One of my favorite pieces of music has been “In the hall of the mountain King” ever since I was a youth. When the the Norwegian Edvard Grieg composed it in 1875 he didn’t think much of it and likened it to cowpats. It was written for mixed choir and orchestra, but somehow it got performed, and people liked it immensely, so it got rearranged for orchestra only and was put in August Strindberg’s play Peer Gynt under the name “I bergakungens sal”. While Grieg himself could barely make himself listen to it, this may be the most performed and beloved piece of music of all his creations. It starts out slowly and is one big crescendo ending up prestissimo.
Here it is set to COVID clips, intentionally overwhelming you. It is very well done. I have no idea who made it, but it appeared on twitter after the automatic censorship was lifted. Listen for yourself:
Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment. 