In welcoming last October the second volume of Daniel Propper’s projected complete Lyric Pieces, I drew attention to his complete empathy with the composer while wondering if the music was best served in intégrale form. This final volume, completed by the seven late (1905) Impressions, offers 26 miniatures lasting just shy of 80 minutes.

The final three books of Lyric Pieces are less familiar than earlier ones, the exceptions being “Wedding Day at Troldhaugen” (one of the best known of all 66 of them) and “Kobold” (or “Puck”). Both of these are upbeat and jolly. By far the greatest number is imbued with Scandinavian gloom, exemplified by the strange (for Grieg) harmonies of Op 65 No 3 (“Melancholy”), and bleak introspection. Grieg touchingly rounds off the final book with “Remembrances”, an extended waltz treatment of the very first Lyric Piece, “Arietta”, Op 12 No 1, even retaining the same key. It is one of the six that Grieg himself chose to record in 1903 (with a repeat and much closer to waltz tempo than Propper). Having concluded the 10 books in this way is presumably why the Op 73 pieces had to be given a different title, for they are no different in character and scope to the Lyric Pieces with the exception of the virtuoso Hommage à Chopin, an étude based on Chopin’s two in F minor.

Daniel Propper is beautifully recorded, restricting his dynamic range to the even, intimate scale appropriate to the dominant character of these miniatures of varying musical interest and quality. Should you want the complete set, rather than the highlights, look no further.