All works on this album, except for one, are World Premiere Recordings.
Compositional Technique
The Quartet in D minor, JS 157, features an unusual key scheme, with its second and third movements in E-flat major, a remote key from the main D minor.
Composition History
The 'fragment for piano quartet in E minor' that appeared in Sibelius biographies for almost the entire 20th century was actually part of a complete finale for the Quartet in D minor, JS 157.
Composer Biography
Jean Sibelius's active participation in chamber music dramatically reduced after summer 1890, when he began studying orchestral music in Vienna.
Instruments
The harmonium used on this recording is a historical instrument by O. Lidholm/M. Hofberg, Bornal Leipzig, No. 57772.
Composition History
Sibelius began composing music for Walter von Konow's opera Ljunga Wirginia in 1885, but the libretto was likely destroyed in a Russian air raid in 1939-40.
Performer Biography
Folke Gräsbeck, the pianist on this album, has performed over 200 of Sibelius's compositions, giving world premieres for 82 of them.
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