2007 marked the centenary of his death, but most Americans (even most American musicians!) don't know much about Norway's most famous composer, Edvard Grieg (1943-1907). There's the piano concerto, which has been heard in movies, commercials and cartoons as often as the concert hall, and perhaps In the Hall of the Mountain King. But who knew that he wrote over 180 songs? Songs are probably his greatest musical legacy, but Grieg's are rarely heard outside Norway, presumably because of the complexities of the Norwegian languages (yes, there are two official languages).

There's a bit of everything in the music: simple folk-like melodies with spare and haunting harmonies, and subtle impressionistic writing that's as French as anything Debussy was writing at the time. Grieg had excellent taste in poetry, and his songs are a wonderful voyage through the landscape and soul of Norway, a country of long summer nights, trolls, fjords, and love-- both repressed, and triumphant! His masterpiece, Haugtussa, is a cycle drawn from Arne Garborg's poetic novel about a strange magical girl who lives in the mountains and can communicate with the supernatural creatures all around her, which only she can see. There's nothing like it in the Western song repertoire, because there's nobody else like Edvard Grieg!