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Five Esquisses

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Five Esquisses
Piano solos by Jean Sibelius
The composer (c. 1927)
Opus114
Composed1929 (1929)
PublisherFazer [fi] (1973–74)[1]
Duration10 mins[2]

The Five Esquisses (in Finnish: Viisi luonnosta; in German: Fünf Skizzen),[3] Op. 114, is a collection of compositions for piano written in February 1929 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The Five Esquisses represent—along with the Suite for Violin and String Orchestra in D minor (JS 185), as well as the Op. 115 and Op. 116 seven duos for violin and piano—the dawn of a "radical new stylistic period" for Sibelius. Indeed, these compositions could provide the best clues as to the "sound world" Sibelius's never-realized (and likely destroyed) Symphony No. 8 may have inhabited.[4]

History

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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.

The Five Esquisses have a tortuous publication history. On 5 October 1928, the New York-based publisher Carl Fischer expressing an interest in publishing "works for piano, voice and piano, and violin and piano ..."[3] Sibelius responded to Fischer on 15 February 1929 that it was his "pleasure" to offer four collections of his latest miniatures: the Op. 114 Five Esquisses, as well as the Op. 115 Four Pieces for violin and piano, the Op. 116 Three Pieces for violin and piano, and the Op. 117 (later demoted from Sibelius's opus list) Suite for Violin and String Orchestra.[5] However, Fischer rejected all four compositions:

We must reluctantly inform you that in view of the extremely unfortunate constellation in the music publishing field in the United States, it seems to us inadvisable at the present time to publish compositions of the high standard which you have submitted to us. The market is very unfavorable for this class of music and we are compelled to return them to you with our regrets.

— Carl Fischer Music, in a 7 September 1929 letter to Sibelius[6]

Shortly thereafter, Sibelius sent the pieces to Leipzig's Breitkopf & Härtel, and although they accepted the offer, Sibelius requested the manuscripts be returned to him so that he could revise Metsälaulu; after making the changes, however, he never mailed them back to Germany—likely due to the ever-worsening self-criticism that marred his later career. In 1945, the Helsinki-based published R. E. Westerlund [fi] inquired about the Five Esquisses: as with fifteen years prior, Sibelius initially agreed but changed his mind when preparing the manuscripts for publication. Westerlund's second attempt in 1950 was similarly unsuccessful. In the end, the pieces were published posthumously from 1973 to 1974 by Fazer Music [fi].[1]

Structure and music

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No. 1: Landscape

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Landscape (in Finnish: Maisema) is marked Andantino.

No. 2: Winter Scene

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Winter Scene (in Finnish: Talvikuva) is marked Allegretto.

No. 3: Forest Lake

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Forest Lake (in Finnish: Metsälampi) is marked Con moto.

No. 4: Song in the Forest

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Song in the Forest (in Finnish: Metsälaulu) is marked Animato.

No. 5: Spring Vision

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Spring Vision (in Finnish: Kevätnäky) is without tempo marking.

Reception

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

Discography

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The Finnish pianist Liisa Karhilo made the world premiere studio recording of the Five Esquisses c. 1976 for the Musical Heritage Society.[6] The sortable table below lists this and other commercially available recordings:

