieg: Six Ibsen Songs Op 25; Six Lieder Op 48; Haugtussa Op 67; Melodies of the Heart Op 5 Katarina Karnéus (mezzo-soprano), Julius Drake (piano) Belying Debussy's celebrated sideswipe ("a pink bonbon stuffed with snow"), Grieg's music is always likely to surprise the unwary with its range and depth. Set against the simple fervour of the deservedly popular Jeg elkser Dig ("I Love You") and the blithe, folksy Lauf der Welt are the stark death-longing of Dereinst, Gedanke mein - as powerful in its way as Hugo Wolf's more famous setting - and the eerie Ibsen song Spillemænd ("Minstrels"), where a musician pays a terrible price for his Faustian pact with a water-sprite. The lovely Op 48 songs, composed to German texts for the Wagnerian soprano Ellen Gulbranson, sometimes evoke Schumann with a... [read full story]