Piano Music Vol 2 (Incls 14 world premiere recordings )

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SIBELIUS
Piano Music Vol 2 (Incls 14 world premiere recordings )
Folke Grasbeck (piano)

[ BIS / 5 CD Box Set ]

Release Date: Monday 1 March 2010

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Although less well-known than his orchestral works, Sibelius' output for the piano is extensive, and we can now present the second instalment of music for solo piano in the BIS Sibelius Edition.

Jean Sibelius is known as a great symphonist but he was also a highly skilled and prolific miniaturist who produced short, often aphoristic pieces throughout his life. Although less well-known than his orchestral works, his output for the piano is extensive, and we can now present the second instalment of music for solo piano in the BIS Sibelius Edition. Its predecessor, released as Volume 4 of the edition, presented the piano music that Sibelius composed during his youth and in his national romantic period. The music on this second set was written between 1905 and 1931, and includes the Three Sonatinas, widely seen as some of Sibelius's finest piano works, as well as the five pieces from the composer's Op.75, commonly known as 'The Trees'. Among the several world première recordings in this collection we find an Adagio written for his wife Aino's birthday in 1931, Sibelius's last composition for piano - and his only one for piano four-hands.'Rakkalle Ainolle' ('To My Beloved Aino') is a mysterious piece, almost devoid of melody as such, but with an astonishingly bold tonal language: might this have been the style of the composer'sEighth Symphony, by then approaching completion and later reportedly destroyed by the composer? Included are also a number of Sibelius' own transcriptions, mainly of music he had composed for stage performances of plays such as Pelléas et Mélisande. A special case in this category is the four minute long reworking for the piano of an original bell melody written in 1912 for Helsinki's newly built Kallio Church. Presenting these close to 6 hours of music is Folke Gräsbeck, who himself has searched the archives, comparing versions and looking for previously unknown pieces. His commitment to the music of Sibelius is close to legendary, and on the basis of the previous volume of piano music alone, his achievement has been described as 'nothing less than heroic' (American Record Guide). Another reviewer, in the magazine Pizzicato, has described his performances as 'both musically and technically impressive; fresh and lively, and with a marked feeling for the dramatic potential of each work.'

Tracks:

CD 1:
Jean Sibelius
Pelléas och Mélisande (Pelléas and Mélisande), Op.46 1. No.1. Am Schlosstor (At the Castle Gate). Grave e largamente 3'32
2. No.2. Mélisande. Andantino con moto 4'22
3. No.3. Am Wunderborn im Park (By a Spring in the Park). Comodo 2'04
4. No.4. Die drei blinden Schwestern (The Three Blind Sisters). Tranquillo 3'13
5. No.5. Pastorale. Andantino pastorale 2'06
6. No.6. Mélisande am Rocken (Mélisande at the Spinning Wheel). Con moto 2'01
7. No.7. Zwischenaktsmusik (Entr'acte). Allegro 2'54
8. No.8. Mélisandes Tod (The Death of Mélisande). Andante 6'37

Belsazars gästabud (Belshazzar's Feast), Op.51 9. No.1. Einzug (Oriental Procession). Moderato 2'07
10. No.2. Einsames Lied (Solitude). Andante 2'20
11. No.3. Nachtmusik (Nocturne). Andantino 3'20
12. No.4. Khadras Tanz (Khadra's Dance). Commodo 3'38

Ten Pieces, Op.58 13. No.1. Rêverie. Lento 4'48
14. No.2. Scherzino. Con moto 1'35
15. No.3. Air varié. Andante - Un poco meno andante 4'17
16. No.4. Der Hirt (The Shepherd). Vivacetto 2'58
17. No.5. Des Abends (The Evening). Andantino 4'17
18. No.6. Dialogue. Allegro grazioso 2'27
19. No.7. Tempo di Minuetto 3'01
20. No.8. Fischerlied (Fisher Song). Allegretto 3'43
21. No.9. Ständchen (Serenade). Moderato 3'19
22. No.10. Sommerlied (Summer Song). Largo 4'43

