Peer Gynt Suite No. 2

The Second Suite that Grieg drew from incidental music to Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt was published in 1893 and, though less popular than its predecessor, contains several of the score’s highlights. It begins with “Ingrid’s Lament”, the bride who Peer abducted only to abandon her, and features some of Grieg’s most powerful music. Next comes “Arabian Dance”, where Peer finds himself being feted by a passing Moroccan caravan—its catchy march-tune for flutes and piccolo accompanied by percussion. “Peer Gynt’s Homecoming” sees the hero returning to his native Norway, in music whose tempestuous overtones hint at the shipwreck that is soon to befall him. This moves without pause into “Solveig’s Song”, whose main melody is taken by the strings but was originally sung by Peer’s childhood sweetheart when, earlier in the play, she patiently awaits his return from his life of feckless exploration. About Grieg's Peer Gynt Grieg had written little for the theatre until Henrik Ibsen asked him to write incidental music for the first staging of his drama Peer Gynt. Grieg worked on the score for more than 18 months and while the premiere, in Christiania (now Oslo) on 24 February, 1876, was a success, he felt his contribution was unduly written to order. Eight items found their way into two orchestral suites, but the full score was not published until after his death. Highlights from this include the lively “Prelude: At the Wedding”, the grotesque “Dance of the Mountain King’s Daughter”, the evocative “Night Scene” and “Solveig’s Cradle Song”—one of Grieg’s finest inspirations in any medium.