Sibelius: Complete Original Piano Music, Vol. 6

Featuring

Erik Thomas Tawaststjerna
Jean Sibelius

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Composer's Artistic Vision

Sibelius often associated French titles like Esquisse, Souvenir, Impromptu, and Couplet with a concise, elegant, and transparent piano idiom, mostly without chromatic elements and with restrained emotional expression.

Compositional Technique

The 'Village Church' (Op. 103 No. 1) features broad chords in parallel motion, giving it an organ-like quality, and its main theme moves in a free Palestrina style.

Compositional Technique

Sibelius's 'Petite marche' (Op. 99 No. 8) and his Seventh Symphony both begin with a rising scale passage, and the piano piece is built on a powerful foundation of octaves in the deep bass, suggesting symphonic thinking.

Composer Biography

Sibelius was fascinated by Béla Bartók, one of two contemporary composers he valued most highly; the other was Dmitri Shostakovich.

Compositional Technique

Sibelius's 'The Fiddler' (Op. 103 No. 2) cleverly transcribes various violin tricks, such as sustained notes, double stops, and pizzicati, to the piano.

Composer Biography

In 'Romance' (Op. 101 No. 1), Sibelius, at a mature age, recalls Tchaikovsky, who was the idol of his youth.

Composition History

Sibelius composed 'Morceau romantique sur un motif de M. Jacob de Julin' for a charity event in Helsinki in March 1925, to benefit General Mannerheim's League for the Protection of Children.