Edvard Grieg spent most of the winter and spring of 1894 - 1895 holed up in the Hotel King of Denmark in Bergen, sick with the flu. In March 1895 the state of Grieg's health caused him to cancel an important personal appearance in Berlin. In the spring, Grieg traveled mountains of the north for a rest cure in the clean, cold Norwegian air, and returned to his home, Troldhaugen, in May in good health and spirits. The composition of the seventh Lyric Suite for piano, Op. 62, likely extended through both Grieg's time of illness and that of his recovery.

Certainly a rejuvenated Grieg is heard in the brilliant opener, "Sylfide" (Sylph). Lithe and balletic, this quick-footed piece is cast in a 3/4 time that's mostly missing its third beat, and the melody skips around with the frosty agility of a snowflake. Not so the following "Tak" (Thanks) in which a grateful melody is framed in an uninteresting chorale setting, interrupted only by a predictable crescendo built on decorated half notes. Ballet rhythms return in "Fransk Serenade" (French Serenade) which is mainly of the period; it is charming and short. Brilliantly pianistic and étude-like is the "Bekken" (The Brook) which follows, Grieg achieving very effective minor-key sonorities from the piano in the last page. "Drommesyn" (The Phantom) is based around a single melodic period that is characterized by a limpid four-against-six pattern at the end. Grieg varies this idea only with a single repeated note. Grieg takes his period through some unusual harmonic changes, and the overall economy of means used in "The Phantom" is reminiscent of that in Liszt's late piano works.

In March 1895, Grieg assisted his friend the composer Johan Halverson with the preparation of a four-hand piano score for publication of the latter's "Entry of the Boyars." At about that time Grieg composed his own rousing, but very different march under the title of "Hjemad" (Homeward). The outer sections of the march are tremendously thrilling, with an excellently realized progression leading to the coda. The middle section is less impressive, and has the appearance of being somewhat half-baked.

While the seventh book of Grieg's Lyric Suites contains individual numbers that are among the best found in these sets, this collection as a whole is generally not thought of as being one of the stronger entries in the canon.

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4.Brooklet

Grieg's best-known and most substantial body of solo piano works came in the ten books of Lyric Pieces. They contain 66 works, and the Op. 62 set houses six of them. Its fourth entry here, The Brooklet, is brief, lasting about two minutes, a quite typical length for most of the Lyric Pieces. It is also typical in its almost instant ability to invoke pastoral images. Here, the scene that comes to mind is one of water splashing and swirling under sunny country skies. This is hardly the first piece by Grieg that could qualify as an Impressionist-like work—both he and Liszt composed music in this vein before Debussy actually established Impressionism. The Brooklet opens with a lively theme whose energy comes in short bursts, its music swirling and tossing gently, its mood playful but agitated. Might Grieg be suggesting the presence of the mischievous Trolls here, the mythical Norwegian creatures depicted in other Lyric Pieces, like the March of the Trolls (Op. 54/3)? In any event, The Brooklet's music shimmers as it rises on the keyboard and then gently falls. It ascends and falls again, splashing and swirling with notes filled with fun and fantasy.

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