Noctave
The piece
Grieg published ten books of Lyric Pieces; this one comes from the fifth, Op. 54, which appeared in 1891. The Norwegian title Troldtog means a procession of trolls, the creatures of folk tales and mountains. The piece begins pianissimo, on low, staccato broken fifths in the left hand that pound like heavy footsteps; above them come quick runs and clipped chords. A central section in D major, cantabile, offers a real moment of song, and then the procession comes back.
The whole piece lives on the contrast between pianissimo and large crescendos. More than 160 octaves fall to the left hand: keep them staccato and light, bounced from the wrist. The right hand sustains six attacks per second, with peaks of eight; its thirty-second-note runs are brief surges, each played in one gesture aimed at the arrival note. The una corda and tre corde markings frame the crescendos and are part of the colour. In the cantabile, change everything: a connected, rounded sound that makes you forget the trolls.