Ten Pieces | |
---|---|
Piano solos by Jean Sibelius | |
Opus | 24 |
Composed | 1895 | –1903
Publisher | piecemeal by three firms
[1]
|
Duration | 38.5 mins [1] |
The Ten Pieces (in Finnish: Kymmenen kappaletta; in German: Zehn Stücke), [2] Op. 24, is a collection of compositions for piano written by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius around the turn of the twentieth century, variously from 1895 to 1903. The most famous piece of the set is by far No. 9, the Romance in D-flat major.
Sibelius composed the Impromptu in
G minor during the summer of 1895 while vacationing with his family
[a] in Vaania by
Lake Vesijärvi, despite the fact that the cottage they had rented did not contain a piano.
[4] Marked Vivace and in 3
4
time, it has a duration of about four minutes; it was first published in 1895 by Helsinki's Axel E. Lindgren.
[2] The Sibelius biographer
Andrew Barnett notes that the Impromptu "opens in a tumultuous,
scherzo-like mood" before slowing into a "brooding
waltz" that in some ways anticipates Sibelius's most famous composition,
Valse triste (Op. 44/1), an orchestral work that he arranged in 1904 from the
incidental music to
Death (Kuolema,
JS 113, 1903).
[5]
Sibelius composed the Romance (in Finnish: Romanssi) in
A major in 1895, alongside the Impromptu. Marked Andantino and in 6
4 time, it has a duration of about eight minutes—making it the longest of the Ten Pieces; it was first published in 1895 by Lindgren.
[6] According to the Sibelius biographer Barnett, the Romance in A major "has the scale and emotional range of a
tone poem": its opening is reminiscent of a "sinister
barcarole", while afterwards it "evolves into an intensely dramatic mood painting ... [it] bears the hallmarks of Sibelius's musical
Symbolism and of the forthcoming
Lemminkäinen Suite" (Op. 22), an orchestral work that dominated his thinking in the mid-1890s.
[7]
[b]
Sibelius composed the Caprice (in Finnish: Kapriisi) in
E minor in 1898. Marked Vivace and in 6
8 time, it has a duration of about three minutes. It was first published in 1898 by Helsinki's
Karl Wasenius .
[9]
Sibelius composed the Romance (in Finnish: Romanssi) in
D minor at some point between 1896 and 1898. Marked Tranquillo and in 3
4 time, it has a duration of about three minutes. It was first published in 1898 by Lindgren.
[10]
Sibelius composed the Valse (in Finnish: Valssi) in
E major
c. 1898. Marked Vivace and in 3
4 time, it has a duration of about three minutes. It was first published in 1898 by Lindgren.
[11]
In December 1897, Sibelius composed an Andantino in
F major (6
8 time) as a Christmas present for his brother-in-law, the Finnish painter
Eero Järnefelt.
[12] In 1898, he reworked and lengthened the "gentle,
berceuse-like" as Op. 24's Idyll, adding a "lavishly embellished central section", as well as a brief, four-bar ending that recapitulates the opening theme.
[13] Idyll it has a duration of about three minutes and was first published in 1899 by the Helsinki-based firm of
Fazer & Westerlund (Helsingfors nya musikhandel).
[14] However, in July 1904, Sibelius was compelled to revise the piece: a letter from
Fazer (earlier that year,
Westerlund had left to establish
his own firm ) informed him that, by mistake, the copyright had not been registered for the 1898 composition, thus necessitating minor changes in order to protect Sibelius's intellectual property.
[15] This version—which is also three-minutes long—was later that year in September by Leipzig's
Breitkopf & Härtel, which
[16] on 20 July 1905, had purchased all of Fazer's Sibelius holdings (the publishing rights and printing plates).
[17]
Sibelius composed the Andantino in
F major (the only of the Ten Pieces to be called by its
tempo marking) in 1899. In 9
4 time, it has a duration of about three minutes, and was first published in 1899 by Wasenius.
[18] Afterwards, however, Sibelius revised the piece
c. 1899, which necessitated a superseding edition by Wasenius in 1900.
[19]
Sibelius composed the Nocturno in
E minor in 1900. Marked Andante and in 2
2 time, it has a duration of about three minutes. It was first published in 1901 by Wasenius.
