![Francis Poulenc - Cocardes [With score] @DamonJHK](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qOnTZGB9yCE/maxresdefault.jpg)
Uploaded November 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
-Composer: Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (7 January 1899 – 30 January 1963)
-Text: Jean Cocteau (5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963)
-Performers: Mario Nuvoli (Tenor), Giulino Plotino (Violin), Francesco Tamiati (Piston), Floriano Rosini (Trombone), Roberto Morini (Percussion)
Cocardes, song cycle for voice and chamber ensemble, FP 16b
00:00 - I. Miel de Narbonne
02:56 - II. Bonne d'Enfant
04:26 - III. Enfant de troupe
-Composer: Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (7 January 1899 – 30 January 1963)
-Text: Jean Cocteau (5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963)
-Performers: Mario Nuvoli (Tenor), Giulino Plotino (Violin), Francesco Tamiati (Piston), Floriano Rosini (Trombone), Roberto Morini (Percussion)
Cocardes, song cycle for voice and chamber ensemble, FP 16b
00:00 - I. Miel de Narbonne
02:56 - II. Bonne d'Enfant
04:26 - III. Enfant de troupe
![Francis Poulenc - Cocardes [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qOnTZGB9yCE/mqdefault.jpg "Francis Poulenc - Cocardes [With score]
-Composer: Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (7 January 1899 – 30 January 1963)
-Text: Jean Cocteau (5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963)
-Performers: Mario Nuvoli (Tenor), Giulino Plotino (Violin), Francesco Tamiati (Piston), Floriano Rosini (Trombone), Roberto Morini (Percussion)
Cocardes, song cycle for voice and chamber ensemble, FP 16b
00:00 - I. Miel de Narbonne
02:56 - II. Bonne dEnfant
04:26 - III. Enfant de troupe")
![Robert Schumann - Fünf Lieder {Five Songs}, op. 40 [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qdHM5a5qjI4/mqdefault.jpg "Robert Schumann - Fünf Lieder {Five Songs}, op. 40 [With score]
-Composer: Robert Schumann (8 June 1810 – 29 July 1856)
-Performers: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Baritone), Christoph Eschenbach (Piano)
Fünf Lieder {Five Songs} for Voice and Piano, op. 40, written in 1840
[00:04] - I. Märzveilchen
[01:33] - II. Muttertraum
[04:19] - III. Der Soldat
[07:11] - IV. Der Spielmann
**[10:19] - V. Verratene Liebe
Schumann wrote these songs to poems by Hans Christian Andersen, an author best known today for his fairy tales, and dedicated them to the poet, who had visited Robert and Clara Schumann earlier that year. The translations were by Adalbert von Chamisso, author of the texts for Frauenliebe und -leben, which Schumann wrote during the same period. They were in the same volume that Frauenliebe came from.
He noted in the letter that he sent with a presentation copy that Andersen may very well find the settings strange, as he himself found the texts strange at first. He continued to say that as he began to understand the poems and their strangeness more deeply, his music started to become increasingly strange as well.
While the situations depicted vary widely, the songs are still linked somewhat loosely by the keys, and considerably more strongly by their place in Schumanns ongoing tendency to explore changes in moods and feelings rather than to express and develop one single emotion, as well as by that element of strangeness.
Part of the strangeness lies in a certain emotional compression; in both Muttertraum and Der Spielmann, Schumann compresses into one song the dramatic and emotional range that he unfolded over the course of a cycle in Dichterliebe and Frauenliebe und -leben, written around the same time.
Another part lies in an almost cinematic quality, such as in Muttertraum, with its changing images: the theme suggesting the mother rocking the baby in her arms, the peaceful image in the vocal lines with the more ominous underlying piano, and the growing forcefulness of the darker mood as the song ends; in Der Soldat, with the powerful scene painting from the imitation of the death march and the almost disturbingly vivid image in the postlude of the actual moment of death and the fall of the body; in Der Spielmann, with the images of dancing and the close-ups of the fiddlers deterioration; and in Verratene Liebe, as the gossip about the kiss spreads, at first quietly, and then thundering cheerfully all through the town.
