Sibelius

[comme_le_vent]

to tie in with my other posts about composers who are better known for their non-piano music, i wondered what you guys thought about the piano music by Sibelius.

[L.K.]

Well, many people say it's very unpianistic and low in quality. And I have to agree, most of it is. It's also quite easy, so no virtuoso bangbang here. I have only played 2 pieces by him and I don't want to play any more.  

[comme_le_vent]

i have his complete piano music on 4 cds, and some of it is really special stuff, you just need to listen to more and pick the ones that grab you most.

[Logar]

The thing about Sibelius was that he wrote his notes very differently from other composert. Sinding wrote the notes from how we would "sing" the melody. This oftens leads to weird rhytms etc... Just take a look at his famous Finlandia...

[DarkWind]

Sinding wrote the notes from how we would "sing" the melody. This oftens leads to weird rhytms etc... Just take a look at his famous Finlandia...

Where'd Sinding come from? Also, I don't understand by what you mean, singing the melody...

[Logar]

Well it is kinda difficult to really explain it - But try find some scores from him  and you will notice it. He is from Finland.

[comme_le_vent]

sinding wrote the lovely 'rustles of spring' i think.

and i think scandinavian music rules, it seems so melancholic and it gives 'chills'  

[ravel]

can u tell me particular pieces comme_le_vent,  which u found special. i wanna hear them out .

[Shagdac]

The Tempest was popular, and most of his orchestral works I think. I have not had the opportunity to hear all of his works, but what I have been exposed to, I enjoyed.

S.

[Logar]

I love his Valse Triste and Romance in d-flat.
Very melancholic melodies.

[JeffL]

Well it is kinda difficult to really explain it - But try find some scores from him  and you will notice it. He is from Finland.

Sinding is a Norwegian composer. I don't really understand what you mean regarding the "singing" aspect. I have a lot of his piano music and, to me, a lot of it seems rather "overwritten". He often writes in massive chords in both hands-not unpleasant though. The Concerto in Dflat is definitely worth taking a look at.
Sibelius' piano music, I think, is unjustifiably neglected. It consists, in the main, of salon-type miniatures but his individual voice is still to be heard. I don't regard those pieces I know as particularly un-pianistic.

[anda]

I love his Valse Triste and Romance in d-flat.
Very melancholic melodies.

wonderful works, i love them too - but the valse is transcribed (the romance too i think, but i'm not sure), the're originally for orchestra. still wonderful...

[willcowskitz]

Just thought I'd throw in a little knowledge about Sibelius' music.

He was mostly inspired by the nature, and one shouldn't overlook this fact when listening to his music. He walked in the woods and listened to the nature, not to mention he had asynesthaesia (however you spell it) meaning he could directly associate certain sounds/frequencies with certain colours. Now take this phenomenon and imagine him walking through a forest listening to birds, looking at the colourful nature and watching the swans take off from the lake.

Sometimes when you don't understand certain music, it helps to understand the composer first. What comes to his music being "unpianistic" - take Liszt for example, he mainly composed for the piano alone, yet he composed for it as if it was an orchestra. Compare that to Chopin's piano music, and Liszt is unpianistic. Who cares?

[JK]

I absolutely love Sibelius' music, the symphonies especially. As for his piano music, I have played his piano sonata in F, this is a very interesting work and has a fantastic last movement. If you want to try some Sibelius piano music this is the piece to look at! It's his longest piano composition and to understand the way he writes for piano I think it is very important to listen to his orchestral music as the textures and piano writing are very orchestral.

Scandinavian music is very interesting and it is certainly very distinctive, just look at Griegs' solo piano works.