Last evening I went along to an AMIS event here, and got to see the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra* (again), perform selections from the cycle of performances they will give in the upcoming year. The most memorable part of their performance was Edvard Grieg's incidental music, which he had composed for a minor Ibsen's play "Peer Gynt". As Classical Notes puts it, in the play:

"Peer Gynt, a sort of Nordic Everyman-figure with a mischeivous streak, travels through his life encountering a range of allegorical adventures, until, after years of wandering he realises the sterile selfishness of his existence and finds peace in the arms of his beloved Solveig."

The most memorable parts of this music were the opening and closing movements, titled "Morning Mood" and "In the Hall of the Mountain King" respectively. Since I woke up this morning hearing echoes of this music, I thought I would make a note of it here so that you can listen to this music as well.

* Hundred odd talented youth in the 13-18 years age bracket; and for some odd reason, heavily Asian (approx 40%), especially in the strings section. This leads to two hypotheses: a) Asian American parents really dig classical music, and give their kids massive encouragement to pursue it or b) the kids are doing it to buff up their college applications for the Ivy League. While I have noticed an uptick in the number of unusual performers (read Asians etc) in the professional circuit, it is no where near 40%. This means that my money is on hypothesis (b).