[allmusic.com]")
![Dmitri Shostakovich - Symphony No. 9 [With score] (Reupload)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qynu8yNiTrY/mqdefault.jpg "Dmitri Shostakovich - Symphony No. 9 [With score] (Reupload)
-Composer: Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (25 September 1906 – 9 August 1975)
-Orchestra: WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne [WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln]
-Conductor: Rudolf Borisovich Barshai
Symphony No. 9 in E-flat Major, op. 70, written in 1945
00:10 - I. Allegro
05:26 - II. Moderato
11:08 - III. Presto
14:03 - IV. Largo
17:10 - V. Allegretto
Shostakovich composed this work for Schumann-sized orchestra plus percussion in the summer of 1945, and Yevgeny Mravinsky led the first performance at Leningrad on November 3 of that year. Given the size of Shostakovichs war-haunted seventh and eighth symphonies, Joseph Stalin expected a Ninth in 1945 that out-Mahlered Beethoven, in the late Boris Schwarzs phrase. In Testimony, Solomon Volkov recalled the composers saying, They wanted a fanfare from me, an ode, a majestic Ninth....I doubt that Stalin ever questioned his own genius or greatness. But when the war against Hitler was won, he went off the deep end, like a frog puffing himself up to the size of an ox, and now I was supposed to write an apotheosis of Stalin. I simply could not....My stubbornness cost me dearly.
Volkov called the Ninth a work full of sarcasm and bitterness. Disguised as an homage to Haydn, it was Shostakovichs shortest symphony since the Second of 1927, despite having five movements (the last three are played without pause). In an effort to shield Shostakovich from political fallout, conductor Mravinsky called the new symphony a joyous sigh of relief...a work directed against philistinism, which ridicules complacency and bombast, the desire to rest on ones laurels. Putting on a good face, the Soviet hierarchy echoed Mravinsky, but only temporarily.
By and large, Western critics dismissed the work as trivial. However, in his 1990 book The New Shostakovich, Ian MacDonald asserted that only a dunce could have failed to realize the composer was up to something, pointing out the code-bearing nature of recurring notes and rhythms. A Stalin motif is frighteningly present always two notes, one usually short, one long from its raucous first appearance, without musical point, in the double-exposition of a giddy Allegro movement. The opening mimic[s] the ordinary citizens carefree relief at the victorious conclusion of the war. [But] the second subject a crude quick-march, led by a two-note, tonic-dominant trombone is clearly symbolic of the Vozhd [Stalin]. MacDonald hears fights breaking out [and] for a hectic moment the music continues in two keys until the trombone wrests control, whereupon strings capitulate and the reprise ends on sneering trills, the quick-march in control.
A Moderato movement follows, with a B minor main subject for clarinet that is wan, sad-faced, with a telltale two-note pendant, and a heel-dragging second one: a chain of two-note cells [that] subtly mock conventional grief. Horns warn off [the] real feeling that breaks through briefly, whereupon happy-face clowns [usher in] a cheery scherzo...another street party [as in the first movement] that goes violently wrong.
Menacing brass octaves begin the fourth movement; then a bassoon recitative sends mixed signals, another mask that leaves the strings uneasy. The Allegretto finale erupts into action....A dark whirlwind drives the movement to a climax of teetering expectation but all that emerges is the clownish main theme, hammered out by the entire orchestra. Shostakovichs contempt is scalding. Here are your leaders, the music jeers: circus clowns. Point made, [he] summons a helter-skelter coda and slams [the Ninth] shut.
For MacDonald it is an open gesture of dissent [that] ruthlessly targeted Stalinism....Wagnerisms, the most prominent being an allusion to Wotans Leitmotif in the fourth movement, are probable expressions of the view, outlined in Testimony, of Stalin and Hitler as spiritual relatives. Shostakovich paid dearly indeed for the snub; he was damned in 1948 as a formalist and blacklisted, leaving him only movie scores for income. After Stalins death in 1953 he finished a Tenth Symphony, in whose scherzo the Vozhd himself makes one last, unforgettably terrifying appearance.
