Info: Dire tonic: Opus 68, right up until the last few weeks, has been in a state of flux with fate playing its part in choosing the final cast list as the curtain rises. My sincere thanks go to Valencia, LadyChen and Carey for taking on their pieces so late in the day having only a fraction of the time originally set aside for preparation of the recital. After listening there can be no doubt it was a labour of love for them all.
THE LYRIC PIECES
The 66 lyric pieces were published in 10 volumes over a period of about 40 years, from 1867 to 1901. They include some of Grieg's best known works, along with the "humoresker", "Pictures from country life", "Stimmungen" (moods/atmospheres) and several other collections of miniature character pieces. Of the lyric pieces, Arietta, Wedding day at Troldhaugen (Grieg's residence), March of the Trolls, To Spring, and Butterfly are well loved. The first lyric piece, Arietta was also one of Grieg's favourite melodies, and he reused it in the final piece: "Remembrances", a "humourous waltz".
In the first book, Opus 12, the titles: "Norwegian", Folktune and National Song, indicate his nationalist principles. Years later, in the 1890s, opus 54 shows a second nationalist period began, with fresh exploitation of Norwegian folk idioms that included characteristic miniatures like "herdboy" and "bellringing". 4 out of the 6 pieces in that opus were later orchestrated as "Lyric Suite", and 2 of the pieces in opus 68 were also orchestrated.
Grieg's involvement with folk music seems to have had a strong effect on his harmonic imagination, resulting in radical advances. And within the simple outlines of traditional small forms (ABA and especially the extended ABABA often with varied repeats), he managed to create a wealth of mood sketches. These pieces, along with the 3 sets of folk song arrangements (opp 17, 66, 72) span the whole of Grieg's development as a composer for the piano.
(Note: The 2 pieces entitled: Spring Dance (opus 38, no 5, and opus 47 no 6) describe a leaping (springing) dance, rather than a dance of the season of spring).
Source; The New Grove Dictionary of music and musicians, 5th Edition and Wikipedia.