[20]
Sibelius composed the Romance (in Finnish: Romanssi) in D-flat major in December 1901. Marked Andantino and in 3
4 time, it has a duration of about four minutes and was first published in 1902 Fazer & Westerlund.
[21] The D-flat major Romance is by far the most popular and oft-recorded of the Ten Pieces, as well as one of the most ubiquitous compositions in Sibelius's entire oeuvre for solo piano.
Sibelius composed the Barcarola in
G minor in 1903. Marked Moderato assai and in 3
4 time, it has a duration of about 4.5 minutes. It was first published in 1903 by Fazer & Westerlund.
[22]
The musicologist Robert Layton argues that the Ten Pieces are a mixed bag, although the "best of them are probably more personal than" their immediate predecessor, the Piano Sonata in F major (Op. 12, 1893). On the one hand, he dismisses the famous Romance in D-flat major (No. 9) as "hackneyed ... with its stale rhetoric and trite, salon-like tune". Layton does, however, describe the Impromptu (No. 1), the Nocturno (No. 8), and the Barcarola (No. 10) as "characteristic" and "highly individual"—although each "betrays orchestral habits of mind and poses the question whether some of Sibelius's piano pieces did not begin life as orchestral sketches". [23]
The Finnish pianist Erik T. Tawaststjerna made the first studio recording of the complete Ten Pieces in 1980 for BIS; of these, Nos. 1–2, 4, and 6–8 were world premieres. [24] The remaining four compositions had been recorded earlier, with premieres as follows: No. 5 by the Danish pianist Helge Bonnén on Polyphon (NS 47002, 1925); [25] No. 9 by the Australian pianist Eileen Joyce for Parlophone (E 111424, 1939); [26] No. 3 by the Hungarian pianist Ervin László for RCA (LM–9829, 1959); [27] and No. 10 by the Finnish pianist Ralf Gothóni for EMI (5E 063 34283, 1971). [28] The sortable table below lists, in addition to the aforementioned Tawaststjerna traversal, other commercially available recordings of the complete Ten Pieces:
No. | Pianist | Runtimes [c] | Rec. [d] | Recording venue | Label | Ref. | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Op. 24/1
|
Op. 24/2
|
Op. 24/3
|
Op. 24/4
|
Op. 24/5
|
Op. 24/6
|
Op. 24/7
|
Op. 24/8
|
Op. 24/9
|
Op. 24/10
|
Total
| ||||||
1 | Erik T. Tawaststjerna | 4:01 | 7:30 | 3:10 | 3:03 | 2:33 | 3:10 | 2:35 | 3:14 | 4:00 | 4:27 | 38:35 | 1980 | Nacka Aula , Nacka | BIS | |
2 | Annette Servadei | 2:59 | 7:24 | 2:58 | 3:12 | 2:22 | 3:42 | 2:51 | 3:06 | 4:10 | 4:13 | 37:18 | 1992 | Christ's Hospital, Horsham | Olympia | |
3 | Eero Heinonen (1) | 4:54 | 6:49 | 3:14 | 3:53 | 2:03 | 3:29 | 3:09 | 3:52 | 3:52 | 5:05 | 40:20 | 1995 | YLE M2 Studio, Helsinki | Finlandia | |
4 | Håvard Gimse | 3:31 | 6:50 | 2:39 | 2:56 | 2:04 | 3:04 | 2:33 | 2:57 | 2:55 | 4:24 | 34:06 | 1997 | St Martin's Church, East Woodhay | Naxos | |
5 | Folke Gräsbeck | 4:53 | 6:52 | 3:07 | 3:48 | 2:16 | 4:00 | 3:45 | 3:35 | 3:46 | 4:46 | 41:34 | 2006 | Kuusankoski Concert Hall | BIS | |
6 | Janne Mertanen | 4:23 | 7:09 | 2:52 | 3:24 | 2:01 | 3:29 | 3:23 | 3:29 | 3:48 | 4:57 | 38:55 | 2015 | Unknown], Helsinki | Sony Classical | |
7 | Eero Heinonen (2) | 4:07 | 6:01 | 2:49 | 3:21 | 2:01 | 3:14 | 2:55 | 3:27 | 3:42 | 4:38 | 36:15 | 2015 | Sello Hall, Espoo | Piano Classics |
Ten Pieces | |
---|---|
Piano solos by Jean Sibelius | |
Opus | 24 |
Composed | 1895 | –1903
Publisher | piecemeal by three firms
[1]
|
Duration | 38.5 mins [1] |
The Ten Pieces (in Finnish: Kymmenen kappaletta; in German: Zehn Stücke), [2] Op. 24, is a collection of compositions for piano written by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius around the turn of the twentieth century, variously from 1895 to 1903. The most famous piece of the set is by far No. 9, the Romance in D-flat major.