[allmusic.com]")
![Edvard Grieg - Hjertets melodier {Melodies of the Heart}, op. 5 [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/rNVmcNIR0NU/mqdefault.jpg "Edvard Grieg - Hjertets melodier {Melodies of the Heart}, op. 5 [With score]
-Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)
-Performers: Monica Groop (voice), Love Derwinger (Piano)
Hjertets melodier {Melodies of the Heart}, for Voice and Piano, op. 5, written in 1864
00:03 - I. To brune øjne {Two brown eyes}
01:14 - II. Du fatter ei bølgernes evige gang {You grasp not the waves eternal motion}
03:00 - III. Jeg elsker dig {I love thee}
04:40 - IV. Min tanke er et mægtigt fjeld {My thought is a mighty mountain}
Grieg is known to have credited his wife Nina as being not only the finest interpreter, but the very inspiration for his collection of songs known as the Hearts Melodies for voice and piano, Op. 5. It is generally understood that his understanding of the technical capabilities and expressive possibilities of the human voice are directly attributable to her. Therefore, the sheer melodic potency of his early songs have rightfully earned them a revered place in the vocal music canon, despite their often mediocre texts. In addition, the piano writing of the early songs is well conceived, often with brief preludes and interludes, and motifs derived from the vocal lines. The early songs are typically strophic in form, which works well with text settings that often depict Norwegian folklore. Griegs early songs encompass a wide-ranging emotional palette that includes deep anguish, humor, and in the Nordic tradition, impressions of nature.
[allmusic.com]")
![Igor Stravinsky - Epitaphium [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/rVd4R8lNdOQ/mqdefault.jpg "Igor Stravinsky - Epitaphium [With score]
-Composer: Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (17 June 1882 – 6 April 1971)
-Performers: Kraft-Thorwald Dilloo (Flute), Sepp Fackler (Clarinet), Hildegar Heckel (Harp)
Epitaphium, für das Grabmal des Prinzen Max Egon zu Fürstenberg [Epitaph for the tombstone of Prince Max Egon zu Fürstenberg], written in 1959
Stravinsky had been the honored guest of Prince Max Egon zu Fürstenberg, patron of the Donaueschinger Musiktage, during the 1957 and 1958 festivals. When the prince died in April 1959, Stravinsky was asked to write a short composition in his memory. The result was Epitaphium, which received its premiere on 17 October 1959, on one of that year’s three concerts, each of which included a newly composed musical tribute to the prince. In the history of Stravinskys compositional style, the Epitaphium is important as the first work in which he ordered the harmony serially throughout.
[More information: wikipedia.org]")
![Francis Poulenc - Métamorphoses [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/rrQ2No0_L0I/mqdefault.jpg "Francis Poulenc - Métamorphoses [With score]
-Composer: Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (7 January 1899 – 30 January 1963)
-Performers: Catherine Dubosc (Voice) Pascal Rogé (Piano)
Métamorphoses for Voice and Piano, FP 121, written in 1943
00:00 - I. Reine des mouettes {Queen of the gulls}
01:04 - II. Cest ainsi que tu es {Thats how you are}
03:11 - III. Paganini
This is a quick and breezy cycle of three songs by Francis Poulenc (1899 1963). If the opening and especially the last song are too rapid and breezy, the middle song is one that rises to the standards Poulenc set as one of the greatest of French song composers.
It is not unusual that the poetess was a friend of Poulencs early in his career he decided to write songs to texts of living poets whom he knew personally. His biographer Benjamin Ivry points out that like Schubert he sometimes set works of minor poets because he liked the particular writer.
Poulenc wrote three song cycles and one separate song on poems by Louise de Vilmorin. This poet was one of Poulencs favorite people, as he wrote in Journal de mes melodies (Diary of My Songs), his invaluable commentary on almost all his songs, ...because she is beautiful, because she is lame [she had a limp], because she writes innately immaculate French, because her name evokes flowers and vegetables, because she loves her brothers like a lover and her lovers like a sister. He also liked, in her poetry, its qualities of sensitive audacity,...wantonness,...avidity which extended into song....
Others were not so kind. She is ranked as a minor poet, and the British novelist Evelyn Waugh called her an Hungarian countess [she was French but had married a Hungarian count] who pretended to be a French poet.
