Once again we come to one of Grieg’s “Lyrical Pieces” that is extremely dark. The name “Popular Melody” is incredibly misleading. From the title you would think of something that is probably light and very easy to listen to. Instead once again the music is funereal. There is not one bright moment. I find such music cathartic, but others may not and may choose to stay away from the depression.

For me the choice of pictures was obvious.

Once again I have gone to my black and white pictures. My original idea was to switch from black and white for the dark parts to color for parts of the music that is more hopeful or cheerful, but I could find no place to put color into this very sad piece of music. Fortunately not all of Greig’s music is so dark. There are many other pieces of music by him that are actually cheerful.