Sibelius composed the Impromptu in
G minor during the summer of 1895 while vacationing with his family
[a] in Vaania by
Lake Vesijärvi, despite the fact that the cottage they had rented did not contain a piano.
[4] Marked Vivace and in 3
4
time, it has a duration of about four minutes; it was first published in 1895 by Helsinki's Axel E. Lindgren.
[2] The Sibelius biographer
Andrew Barnett notes that the Impromptu "opens in a tumultuous,
scherzo-like mood" before slowing into a "brooding
waltz" that in some ways anticipates Sibelius's most famous composition,
Valse triste (Op. 44/1), an orchestral work that he arranged in 1904 from the
incidental music to
Death (Kuolema,
JS 113, 1903).
[5]
Sibelius composed the Romance (in Finnish: Romanssi) in
A major in 1895, alongside the Impromptu. Marked Andantino and in 6
4 time, it has a duration of about eight minutes—making it the longest of the Ten Pieces; it was first published in 1895 by Lindgren.
[6] According to the Sibelius biographer Barnett, the Romance in A major "has the scale and emotional range of a
tone poem": its opening is reminiscent of a "sinister
barcarole", while afterwards it "evolves into an intensely dramatic mood painting ... [it] bears the hallmarks of Sibelius's musical
Symbolism and of the forthcoming
Lemminkäinen Suite" (Op. 22), an orchestral work that dominated his thinking in the mid-1890s.
[7]
[b]
Sibelius composed the Caprice (in Finnish: Kapriisi) in
E minor in 1898. Marked Vivace and in 6
8 time, it has a duration of about three minutes. It was first published in 1898 by Helsinki's
Karl Wasenius .
[9]
Sibelius composed the Romance (in Finnish: Romanssi) in
D minor at some point between 1896 and 1898. Marked Tranquillo and in 3
4 time, it has a duration of about three minutes. It was first published in 1898 by Lindgren.
[10]
Sibelius composed the Valse (in Finnish: Valssi) in
E major
c. 1898. Marked Vivace and in 3
4 time, it has a duration of about three minutes. It was first published in 1898 by Lindgren.
[11]
In December 1897, Sibelius composed an Andantino in
F major (6
8 time) as a Christmas present for his brother-in-law, the Finnish painter
Eero Järnefelt.
[12] In 1898, he reworked and lengthened the "gentle,
berceuse-like" as Op. 24's Idyll, adding a "lavishly embellished central section", as well as a brief, four-bar ending that recapitulates the opening theme.
[13] Idyll it has a duration of about three minutes and was first published in 1899 by the Helsinki-based firm of
Fazer & Westerlund (Helsingfors nya musikhandel).
[14] However, in July 1904, Sibelius was compelled to revise the piece: a letter from
Fazer (earlier that year,
Westerlund had left to establish
his own firm ) informed him that, by mistake, the copyright had not been registered for the 1898 composition, thus necessitating minor changes in order to protect Sibelius's intellectual property.
[15] This version—which is also three-minutes long—was later that year in September by Leipzig's
Breitkopf & Härtel, which
[16] on 20 July 1905, had purchased all of Fazer's Sibelius holdings (the publishing rights and printing plates).
[17]
Sibelius composed the Andantino in
F major (the only of the Ten Pieces to be called by its
tempo marking) in 1899. In 9
4 time, it has a duration of about three minutes, and was first published in 1899 by Wasenius.
[18] Afterwards, however, Sibelius revised the piece
c. 1899, which necessitated a superseding edition by Wasenius in 1900.
[19]
Sibelius composed the Nocturno in
E minor in 1900. Marked Andante and in 2
2 time, it has a duration of about three minutes. It was first published in 1901 by Wasenius.