This cycle takes just four minutes. Part of Poulencs motivation was to recapture his own memories of her, for she and her husband were trapped in Hungary at the outbreak of World War II and Poulenc did not know if he would ever see her again. (He did she returned to Paris, where she ended her days as the companion of writer André Malraux.)
Poulenc does not seem to hold the cycle in very high regard. I have not a great deal to say about these, he begins his uncharacteristically brief and generally unhelpful notes about this song in the Journal.
Reine des mouettes (Queen of the Seagulls) is unpretentious, with airy gracefulness. Pierre Bernac (Poulencs greatest song interpreter) points out that it is not about an actual bird but a charming and elegant young woman blushing behind gray muslin veils. Short and light, it serves well as an introduction to the next song, but does not stand well on its own.
Cest ainsi que tu es (It Is Thus That You Are) is very beautiful, quite romantic, and highly lyrical. Do not ...fear to surrender to it, advises Bernac; Poulenc simply says to sing it without affectation. This is the one song of the set that works well in its own right.
The conclusion, Paganini, consists of some dazzling word play, rapid singing, and a perfunctory ending. Poulenc actually thought of it as a transitional song rather than as a concluding one, so it brings the cycle to a poor ending. He was right.
[allmusic.com]")
![Edvard Grieg - Four Songs, op. 21 [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sB5GVZmXG34/mqdefault.jpg "Edvard Grieg - Four Songs, op. 21 [With score]
-Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)
-Performers (Songs 1, 2, 3): Marianne Hirsti (Voice), Rudolf Jansen (Piano)
-Performers (Song 4): Kjell Magnus Sandve (Voice), Rudolf Jansen (Piano)
Four Songs from Bjørnsons Fiskerjenten for Voice and Piano, op. 21, written in 1870-72
00:00 - I. Det første Møde {The First Meeting} (For original Text turn on subtitles)
01:52 - II. God morgen! {Good Morning!}
02:48 - III. Jeg giver mit digt til våren {To Springtime my Song Im Singing}
04:41 - IV. Tak for dit råd {Say What you Will}")
![Maurice Ravel - Sur lherbe [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sSeJtcJ-uOA/mqdefault.jpg "Maurice Ravel - Sur lherbe [With score]
-Composer: Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937)
-Performers: Gerard Souzay (baritone), Dalton Baldwin (piano)
Sur lherbe [On the grass], poem by Paul Verlaine, written in 1907
[Translation]*
The abbot rambles. - And you, Marquis,
You have put your wig on askew.
- This old wine from Cyprus is exquisite
Less, Camargo, than the nape of your neck.
- My love... Do, mi, sol, la, si.
- Abbot, your darkness reveals itself.
- May I die, Ladies, if
I fail to unhook a star for each of you!
- I would like to be a little dog!
[We] embrace our shepherdesses, the one
After the other. - Gentlemen, well then?
Do, mi, sol. - Hey! good evening, moon!
translation on [lieder.net]
Sur l’herbe returns to the conversational tone of Histoires naturelles, but retaining all mute ‘e’s. The courtly, pseudo-eighteenth-century atmosphere is Ravel’s home territory, suggested by Phrygian modality with chromatic alterations. Needless to say, the ‘Do, mi, sol, la, si’ and ‘Do, mi, sol’ of the poem are treated as they deserve.
