A couple of weeks ago I explained that our movie was highlighting a geographical location and that later we would be listening to some music composed in that general area. Our movie was set in Denmark and our complementary composer is from Norway.  I am sure their patriots would not appreciate being clumped together, but I hope they will forgive my stretch as our composer also spent time in Denmark and his time there influenced his compositions.

This week we are taking some time to listen to music composed by Edvard Grieg.  Grieg grew up in Bergen, Norway, on the country’s west coast. He was a great pianist and composer of the Romantic era. He was well known for using Norwegian folk music in his own compositions which helped to develop a national identity.

I tried to pick out pieces that I felt musically represented the physical surroundings that might have inspired him.  Here was the list:  Morning Mood, Peer Gynt Suite; March of the Trolls/Dwarves; Peace of the Woods; Piano Concerto in A minor.  The students requested that we listen to “In the Hall of the Mountain King” also from Peer Gynt as they had heard that before. 

If you would like to play any of these at home, I highly recommend that you pull them up on Youtube. There are so many choices and they are literally at your fingertips.