On track: Moonlight on the fiord

By WILLIAM DART

Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes has been travelling around the concert halls of the world since the early 90s, securing a reputation as one of the livelier talents around.

While his journeying has not brought him as far as our shores (although Australia has hosted him more than once), Andsnes' CDs provide some compensation.

Last year, his selection of Edvard Grieg's Lyric Pieces on EMI Classics, recorded on the composer's 1892 Steinway at the Grieg Museum in Troldhaugen, garnered him a Gramophone Award.

The 24 pieces chosen represented over a third of what lay in Grieg's 10 volumes of Lyric Pieces, ranging from an unaffected Arietta to the impressionistic Evening in the Mountains.

Andsnes might have sidestepped the adventurous Bell-Ringing, which he recorded some years ago for Virgin, but there was more than enough Bartokian fury elsewhere (the pianist's Trolls proved a particularly curmudgeonly lot). Andsnes now turns his attention to Grieg's Piano Concerto, coupled with the Schumann Concerto, and played with the Berlin Philharmonic under Mariss Jansons.

Despite some slick words in the booklet, the Schumann is not a contender when put alongside other recordings available, suffering from the same emotional brusqueness that marred the pianist's Schubert outing with Ian Bostridge. A pity this, considering the wonderful clarity of the recording itself.

With the Grieg, all is forgiven. This is a studio recording, but has all the presence and excitement of a live concert. For Andsnes enthusiasts, it is fascinating to see him return, with a new mellowness, to a work he recorded 13 years ago.

Remember this is the concerto that Debussy, who once famously characterised Grieg's music as "pink snow", belittled as "not so individual at all".

With the artistry of the Berlin musicians and the maestro Jansons behind him, Andsnes makes a lie of Debussy's jibe.

The pianist is more interested in exploring foreground and background than he was in 1990. Bravura and poetry go hand in hand in the Cadenza, the Adagio is moonlight-on-the-fiords stuff and you are stronger than I am if you can prevent toes tapping in the Finale.

* Grieg and Schumann Piano Concertos (EMI Classics 57486); Grieg Lyric Pieces (EMI Classics 57296).