[description by hyperion]")
![Francis Poulenc - Mass in G Major [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sXJson0oiLU/mqdefault.jpg "Francis Poulenc - Mass in G Major [With score]
Composer: Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (7 January 1899 – 30 January 1963)
Choir: RIAS Kammerchor
Conductor: Marcus Creed
Mass in G Major [Messe en sol majeur], for mixed choir, written in 1937
00:00 - I. Kyrie
03:17 - II. Gloria
07:24 - III. Sanctus
09:58 - IV. Benedictus
13:37 - V. Agnus Dei
In 1936, attempting to overcome his reputation for musical flippancy, Poulenc began studying Monteverdis motets with Nadia Boulanger. Around the same time, his close friend Pierre Octave Ferroud, a composer and critic, was killed in an auto accident. This triggered a personal crisis that led Poulenc back to the Catholicism of his youth. This confluence of spiritual and musical interests led directly to an a cappella mass for soprano solo and choir. The work, dedicated to Poulencs father, is generally serene and confident and follows the usual sequence of Latin movements, although it omits the Credo. Poulencs musical language here gives the impression of austerity, thanks to its firm, no-nonsense melodic writing, but the harmony is actually lush though occasionally mildly dissonant. The outer sections of the Kyrie are strongly rhythmic and affirmative, with a more meditative Christe eleison section at its center. The Gloria not to be confused with Poulencs full-scale, jubilant late work of that name for chorus and orchestra changes melody, harmony, and inflection from phrase to phrase, with solo voices often emerging over a firm bass foundation. The brief Sanctus is light, loving, and cheerful, broadening out near the end for sonorous statements of Osanna in excelsis. The Benedictus naturally emerges from those measured osannas; it is slow, patient, ethereal, and dominated by the highest voices. This time, the concluding homophonic Osanna in excelsis section resembles the stately, antiphonal brass chorales of the Italian Renaissance. The solo soprano introduces the concluding Agnus Dei. The chorus echoes the soloists haunting melismas in unison octaves, breaking into harmony only upon the striking, hushed appearance of the words Miserere nobis (have mercy on us). The harmony now is Romantic, lush, and comforting, but soon the chorus is reduced to ethereal pedal tones as a cushion for the sopranos final, serene utterance of Dona nobis pacem (give us peace).
[allmusic.com]")
![Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), K. 620 {Act II} [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/srPYIQn5zjY/mqdefault.jpg "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), K. 620 {Act II} [With score]
-Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791)
-Libretto: Emanuel Schikaneder
-Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker
-Choir: RIAS Kammerchor
-Vocal Soloists: Fritz Wunderlich (Tamino), Evelyn Lear (Pamina), Dietrich Fischer-Diskau (Papageno), Lisa Otto (Papagena), Roberta Peters (Königin der Nacht), Friedrich Lenz (Monostatos), Franz Crass (Sarastro), Hildegard Hillebrecht (1. Dame), Cvetka Ahlin (2. Dame), Sieglinde Wagner (3. Dame), Rosl Schwaiger (1. Knabe), Antonia Fahberg (2. Knabe), Raili Kostia (3. Knabe), Hubert Hilten (1. Priester), Martin Vantin (2. Priester), Manfred Röhrl (3. Priester), Hans Hotter (Sprecher)
-Conductor: Karl Böhm
Die Zauberflöte [The Magic Flute], Opera, K. 620, written in 1791
Act II
00:00 - IX. Marsch der Priester
03:43 - X. O Isis und Osiris
08:36 - XI. Bewahret euch vor Weibertücken
09:44 - XII. Wie? wie? wie? Ihr an diesem Schrekkenort?
13:48 - XIII. Alles fühlt der Liebe Freuden
15:29 - XIV. Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen
19:14 - XV. In diesen heilgen Hallen
25:04 - XVI. Seid uns zum zweiten Mal willkommen
28:00 - XVII. Ach, ich fühls, es ist verschwunden, ewig hin der Liebe Glück
32:29 - XVIII. O Isis und Osiris, welche Wonne!
36:08 - XIX. Soll ich dich, Teurer, nicht mehr sehn?
40:19 - XX. Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen wünscht Papageno sich
45:14 - XXI. Bald prangt, den Morgen zu verkünden (Finale)
Despite its whimsical libretto and obviously emblematic characters, Mozarts singspiel The Magic Flute is regarded as one of the greatest operas of the entire repertoire. In fact, as music historian Philip Downs has noted, many holds that The Magic Flute is among the greatest human documents, worthy to stand beside Bachs St. Matthews Passion. In this story about good and evil, Sarastro, the high priest of an enlightened brotherhood, abducts Pamina, whose mother is the evil Queen of the NIght. The Queen sends Prince Tamino to save Pamina. Tamino not only falls in love with Pamina, but also accepts Sarastro as the incarnation of truth and goodness. Taminos counterpart is Papageno, the Queens bird catcher, whose earthiness counterbalances Taminos idealism. Predictably, love and goodness triumph, Sarastro overcomes the Queen of the Night, Tamino and Pamina are united after many trials, and Papageno finds Papagena, a female version of himself. The possible sources of Emanuel Schikaneders libretto include Jakob August Libeskinds story Lulu or the Magic Flute, published in Wielands Dschinnistan, a collection of fairy tales.