CD 2:
Pan and Echo, Op.53 1. Andante - Commodo 4'04

Sonatina No.1 in F sharp minor 2. I. Allegro 2'21
3. II. Largo 3'05
4. III. Allegro moderato 1'32

Sonatina No.2 in E major 5. I. Allegro 1'52
6. II. Andantino 2'20
7. III. Allegro 1'21

Sonatina No.3 in B flat minor 8. I. Andante - Allegro moderato 2'26
9. II. Andante - Allegretto 2'53

Two Rondinos, Op.68 10. No.1 in G sharp minor. Andantino 3'16
11. No.2 in C sharp minor. Vivace 1'56

Kellosävel Kallion kirkossa, Op.65b (The Bells of Kallio Church) 12. Andante assai 4'00

From Scaramouche, Op.71 13. Danse élégiaque. Tempo moderato - Lento - Allegro - Energico - Vivace - Più vivace 5'28
14. Scène d'amour. Lento - Andantino - Allegretto 6'22

15. Spagnuolo, JS181 0'48

16. Till trånaden (To Longing), JS202 1'46

Four Lyric Pieces, Op.74 17. No.1. Ekloge (Eclogue). Andantino 3'21
18. No.2. Sanfter Westwind (Soft West Wind). Con moto 2'05
19. No.3. Auf dem Tanzvergnügen (At the Dance). Allegretto 1'44
20. No.4. Im alten Heim (In the Old Home). Lento - Un poco mosso 2'21

Five Pieces ('The Trees'), Op.75 21. No.1. När rönnen blommar (When the Rowan Blossoms). Allegretto 1'55
22. No.2. Den ensamma furan (The Solitary Fir Tree). Grave 3'05
23. No.3. Aspen (The Aspen). Andantino 2'43
24. No.4. Björken (The Birch). Allegro - Misterioso 1'32
25. No.5. Granen (The Spruce). Stretto - Lento - Risoluto - Lento 3'17

Syringa [Op.75 No.6] 26. Valse lente 2'15

CD 3:
Thirteen Pieces, Op.76 1. No.1. Esquisse 1'13
2. No.2. Étude 1'12
3. No.3. Carillon 1'00
4. No.4. Humoresque 1'23
5. No.5. Consolation 2'12
6. No.6. Romanzetta 2'25
7. No.7. Affettuoso 1'47
8. No.8. Pièce enfantine 0'52
9. No.9. Arabesque 1'00
10. No.10. Elegiaco 2'21
11. No.11. Linnaea 2'02
12. No.12. Capriccietto 0'44
13. No.13. Harlequinade 1'09

From Jokamies (Jedermann/Everyman), Op.83 14. [No.2]. Episodio. Largo 1'33
15. [Nos 7-9]. Scena. Allegretto - Moderato 2'20
16. [No.4]. Canzone. Andantino 2'14

Five Pieces ('The Flowers'), Op.85 17. No.1. Bellis (The Daisy) 1'19
18. No.2. Oeillet (The Carnation) 1'47
19. No.3. Iris (The Iris) 3'34
20. No.4. Aquileja (The Columbine) 2'11
21. No.5. Campanula (The Campanula) 2'08

22. Mandolinato, JS123 1'03

23. Jääkärien marssi (March of the Finnish Jaeger Batallion), Op.91a 1'23

24. Partiolaisten marssi (Scout March), Op.91b 1'44

Six Pieces, Op.94 25. No.1. Danse 1'05
26. No.2. Nouvellette 1'00
27. No.3. Sonnet 2'34
28. No.4. Berger et bergerette 2'14
29. No.5. Mélodie 2'01
30. No.6. Gavotte 1'44

31. Andantino, JS201 1'06

32. Con passione, JS53 1'03

Three Pieces, Op.96 33. a. Valse lyrique 4'38
34. b. Autrefois 5'01
35. c. Valse chevaleresque 4'16

