Four Lyric Pieces

Ensom vandrer (Solitary Wanderer) Op 43 No 2 (1886)

Somerfugl (Butterfly) Op 43 No 1 (1886)

Notturno Op 54 No 4 (1891)

Klokkeklang (Sound of Bells) Op 54 No 6 (1891)

Major contributions to the repertoire do not necessarily come in large sizes. The average length of Grieg’s Lyric Pieces is about three minutes but there are as many as sixty-six of them, published in ten books at irregular intervals over a period of thirty-four years, and they add up to a unique, even significant collection. While they are not virtuoso piano music, they are resourcefully written for the instrument and, although there are setbacks, they are ever more distinctive with every succeeding volume. Some of the earlier pieces might make little impression in themselves but when presented in well-chosen company - in this case the wistful Ensom vandrer from Book 3 alongside the charmingly flighty Somerfugl from the same set - the personality of each one is all the more sharply defined. Later pieces, like the comparatively extended Notturno from Book 6, are so well developed as to be an experience in themselves. Even so, the interest of this Scandinavian equivalent to Debussy’s slightly earlier Clair de Lune, is enhanced by its proximity in the same set to the startling Klokkeklang, a likely source of Ravel’s similarly clangorous Entre cloches for two pianos.