The Magic Flute was written in 1791, the year of Mozarts death. Although overwhelmed by many adversities, Mozart found great joy in working on an opera for Schikaneders Theater auf der Wieden, in the suburbs of Vienna, which catered to unsophisticated audiences. The Magic Flute has been called a Masonic opera: both librettist and composer were Masons, and the opera abounds with Masonic symbolism, culminating in the triumph over light over darkness. Although the Masonic flavor of The Magic Flute is undeniable, what makes it a great work of art is Mozarts unique ability to translate his humanistic ideals into music of extraordinary beauty and evocativeness. The fundamental theme of this opera is love, a theme to which Mozart fully dedicates his entire genius. To the listener, Mozarts ode to love brings eighteenth century opera in its full splendor. Not only is the music, which includes sparkling arias, charming buffo scenes, and ensembles of transcendent beauty, enchanting and invigorating, but it also effectively coalesces with the story to create a powerful, convincing work of art.
[allmusic.com]")
![Maurice Ravel - Rêves [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/trwdNflvikA/mqdefault.jpg "Maurice Ravel - Rêves [With score]
Composer: Joseph-Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 28 December 1937)
Performers: Claire Brua (mezzo-soprano), David Abramovitz (piano)
Librettist: Léon-Paul Fargue
(From The Ravel Edition)
Written in 1927")
![Edvard Grieg - Holberg Suite (Piano), op. 40 [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/uCvE1HPEcoU/mqdefault.jpg "Edvard Grieg - Holberg Suite (Piano), op. 40 [With score]
-Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)
-Performer: Gerhard Oppitz
Fra Holbergs tid {From Holbergs Time} or Holberg Suite for Piano, op. 40, written in 1884
00:00 - I. Praeludium
02:34 - II. Sarabande
07:10 - III. Gavotte
10:45 - IV. Air
19:59 - V. Rigaudon
Despite the fact that Ludvig Holberg (1684 - 1754) lived most of his life in Denmark and was considered the father of Danish literature, his birthplace was Bergen, Norway, and for the bicentenary of his birth, Norwegians celebrated heartily. Even as a resident of Denmark, Holberg recalled in his works his childhood and celebrated the time that he spent there. Made a baron in 1747, his was an imposing reputation. Educated at the universities of Copenhagen and Oxford, Holbergs writings are regarded as having established Danish as a literary language. Prior to his time, Danish was employed only in ballads and hymns; plays were presented in French or German. Besides more than a dozen successful plays (several of them comedies), he wrote a history of his adopted country and published a collection of philosophical treatises.
Notwithstanding his stronger relationship to Denmark, Norwegians were pleased to acknowledge Holberg, and Grieg, also a Bergen native, was one of those who directed the planning for the event. As early as 1878, he contributed a fee from his publisher to the erecting of a Holberg statue in Bergen. Further, he wrote two works, the first for male voices, a Cantata for the Unveiling of the Holberg Memorial, and a second (of more lasting consequence) entitled From Holbergs Time: Suite in Olden Style. Grieg himself, a more than capable pianist, premiered the piano suite just days after the dedication of the memorial. Its great success led Grieg to score it for string orchestra the following year. Both versions enjoy enduring popularity.
The suite in five sections was intended by Grieg to recall the dance suites from Holbergs lifetime, which corresponded to the period of the Baroque. The Praeludium which opens the work is a section of such simple radiance that it imprints itself unforgettably on the listeners consciousness. The contrasting Sarabande moves soberly, reflectively, and with unfailing elegance. The Gavotte which forms the third section trips beguilingly over the course of its three minutes, yielding to the Andante religioso tempo of the Aria. The final section, a Rigaudon, returns the listener to the buoyant mood of the beginning prelude. Through each of the five sections, the level of invention is matched by a refinement and purity of feeling that marks this as among the most cherishable short works of the late nineteenth century.
[allmusic.com]")
