Hall of the Mountain King...

The work of Edvard Grieg first came to my attention when listening to the  Rick Wakeman's newly released 1974 concept album Journey to the Centre of the Earth. No prizes for guessing it was based on the Jules Verne novel of the same name.  

I distinctly remember my mother exclaiming loudly as she passed through the lounge, "...that's Grieg's Hall of the Mountain King y'know. Well  I didn't.  But I soon sought out a Grieg LP from the oldies collection and had a good listen before returning to Wakeman, Hawkwind and King Crimson. As I think more about this,  I do remember there was a time when Sunday lunch was a roast and after the compulsory listen to Gwen Meredith's "Blue Hills" ep (the longest running radio play in Aust at the time) and an ep of The Goons the 3LO radio station was replaced with classical music and Peer Gynt did get quite a run on the His Master's Voice Integrated Gramophone... :-) 

Something like this... State of the Art with AM Radio and Record Player!

 I digress... Grieg sought the solace of nature and apparently many of his works reflect his love and appreciation of the natural world. His home outside of Bergen was in the boonies when he built it, and has gradually been surrounded by suburbia over the years... and an airport lies not too far away. 

So blocking out the distant traffic hum and the odd plane overhead, the beautiful treed area is still filled with bird song and water views and one can imagine what inspiration it may have brought.

If I remember correctly, Edvard Grieg would compose in this little hut... a step from the chook shed at the family home when he first began to compose.

The whole area is picture perfect. Anne described it as 'chocolate box scenes everywhere' and this seems an excellent summation.