Lyric Suite, Op.54

Grieg's orchestral setting of five of his 6 Lyric Pieces, Op.54 for piano actually started with an orchestration made of Nos.2, 3, 4 and 6 by Anton Seidl (1850-1898), then conductor of the New York Philharmonic, for an 1894 concert under the title Norwegian Suite. In 1905, the composer obtained a copy of Seidl's score and set about re-working the orchestration of the four numbers above and added his own of the first number from the piano original, ultimately subtracting No.6 (Klokkeklang = Bell-Ringing) before publication. The orchestral setting was thus published with only 4 movements and given its premiere by the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam in April of 1906 with the composer conducting. This newly engraved edition by Richard W. Sargeant, Jr. is based upon the composer's manuscript and the first edition full score issued by C.F. Peters in late 1905. The editor has included the Grieg's orchestration of No.6 as an optional second movement.