CD 4:
Six Bagatelles, Op.97 1. No.1. Humoreske I. Con moto 1'53
2. No.2. Lied (Song). Andantino 2'22
3. No.3. Kleiner Walzer (Little Waltz) 1'25
4. No.4. Humoristischer Marsch (Humorous March) 1'08
5. No.5. Impromptu. Poco moderato 1'59
6. No.6. Humoreske II. Poco lento - Vivace 1'38

Suite mignonne, Op.98a 7. I. Petite Scène. Allegretto 2'40
8. II. Polka. Animoso 1'53
9. III. Epilogue. Vivace - Largamente - Tempo I 1'58

Suite champêtre, Op.98b 10. I. Pièce caractéristique. Commodo 1'54
11. II. Mélodie élégiaque. Poco adagio 4'32
12. III. Danse. Allegretto 2'02

Eight Short Pieces, Op.99 13. No.1. Pièce humoristique. Allegretto 1'19
14. No.2. Esquisse. Vivo 0'49
15. No.3. Souvenir. Lento 2'02
16. No.4. Impromptu. Quasi marcia 1'17
17. No.5. Couplet. Commodo 2'00
18. No.6. Animoso 1'33
19. No.7. Moment de valse. Commodo 1'03
20. No.8. Petite marche 1'24

Suite caractéristique, Op.100 21. I. Vivo 1'21
22. II. Lento 3'07
23. III. Commodo 1'39

Five Romantic Compositions, Op.101 24. No.1. Romance. Poco con moto 2'56
25. No.2. Chant du soir. Andantino 2'04
26. No.3. Scène lyrique. Andante -Vivace 2'30
27. No.4. Humoresque. Commodo - Stretto assai 2'07
28. No.5. Scène romantique. Moderato assai - Poco con moto 3'25

Five Characteristic Impressions, Op.103 29. No.1. The Village Church. Largo 3'39
30. No.2. The Fiddler. Con moto 2'00
31. No.3. The Oarsman. Allegretto 2'02
32. No.4. The Storm. Allegro molto 1'37
33. No.5. In Mournful Mood. Moderato 2'28

From The Tempest, Op.109 34. Episode (Miranda). Poco con moto 1'13
35. Tanz der Nymphen (Dance of the Nymphs). Commodo 1'46
36. Scène. Allegretto 1'22

CD 5:
1. Morceau romantique sur un motif de M. Jacob de Julin, JS135b 2'02

2. Ett ensamt skidspår (A Lonely Ski-Trail), JS77a 2'49

Five Esquisses, Op.114 3. No.1. Maisema (Landscape). Andantino 2'35
4. No.2. Talvikuva (Winter Scene). Allegretto 2'28
5. No.3. Metsälampi (Forest Lake). Con moto 1'27
6. No.4. Metsälaulu (Song in the Forest). Animato 2'46
7. No.5. Kevätnäky (Spring Vision) 1'53

Adagio, JS161 8. 'Rakkaalle Ainolle' ('To My Beloved Aino') 4'29

From Belsazars gästabud (Belshazzar's Feast), JS48 (Alternative Versions) 9. No.4. Livets dans (Dance of Life). Commodo 1'09
10. No.5. Dödens dans (Dance of Death). Commodo 1'25

Ballade 11. Preliminary version of Aspen, Op.75 No.3 1'48

Granen (The Spruce) 12. Preliminary version of Op.75 No.5 2'15

Valse lyrique 13. Preliminary version of Op.96a 4'46

Valse chevaleresque 14. Preliminary version of Op.96c 4'27

Lied (Song) 15. Preliminary version of Op.97 No.2 2'16

Impromptu 16. Preliminary version of Op.97 No.5 3'19

Andantino - Allegretto 17. Preliminary version of Scène romantique, Op.101 No.5 3'12

In Mournful Mood 18. Preliminary version of Op.103 No.5 2'09

Metsälaulu (Song in the Forest) 19. Preliminary version of Op.114 No.4 2'23

Folke Gräsbeck, piano