Piano Quintet in G minor (Sibelius)

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Piano Quintet in G minor
by Jean Sibelius
The composer in 1889
CatalogueJS 159
Composed1890 (1890)
PublisherHansen (1993)[1]
Duration36.5 mins.[2]
Movements5
Premiere
Date5 May 1890 (1890-05-05) (Movements I, III)[1]
LocationHelsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland
Performers

The Piano Quintet in G minor, JS 159, is a five-movement chamber piece for two violins, viola, cello, and piano[3] written in 1890 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. When composing the piece, Sibelius replaced the original Movement IV (marked Vivace) with a scherzo (Vivacissimo); the earlier Vivace is extant.[4]

History[edit]

Movements I and III of the Piano Quintet premiered in Helsinki on 5 May 1890 at the Music Institute (now the Sibelius Academy); the performers included the Norwegian composer Johan Halvorsen (violin) and the Italian composer Ferruccio Busoni (piano), as well as Karl Wasenius [fi] (violin), Josef Schwartz (viola), and Otto Hutschenreuter [ru] (cello).[1] Movements II and IV had their premieres a half-year later on 11 October the first four movements were performed in Turku; among the soloists was Sibelius's close friend, the playwright Adolf Paul, who played piano, as well as Richard Hagel [de] on first violin.[1]

At neither of the two 1890 concerts was Movement V played. As a result, Sibelius rescued themes from the finale by reusing them for the Rondo in D minor (JS 162, 1893) for viola and piano duo, as well as the first of the Six Impromptus (Op. 5/1, 1893) for solo piano.[4] In 1965, Movement V was played for the first time when the quintet in its entirety was premiered properly on 24 May at the Turku Concert Hall; the instrumentalists were as follows: Tuomas Haapanen [fi] (violin), Pekka Kari [fi] (violin), Mauri Pietikäinen [fi] (viola), Erkki Rautio [fi] (cello), and Liisa Pohjola [fi] (piano).[1]

Structure[edit]

A 5 May 1890 ad promoting the premiere of Sibelius's G minor Quintet (Movements I and III only; II and IV premiered in October, and V in 1965.)
The Italian composer Ferruccio Busoni played the piano at the premiere; he taught at the Helsinki Music Institute and was a friend of Sibelius's.

The G minor Quintet is in five movements, as follows:

  1. Grave – Allegro
  2. Intermezzo. Moderato
  3. Andante
  4. Scherzo. Vivacissimo
  5. Moderato – Vivace

The piece was published posthumously in 1993 by Edition Wilhelm Hansen.[1]

Movement I[edit]

The first movement, marked Grave – Allegro, is in 3
2 time; it has a duration of about 10 minutes.[3]

Movement II[edit]

The second movement is an intermezzo; marked Moderato and in 4
4 time, it has a duration of about 4.5 minutes.[5]

Movement III[edit]

The third movement, marked Andante, is in 2
4 time; it has a duration of about nine minutes.[5]

Movement IV[edit]

The fourth movement is a scherzo; marked Vivacissimo and in 3
4 time, it has a duration of about 3.5 minutes.[5]

Movement V[edit]

The fifth movement begins Moderato in 4
4 time before switching to 6
8 for the Vivace. It has a duration of about 9.5 minutes.[1]

Discography[edit]

The Finnish pianist Erik T. Tawaststjerna and the Sibelius Academy Quartet made the world premiere studio recording of the G minor Quintet for Finlandia in 1985.[1] The table below lists this and other commercially available recordings:

No. Violin I Violin II Viola Cello Piano Runtime[a] Rec.[b] Recording venue Label Ref.
1 Seppo Tukiainen [fi] Erkki Kantola [fi] Veikko Kosonen Arto Noras Erik T. Tawaststjerna 36:15 1985 Roihuvuoren kirkko [fi] Finlandia
[c]
2 John Georgiadis Brendan O'Reilly Ian Jewel Keith Harvey Anthony Goldstone 39:35 1989 Snape Maltings Concert Hall Chandos
[d]
3 Götz Bernau Antti Meurman [fi] Ulla Kekko Juha Malmivaara Ella & Jaakko Untamala 37:30 1994 [Unknown], Kuopio Edition Abseits
[e]
4 Jaakko Kuusisto Laura Vikman Anna Kreetta Gribajcevic [fi] Joel Laakso Folke Gräsbeck [fi] 38:53 2005 Järvenpää Hall [fi] BIS
[f]
5 Roger Coull Philip Gallaway Gustav Clarkson Nicholas Roberts Martin Roscoe 37:16 2008 St Paul's Church, Birmingham Somm
[g]

Notes, references, and sources[edit]

Notes
  1. ^ All runtimes are official, as printed on CD or LP liner notes.
  2. ^ Refers to the year in which the performers recorded the work; this may not be the same as the year in which the recording was first released to the general public.
  3. ^ Sibelius Academy Quartet, Tawaststjerna–Finlandia (FACD 375) 1989
  4. ^ Gabrieli Quartet, Goldstone–Chandos (CHAN 8742) 1989
  5. ^ Pihtipudas Quintet–Edition Abseits (EDA 007–2) 1994
  6. ^ Kuusisto, Vikman, Gribajcevic, Laakso, Gräsbeck–BIS (CD–1412) 2007
  7. ^ Coull Quartet, Roscoe–Somm (SOMMCD 096) 2010
References
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Dahlström 2003, p. 598.
  2. ^ Dahlström 2003, pp. 596–598.
  3. ^ a b Dahlström 2003, p. 596.
  4. ^ a b Barnett 2007, pp. 56–58, 84.
  5. ^ a b c Dahlström 2003, p. 597.
Sources
  • Barnett, Andrew (2007). Sibelius. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-11159-0.
  • Dahlström, Fabian [in Swedish] (2003). Jean Sibelius: Thematisch-bibliographisches Verzeichnis seiner Werke [Jean Sibelius: A Thematic Bibliographic Index of His Works] (in German). Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel. ISBN 3-7651-0333-0.
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