Alice Sara Ott: Wonderland CD review – Grieg recital lacks magic

“Wonderland” to Alice Sara Ott is the trolls-and-forests world of Grieg, whose Piano Concerto is presented in a live performance alongside studio recordings of 12 miniatures. The concerto may sound small-scale to anyone who thinks of this as a big romantic warhorse; it is elegantly phrased by Ott and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, but the first movement barely catches fire until the solo cadenza, so the grand ending of the finale sounds like the resolution to a more dramatic story than the one we’ve just heard. For a disc exploring a “magical and imaginary world”, in the miniatures there’s a very present quality to both Ott’s playing and the recorded sound; yet she does create a mistier atmosphere in the Nocturne, and Solveig’s Song sounds haunting, even if the Elves’ Dance that follows is a bit stompy. Wedding Day at Troldhaugen comes with a witty scramble to get to the church on time.