[20]
Sibelius composed the Romance (in Finnish: Romanssi) in D-flat major in December 1901. Marked Andantino and in 3
4 time, it has a duration of about four minutes and was first published in 1902 Fazer & Westerlund.
[21] The D-flat major Romance is by far the most popular and oft-recorded of the Ten Pieces, as well as one of the most ubiquitous compositions in Sibelius's entire oeuvre for solo piano.
Sibelius composed the Barcarola in
G minor in 1903. Marked Moderato assai and in 3
4 time, it has a duration of about 4.5 minutes. It was first published in 1903 by Fazer & Westerlund.
[22]
The musicologist Robert Layton argues that the Ten Pieces are a mixed bag, although the "best of them are probably more personal than" their immediate predecessor, the Piano Sonata in F major (Op. 12, 1893). On the one hand, he dismisses the famous Romance in D-flat major (No. 9) as "hackneyed ... with its stale rhetoric and trite, salon-like tune". Layton does, however, describe the Impromptu (No. 1), the Nocturno (No. 8), and the Barcarola (No. 10) as "characteristic" and "highly individual"—although each "betrays orchestral habits of mind and poses the question whether some of Sibelius's piano pieces did not begin life as orchestral sketches". [23]
The Finnish pianist Erik T. Tawaststjerna made the first studio recording of the complete Ten Pieces in 1980 for BIS; of these, Nos. 1–2, 4, and 6–8 were world premieres. [24] The remaining four compositions had been recorded earlier, with premieres as follows: No. 5 by the Danish pianist Helge Bonnén on Polyphon (NS 47002, 1925); [25] No. 9 by the Australian pianist Eileen Joyce for Parlophone (E 111424, 1939); [26] No. 3 by the Hungarian pianist Ervin László for RCA (LM–9829, 1959); [27] and No. 10 by the Finnish pianist Ralf Gothóni for EMI (5E 063 34283, 1971). [28] The sortable table below lists, in addition to the aforementioned Tawaststjerna traversal, other commercially available recordings of the complete Ten Pieces:
No. | Pianist | Runtimes [c] | Rec. [d] | Recording venue | Label | Ref. | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Op. 24/1
|
Op. 24/2
|
Op. 24/3
|
Op. 24/4
|
Op. 24/5
|
Op. 24/6
|
Op. 24/7
|
Op. 24/8
|
Op. 24/9
|
Op. 24/10
|
Total
| ||||||
1 | Erik T. Tawaststjerna | 4:01 | 7:30 | 3:10 | 3:03 | 2:33 | 3:10 | 2:35 | 3:14 | 4:00 | 4:27 | 38:35 | 1980 | Nacka Aula , Nacka | BIS | |
2 | Annette Servadei | 2:59 | 7:24 | 2:58 | 3:12 | 2:22 | 3:42 | 2:51 | 3:06 | 4:10 | 4:13 | 37:18 | 1992 | Christ's Hospital, Horsham | Olympia | |
3 | Eero Heinonen (1) | 4:54 | 6:49 | 3:14 | 3:53 | 2:03 | 3:29 | 3:09 | 3:52 | 3:52 | 5:05 | 40:20 | 1995 | YLE M2 Studio, Helsinki | Finlandia | |
4 | Håvard Gimse | 3:31 | 6:50 | 2:39 | 2:56 | 2:04 | 3:04 | 2:33 | 2:57 | 2:55 | 4:24 | 34:06 | 1997 | St Martin's Church, East Woodhay | Naxos | |
5 | Folke Gräsbeck | 4:53 | 6:52 | 3:07 | 3:48 | 2:16 | 4:00 | 3:45 | 3:35 | 3:46 | 4:46 | 41:34 | 2006 | Kuusankoski Concert Hall | BIS | |
6 | Janne Mertanen | 4:23 | 7:09 | 2:52 | 3:24 | 2:01 | 3:29 | 3:23 | 3:29 | 3:48 | 4:57 | 38:55 | 2015 | Unknown], Helsinki | Sony Classical | |
7 | Eero Heinonen (2) | 4:07 | 6:01 | 2:49 | 3:21 | 2:01 | 3:14 | 2:55 | 3:27 | 3:42 | 4:38 | 36:15 | 2015 | Sello Hall, Espoo | Piano Classics |