Description
In 1891 the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) travelled to the Jotunheimen mountains. The trip, Grieg said, made him feel ‘ten years younger’. Re-energised and inspired, Grieg composed his fifth book of Lyric Pieces, Op. 54, for piano, much of which is directly inspired by the myths, folk culture and landscapes of his beloved home country. He composed in a little hut he’d had constructed by a fjord, so he could work, in peace, away from the noise and hub-bub of his house at Troldhaugen.
Later, Grieg orchestrated four of the Lyric Pieces, calling it his Lyric Suite. In the final movement, March of the Trolls (Trolltog), we can envisage the busy trolls quietly going about their work, and their activity peaking to a thunderous march in a frantic crescendo. Then, unexpectedly, the music subsides into an idyllic, peaceful and folksong-like middle section.