No. Pianist Runtimes[a] Rec.[b] Recording venue Label Ref.
Op. 114/1
Op. 114/2
Op. 114/3
Op. 114/4
Op. 114/5
Total
1 Liisa Karhilo c. 1976 Musical Heritage Society
[c]
2 Tapani Valsta 3:24 2:48 2:11 3:17 1:22 13:02 1975 Finlandia
[d]
3 Erik T. Tawaststjerna 2:34 2:16 1:37 2:22 1:34 10:40 1984 Studio BIS, Djursholm BIS
[e]
4 Izumi Tateno 2:15 2:04 1:06 1:39 1:35 8:39 1994 Ainola Canyon Classics
[f]
5 Annette Servadei [ja] 2:28 2:26 2:25 2:39 1:37 11:32 1994 St George's Church, Brandon Hill Olympia
[g]
6 Ralf Gothoni 1:57 2:10 2:03 2:06 2:25 10:34 1995 Järvenpää Hall [fi] Ondine
[h]
7 Eero Heinonen [fi] 2:52 2:07 1:32 2:23 1:33 10:27 1999 YLE M2 Studio, Helsinki Finlandia
[i]
8 Kyoko Tabe [ja] 2:24 2:18 1:38 2:04 1:57 10:29 1999 New Broadcasting House, Manchester Chandos
[j]
9 Katriina Korte 2:23 2:07 1:26 1:46 1:24 9:09 2001 Järvenpää Hall [fi] Alba [fi]
[k]
10 Håvard Gimse 2:21 2:58 1:23 2:16 1:44 10:44 2001 St Martin's Church, East Woodhay Naxos
[l]
11 Kikuo Watanabe 2:18 2:12 1:36 1:47 1:55 9:48 2003 Tokyo Bunka Kaikan Exton
[m]
12 Vladimir Ashkenazy 2:24 2:03 1:16 1:54 1:31 9:08 2007 Järvenpää Hall [fi] Exton
[n]
13 Tuija Hakkila 2:36 2:00 1:26 1:44 1:42 9:28 2008 Nya Paviljongen Alba [fi]
[o]
14 Folke Gräsbeck [fi] 2:35 2:28 1:27 2:46 1:53 11:25 2009 Kuusankoski Hall [fi] BIS
[p]
15 Rudi Spring 2:45 1:51 1:36 1:52 1:47 9:51 2009 Sounddesign Peter Guschelbauer, Hagenberg Alessa
[q]
16 Joseph Tong 2:24 2:22 1:23 2:05 1:37 9:51 2014 Jacqueline Du Pré Music Building Quartz
[r]
17 Janne Mertanen 2:09 2:24 1:54 1:57 2:13 10:37 2015 [Unknown], Helsinki Sony Classical
[s]
18 Leif Ove Andsnes 1:48 1:55 1:40 1:49 2:05 9:17 2016 Teldex Studio Sony Classical
[t]
19 Yi Zhong 2:53 2:19 2:16 2:34 2:00 12:02 2023 [unknown] TYXArt
[u]

Notes, references, and sources

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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. ^ L. Karhilo–Musical Heritage (MHS 3596) 1976
  4. ^ T. Valsta–Finlandia (FACD 811) 1991
  5. ^ E. Tawaststjerna–BIS (CD–278) 1987
  6. ^ I. Tateno–Canyon Classics (PCCL–00243) 1994
  7. ^ A. Servadei–Olympia (OCD 635) 1997
  8. ^ R. Gothóni–Ondine (ODE 847–2) 1995
  9. ^ E. Heinonen–Finlandia (8573–80776–2) 2000
  10. ^ K. Tabe–Chandos (CHAN 9833) 2000
  11. ^ K. Korte–Alba (ABCA 159) 2001
  12. ^ H. Gimse–Naxos (8.555853) 2004
  13. ^ K. Watanabe–Exton (OVCX–00009) 2004
  14. ^ V. Ashkenazy–Exton (EXCL–00017) 2008
  15. ^ T. Hakkila–Alba (ABCD 297) 2010
  16. ^ F. Gräsbeck–BIS (CD–1927/29) 2010
  17. ^ R. Spring–Alessa (ALC 2001) 2010
  18. ^ J. Tong–Quartz (QTZ 2111) 2015
  19. ^ J. Mertanen–Sony Classics (888751614222) 2015
  20. ^ L. Andsnes–Sony Classics (886446267067) 2017
  21. ^ Y. Zhong–TYXArt (TXA24187) 2023
References
  1. ^ a b Dahlström 2003, pp. 485–487.
  2. ^ Dahlström 2003, pp. 484, 486–487.
  3. ^ a b Dahlström 2003, p. 484.
  4. ^ Barnett 2007, pp. 329–331.
  5. ^ Dahlström 2003, pp. 484–485.
  6. ^ a b Dahlström 2003, p. 485.
Sources
  • Barnett, Andrew (2007). Sibelius. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-16397-1.
  • 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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