Våren ♬ 'The Final Spring' ♬ Grieg Op. 33.2 English version ♬ Russell Malcolm

This is one of two elegiac melodies composed for orchestra by Grieg. Våren (Spring) also exists as a song setting with piano accompaniment. The very sustained open string harmonies create much of the mood in the piece - evoking the melting Norwegian ice-fields. Those harmonies are difficult to sustain in a piano reduction and for this reason I decided to incorporate a vintage recording from 78 rpm record, to provide those important sustained harmonies high above the vocal line. The transcription required the use of a variable speed-deck to slow the recording and bring the pitch down by a whole tone. For a soprano voice it would have been easier and more authentic to transpose the piano up to the key of the orchestral recording. However the slightly altered tonalities and partially filtered surface noise create a rather unearthly sound-scape, which I feel is in keeping with the spirit of the piece. ...apologies to the purists among you. Composed between 1873 and 1880.