Six Impromptus

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Six Impromptus
Piano solos by Jean Sibelius
The composer (c. 1891)
Opus5
Composed1893 (1893)
PublisherLindgren (1894)[1]
Duration14.5 mins[2]

The Six Impromptus (in German: Sechs Impromptus),[3] Op. 5, is a collection of compositions for piano written in 1893 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.

An 1892 sketch of Sibelius at the piano by his future brother-in-law Eero Järnefelt
Sibelius (1927) plays the Steinway grand piano at his home, Ainola.

Structure and music[edit]

Impromptu No. 1[edit]

The First Impromptu is in G minor. Marked Moderato, it has a duration of about two minutes.[4]

Impromptu No. 2[edit]

The Second Impromptu is also in G minor. Marked Lento – Vivace, it has a duration of about two minutes.[4]

Impromptu No. 3[edit]

The Third Impromptu is in A minor. Marked Moderato (alla marcia), it has a duration of about three minutes.[4]

Impromptu No. 4[edit]

The Fourth Impromptu is in E minor. Marked Andantino, it has a duration of about two minutes.[1]

Impromptu Nos. 5 and 6[edit]

The Fifth Impromptu is in B minor. Marked Vivace, it has a duration of about 3.5 minutes,[1] The Sixth Impromptu, on the other hand, is in E major; marked Comodo, it lasts about two minutes.[1] In 1893, Sibelius reused themes from Nights of Jealousy (Svartsjukans nätter, JS 125)—an 1893 melodrama for narrator, vocalise soprano, and piano trio to poems by J. L. Runeberg–for Nos. 5–6 of the Six Impromptus. In 1894, he combined the fifth and sixth impromptus into an arrangement for string orchestra and titled the new piece Impromptu.[5]

Reception[edit]

Erik Tawaststjerna, who authored seminal biography on Sibelius, was an early, vocal advocate for many of the composer's piano pieces.

Robert Layton dismisses the Six Impromptus as "for the most part ... feeble and uninventive".[6]

Discography[edit]

The Finnish pianist Erik T. Tawaststjerna made the first studio recording of the complete Six Impromptus in 1979 for BIS; of these, Nos. 3–4 were world premieres.[7] The remaining four pieces had been recorded earlier, with premieres as follows: No. 1–2 by the Swedish pianist Stig Ribbing [sv] on His Master's Voice (HMV 7 EBS 5, 1956); No. 6 by the German pianist Horst Minkofski-Garrigues for Telefunken-Decca for (MG 4468, 1968); and No. 5 by the Japanese pianist Izumi Tateno on EMI (5E 063–34472, 1971).[1] The sortable table below lists, in addition to the aforementioned Tawaststjerna traversal, other commercially available recordings of the complete Six Impromptus:

No. Pianist Runtimes[a] Rec.[b] Recording venue Label Ref.
Op. 5/1
Op. 5/2
Op. 5/3
Op. 5/4
Op. 5/5
Op. 5/6
Total
1 Erik T. Tawaststjerna 1:46 2:03 2:49 2:11 3:25 2:12 14:51 1979 Nacka Aula [sv], Nacka BIS
[c]
2 Annette Servadei [ja] 1:50 1:58 2:08 2:34 3:31 2:56 14:59 1992 Christ's Hospital, Horsham Olympia
[d]
3 Risto Lauriala 1:40 1:44 3:08 2:42 3:49 1:45 14:48 1995 Järvenpää Hall [fi] Naxos
[e]
4 Izumi Tateno 1:49 1:44 2:51 2:14 3:59 2:10 14:47 1995 Ainola Canyon Classics
[f]
5 Eero Heinonen [fi] (1) 2:50 1:57 3:01 2:27 3:24 3:11 16:50 1996 YLE M2 Studio, Helsinki Finlandia
[g]
6 Håvard Gimse 2:19 1:38 2:12 2:13 3:08 7:00 18:35 1997 St Martin's Church, East Woodhay Naxos
[h]
7 Folke Gräsbeck [fi] 1:53 1:51 2:33 2:07 3:36 6:02 18:22 2003 Nybrokajen 11, Stockholm BIS
[i]
8 Cassandra Wyss 3:00 2:05 3:59 2:27 3:39 2:28 17:38 2014 Andreaskirche am Wannsee [de], Berlin Cappriccio
[j]
9 Eero Heinonen [fi] (2) 2:29 1:50 2:29 2:17 3:17 2:49 15:11 2015 Sello Hall, Espoo Piano Classics
[k]
10 Janne Mertanen 2:20 1:51 2:34 2:29 3:26 3:50 16:30 2015 [Unknown], Helsinki Sony Classical
[l]
11 Sophia Rahman 2:11 2:02 2:24 1:45 4:03 5:05 17:30 2017 Sidney Sussex College Chapel Resonus Classics
[m]
12 Maria Kihlgren 2:07 1:51 2:49 2:09 3:48 6:24 19:19 2019 Studio 2, Swedish Radio Sterling
[n]
13 Terhi Dostal [fi] Alba [fi]
[o]
14 Joseph Tong Quartz
[p]

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. ^ E. Tawaststjerna–BIS (CD–153) 1987
  4. ^ A. Servadei–Olympia (OCD 631) 1997
  5. ^ R. Lauriala–Naxos (8.553661) 1996
  6. ^ I. Tateno–Canyon Classics (PCCL–00328) 1996
  7. ^ E. Heinonen–Finlandia (8573–80776–2) 2000
  8. ^ H. Gimse–Naxos (8.553899) 1999
  9. ^ F. Gräsbeck–BIS (CD–1909/11) 2008
  10. ^ C. Wyss–Capriccio (C5229) 2014
  11. ^ E. Heinonen–Piano Classics (PCL10220) 2020
  12. ^ J. Mertanen–Sony Classics (888751614222) 2015
  13. ^ S. Rahman–Resonus Classics (RES10205) 2018
  14. ^ M. Kihlgren–Sterling (CDA 1842–2) 2020
  15. ^ T. Dostal–Label (ABCD 514) 2022
  16. ^ J. Tong–Quartz (QTZ 2158) 2023
References
  1. ^ a b c d e Dahlström 2003, p. 16.
  2. ^ Dahlström 2003, pp. 15–16.
  3. ^ Dahlström 2003, pp. 15, 666.
  4. ^ a b c Dahlström 2003, p. 15.
  5. ^ Barnett 2007, pp. 79, 84, 89, 91.
  6. ^ Layton 1993, p. 190.
  7. ^ Dahlstrom 2003, p. 16.
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.
  • Layton, Robert (1993) [1965]. Sibelius. (The Master Musicians Series) (4th ed.). New York: Schirmer Books. ISBN 0028713222.

External links[edit]

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