Global InformationLyric Pieces information
Lyric Pieces (Norwegian: Lyriske stykker) is a collection of 66 short pieces for solo piano written by Edvard Grieg. They were published in 10 volumes, from 1867 (Op. 12) to 1901 (Op. 71). The collection includes several of his best known pieces, such as Wedding Day at Troldhaugen (Bryllupsdag på Troldhaugen), To Spring (Til våren), March of the Trolls (Trolltog), and Butterfly (Sommerfugl).
The theme of the first piece in the set, Arietta, was one of the composer's favorite melodies. He used it to complete the cycle in his last lyric piece, Remembrances (Efterklang) — this time as a waltz.
The first complete recording of the Lyric Pieces was recorded and released in the Soviet Union by Alexander Goldenweiser in the 1950s. In 2002, Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes recorded a CD with 24 of the lyric pieces on Grieg's own 1892 Steinway grand piano at Troldhaugen, the composer's residence. Among other notable pianists to have made recordings of the collection are Daniel Gortler, Håkon Austbø, Aldo Ciccolini, Andrei Gavrilov, Walter Gieseking, Emil Gilels, Stephen Hough, Eva Knardahl, Juhani Lagerspetz, Daniel Levy, Irina Mejoueva, Isabel Mourão, Gerhard Oppitz, Javier Perianes, Sviatoslav Richter and Einar Steen-Nøkleberg. A few recordings and piano rolls of Grieg himself performing also exist, and they have been published by the Norwegian record label Simax.
Four of the six pieces from Book V, Op. 54, were orchestrated under the title of Lyric Suite. Both Grieg and Anton Seidl had a hand in the orchestrations. Grieg also orchestrated two of the pieces from Book IX, Op. 68.