Edvard Grieg Peer Gynt Suite #1

[elleng]

https://weta.org/listen-live

[PJMcK]

1. Perfect for a Friday afternoon at the office

Thank you for that, elleng!

[elleng]

2. GOOD!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. Grieg actually hated "In The Hall Of The Mountain King."

He wrote: "For the Hall of the Mountain King I have written something that so reeks of cowpats, ultra-Norwegianism, and 'to-thyself-be-enough-ness' that I can't bear to hear it, though I hope that the irony will make itself felt." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Hall_of_the_Mountain_King. He intended it to be a parody of bad music from that time and it ended up becoming iconic. It's kind of like how Ravel hated "Bolero": "Boléro may have brought Maurice Ravel worldwide renown, the composer invariably scoffed at his composition. When, on the evening of the first performance, someone shouted that it was the work of a madman, the composer is said to have murmured "That person has understood". More importantly, we have Ravel's actual words: "My masterpiece? Boléro? What next! Sadly there is nothing musical in it."" https://www.francemusique.com/classical-music/10-little-things-you-might-not-know-about-ravel-s-bolero-15565

IMO, Grieg's best works are his songs, which are gems.

[elleng]

4. Sorry to hear that!

Here's another:

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. I like it, even if Grieg didn't.

It's about trolls, so it works for that. I just think it's interesting that composers sometimes don't like their most popular works.