Sibelius - Five Pieces Op.75

[cbreemer]

Well, among all the fun recordings submitted recently, here is one more serious and boring one.
Not a lot of Sibelius gets posted here, except by fnork who happens to work in Finland.

I think this set of 5 "tree" pieces is Sibelius' most popular piano work, judging by the amount of recordings on YouTube. Ah well, there is always room for some more

To think that some decades ago hardly anybody knew he'd written piano music. But I had a stack
of scores even then, collected by my parents when they went on holiday in Finland. So I've known these pieces for a long time, and still love them as much if not more.

[mjames]

in before Outin

I'll be honest even though i love Sibelius i find much of his piano writing really awkward. I enjoyed listening to your recording but I don't i'd have the patience to ever study this. Still though, nice work.

[j_menz]

Very nice job Chris.

Sibelius' music deserves greater attention than it gets - he's really a very fine composer for piano.

If anyone has had their appetite whetted, and is up for a bit of a challenge, Dover publishes a nice (and cheap) collection which includes these pieces.

[outin]

in before Outin

Am I expected to comment? 

My pleasure actually. Lovely recordings!

It's must be difficult for a foreigner to grasp the kind of awkward and detached melancholy of the Finns (quite different to the Russian style) and avoid being too sentimental and passionate. In other words less is sometimes more when it comes to expression

Of course in Finland his piano music has always been known and played, but not appreciated as much of his other works. It is known that Sibelius himself didn't really care that much for the piano as an instrument. But he published a lot and some of the stuff he composed for the piano is quite interesting (and he used much of that material in his other works). He also composed smaller piano pieces just to make some money, so there are a lots of little pieces that may not be groundbreaking, but work well as study material.

I am not a great Sibelius fan. But I am going to study something more from him this summer. My teacher suggested Kuusi, but the trees don't really appeal to me so I decided on the op 5 impromptus instead. Maybe not very mature work but I find them really entertaining and withing reason for me.

[cbreemer]

Thanks guys ! I hope I caught the Finnish melancholy satisfactorily. I considered playing fortissimo octaves at half tempo but decided it would be in bad taste ;-)

I'm also studying the Op.85 set (aka ' flowers') and will probably re-record the Op.40 Pensees Lyriques. It is nice to record technically undemanding music

Sibelius could indeed be a fine piano composer when he wanted to. Some of it is really charming and/or well written. Other pieces can be uninspired and/or clumsy. It's rather a mixed bag.
@outin: I like the Op.5 set also, and consider recording them. I find no.5 very difficult to being off
though, and I can't make myself like no.6. These two are holding me back a bit.

[outin]

@outin: I like the Op.5 set also, and consider recording them. I find no.5 very difficult to being off
though, and I can't make myself like no.6. These two are holding me back a bit.

Nr 5...I certainly won't be able to play it in tempo and even some of the others will probably take me a long time. But I like nr 6... maybe it's just too Finnish for you

Have you heard the recordings from 1956 by Cyril Szalkiewich?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TO8HYuWnPo
I think he captures the spirit just perfectly.

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Not completely my cup of tea, but they have a certain. sometimes melancholy, character and appeal. I must say that the sound of your piano is much more suitable for these than for the Chopin; it seems just right here.

[cbreemer]

@outin: Oops, that video is not available, sez YouTube. Maybe I'm too Dutch for it ;-) Gotta find myself a Finnish proxy server... or hunt for another recording, I've never actually heard this one.

@andrew: Not your cup of tea, I knew that. The wow factor is missing, and no pianist (at least not a famous one) would probably play this in a recital. There are surprisingly many recordings of this set though. I am not the only one who loves it.

[ronde_des_sylphes]

@andrew: Not your cup of tea, I knew that. The wow factor is missing, and no pianist (at least not a famous one) would probably play this in a recital.

I don't see why not. It's not that rare for sets of "character pieces" to get a recital outing, and I don't see these as less worthwhile than some better known ones.

[outin]

@outin: Oops, that video is not available, sez YouTube. Maybe I'm too Dutch for it ;-) Gotta find myself a Finnish proxy server... or hunt for another recording, I've never actually heard this one.

Still don't see it?

[j_menz]

I don't either - "This video is unavailable".

[cbreemer]

Still don't see it?

Nope !

[chechig]

Hi! Thanks for posting it!!I love Sibeliu's music, you dont' hear much of him in Spain. Last summer I studied one of his small pieces, Berceuse, I loved it! I always have one of his works to study, what I dont' have is time!!