Uploaded September 2020 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago

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-Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)
-Performer: Gerhard Oppitz

6 Lyric Pieces Book VII, op. 62, written in 1893-95

00:00 - I. Sylfide {Sylph}
02:03 - II. Takk {Gratitude}
06:54 - III. Fransk serenade {French Serenade}
09:13 - IV. Bekken {Brooklet}
10:53 - V. Drömmesyn {Phantom}
14:45 - VI. Hjemad {Homeward}

Edvard Grieg spent most of the winter and spring of 1894 - 1895 holed up in the Hotel King of Denmark in Bergen, sick with the flu. In March 1895 the state of Grieg's health caused him to cancel an important personal appearance in Berlin. In the spring, Grieg traveled mountains of the north for a rest cure in the clean, cold Norwegian air, and returned to his home, Troldhaugen, in May in good health and spirits. The composition of the seventh Lyric Suite for piano, Op. 62, likely extended through both Grieg's time of illness and that of his recovery.

Certainly a rejuvenated Grieg is heard in the brilliant opener, "Sylfide" (Sylph). Lithe and balletic, this quick-footed piece is cast in a 3/4 time that's mostly missing its third beat, and the melody skips around with the frosty agility of a snowflake. Not so the following "Tak" (Thanks) in which a grateful melody is framed in an uninteresting chorale setting, interrupted only by a predictable crescendo built on decorated half notes. Ballet rhythms return in "Fransk Serenade" (French Serenade) which is mainly of the period; it is charming and short. Brilliantly pianistic and étude-like is the "Bekken" (The Brook) which follows, Grieg achieving very effective minor-key sonorities from the piano in the last page. "Drommesyn" (The Phantom) is based around a single melodic period that is characterized by a limpid four-against-six pattern at the end. Grieg varies this idea only with a single repeated note. Grieg takes his period through some unusual harmonic changes, and the overall economy of means used in "The Phantom" is reminiscent of that in Liszt's late piano works.

In March 1895, Grieg assisted his friend the composer Johan Halverson with the preparation of a four-hand piano score for publication of the latter's "Entry of the Boyars." At about that time Grieg composed his own rousing, but very different march under the title of "Hjemad" (Homeward). The outer sections of the march are tremendously thrilling, with an excellently realized progression leading to the coda.

While the seventh book of Grieg's Lyric Suites contains individual numbers that are among the best found in these sets, this collection as a whole is generally not thought of as being one of the stronger entries in the canon.
[allmusic.com]