2001 Finlandia two-CD set of less-known music of Jean
Sibelius. The first disc holds chamber music composed between 1885 and
1890, when he was in his 20's. The earliest, the String Quartet in E-flat Major,
is small-scale and neoclassically crisp - it wouldn't be amiss to
compare it to Haydn, and I certainly wouldn't expect anyone to guess
this as dating from 1885, though there are some harmonic maneuvers that
clearly are Romantic-era. His 1888 Piano Trio in C Major "Lovisa"
feels like a traditional mid-century German work, Reinecke or maybe
Mendelssohn, with a bit of salon tunefulness and every once in a while a
hint of his mature melancholy voice. It's in the 1890 Piano Quintet in G minor
that we begin to recognize Sibelius's voice. Written just after
graduating Helsinki University, it possesses some of the heroic quality
of Kullervo, though the five-movement, 36-minute piece is mostly in the
vein of Sinding and Halvorsen. The Sibelius Academy Quartet is joined by
Erik T. Tawaststjerna (whew, that's a workout for the spellchecker!)
On disc 2 we turn to piano music from across his career.
Sibelius wrote a substantial number of piano works (the booklet claims
"over 100" but that's only true if you do things like count the Six
Bagatelles op.97 as six separate works). The most substantial of them,
his Piano Sonata in F minor, op.12 was written at the same time
as the Kullervo Symphony and inhabits the same epic sound-world,
extremely nationalist-romantic though of course less opulent since
there's only one instrument. Kyllikki op.41 is a set of lyric
pieces composed after the 2nd Symphony and you hear it edging away from
the lushness of that work and towards the more neoclassical sound of his
3rd. Sibelius's three Piano Sonatinas were composed after the
4th Symphony and are even less lush; they're the most pianistic of his
works in the sense of using some flashy Chopin-like runs, but in general
I'm reminded of Sibelius's own phrase, "like pure, clear, cold water".
The disc also contains two short Rondinos and the piano version of Finlandia. Marita Viitasalo performs.
Discs, booklet, and case are in excellent condition.
Shipping rates:
US customers: Options are USPS Media Mail at $4.50 for this set, $1 for each additional disc paid for at the same time, or USPS Ground Advantage at $5.25 for this set, $1.25 for each additional disc paid for at the same time.
The USPS no longer offers
cheap international shipping of thin envelopes with merchandise, BUT if
you order many discs together the new rate is about the same as it was
before. Therefore...
Canadian customers: Options are Economy shipping, which is First Class but *without* the plastic "jewel" cases, at $15 for this box set and UP TO TWO MORE CDs, $24 for this box set and THREE OR MORE CDs; or First Class *with* the plastic cases included, at $19 for this box set and $4 for each additional disc.
Customers in other countries: Options are Economy shipping, which is First Class but *without* the plastic "jewel" cases, at $18 for this box set and UP TO TWO MORE CDs, $30 for this box set and THREE OR MORE CDs; or First Class *with* the plastic cases included, at $25 for this box set and $6 for each additional disc.
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