Peer Gynt Suite No.1: Ase's Death

Description

The second number of the Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46. It accompanies the scene in which Peer, home at last from his wanderings, talks to his mother Åse at her deathbed until she dies. In the orchestral version it is played by strings alone, muted throughout.

In B minor and common time, chords advance one step at a time in almost unvarying rhythm. There is no melody as such; the scene is drawn entirely by harmonic motion. The music swells quietly and subsides again and again before fading out at the softest dynamic. Only some 750 notes fill close to four minutes.

It is rated intermediate, but it is hard to handle. There is virtually no finger difficulty: everything rests on the control of volume and time. Sounding chords evenly at a whisper, not striking even at the top of a swell, and deciding how far to draw out the final decay. Change the pedal with every harmony so nothing blurs.

A piano arrangement of the orchestral music Grieg composed for the play "Peer Gynt," valued for its vivid, narrative scene-painting.