Six Impromptus
Six Impromptus | |
---|---|
Piano solos by Jean Sibelius | |
![]() The composer (c. 1891) | |
Opus | 5 |
Composed | 1893 (1893) |
Publisher | Lindgren (1894)[1] |
Duration | 14.5 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.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/70/EJ%C3%A4rnefelt_1892sketch_Sibelius_%28cropped%2C_adjusted%29.jpg/172px-EJ%C3%A4rnefelt_1892sketch_Sibelius_%28cropped%2C_adjusted%29.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ed/Jean_Sibelius_1927_Ainola_Steinway_piano.jpg/172px-Jean_Sibelius_1927_Ainola_Steinway_piano.jpg)
Structure and music
Impromptu No. 1
The First Impromptu is in G minor. Marked Moderato, it has a duration of about two minutes.[4]
Impromptu No. 2
The Second Impromptu is also in G minor. Marked Lento – Vivace, it has a duration of about two minutes.[4]
Impromptu No. 3
The Third Impromptu is in A minor. Marked Moderato (alla marcia), it has a duration of about three minutes.[4]
Impromptu No. 4
The Fourth Impromptu is in E minor. Marked Andantino, it has a duration of about two minutes.[1]
Impromptu Nos. 5 and 6
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
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d0/Erik-Tawaststjerna-1962_%28cropped%29.jpg/170px-Erik-Tawaststjerna-1962_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Robert Layton dismisses the Six Impromptus as "for the most part ... feeble and uninventive".[6]
Discography
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
- Notes
- ^ All runtimes are official, as printed on CD or LP liner notes.
- ^ 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.
- ^ E. Tawaststjerna–BIS (CD–153) 1987
- ^ A. Servadei–Olympia (OCD 631) 1997
- ^ R. Lauriala–Naxos (8.553661) 1996
- ^ I. Tateno–Canyon Classics (PCCL–00328) 1996
- ^ E. Heinonen–Finlandia (8573–80776–2) 2000
- ^ H. Gimse–Naxos (8.553899) 1999
- ^ F. Gräsbeck–BIS (CD–1909/11) 2008
- ^ C. Wyss–Capriccio (C5229) 2014
- ^ E. Heinonen–Piano Classics (PCL10220) 2020
- ^ J. Mertanen–Sony Classics (888751614222) 2015
- ^ S. Rahman–Resonus Classics (RES10205) 2018
- ^ M. Kihlgren–Sterling (CDA 1842–2) 2020
- ^ T. Dostal–Label (ABCD 514) 2022
- ^ J. Tong–Quartz (QTZ 2158) 2023
- References
- ^ a b c d e Dahlström 2003, p. 16.
- ^ Dahlström 2003, pp. 15–16.
- ^ Dahlström 2003, pp. 15, 666.
- ^ a b c Dahlström 2003, p. 15.
- ^ Barnett 2007, pp. 79, 84, 89, 91.
- ^ Layton 1993, p. 190.
- ^ Dahlstrom 2003, p. 16. sfn error: no target: CITEREFDahlstrom2003 (help)
- 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
- Six Impromptus, Op. 5: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
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- t
- e
- Kullervo (1892)
- Symphony No. 1 (1899, rev. 1900)
- Symphony No. 2 (1902)
- Symphony No. 3 (1907)
- Symphony No. 4 (1911)
- Symphony No. 5 (1915, rev. 1916, 1919)
- Symphony No. 6 (1923)
- Symphony No. 7 (1924)
- Symphony No. 8 (mid 1920s–c. 1938, abandoned)
- Violin Concerto (1904, rev. 1905)
- Two Serenades (1912–1913)
- Two Serious Melodies (1914–1915)
- Six Humoresques (1917–1918, No. 1 rev. 1940)
- Suite for Violin and String Orchestra (1929)
- En saga (1892, rev. 1902)
- Spring Song (1894, rev. 1895)
- The Wood Nymph (1895)
- Lemminkäinen Suite
- 1895, rev. 1897, 1900, 1939; includes The Swan of Tuonela
- Finlandia (1899)
- Pohjola's Daughter (1906)
- Nightride and Sunrise (1909)
- The Dryad (1910)
- The Bard (1913)
- Luonnotar (1913)
- The Oceanides (1914, rev. 1914)
- Tapiola (1926)
- The Building of the Boat (1893–1894, abandoned)
- The Maiden in the Tower (1896)
- King Christian II (1898)
- Kuolema
- 1903; includes Valse triste
- Pelléas et Mélisande (1905)
- Belshazzar's Feast (1906)
- Swanwhite (1908)
- The Lizard (1909)
- The Language of the Birds (1911)
- Scaramouche (1913)
- Everyman (1916)
- The Tempest (1925)
- Cantata for the University Graduation Ceremonies of 1894
- Cantata for the Coronation of Nicholas II (1896)
- Cantata for the University Graduation Ceremonies of 1897
- The Origin of Fire (1902, rev. 1910)
- The Captive Queen (1906)
- My Own Land (1918)
- Song of the Earth (1919)
- Hymn of the Earth (1920)
- Väinämöinen's Song (1926)
- The Rapids-Rider's Brides (1897)
- The Breaking of the Ice on the Oulu River (1899)
- Snöfrid (1900)
- Marjatta (1905, abandoned)
- Impromptu (1902, rev. 1910)
- The Raven (1910, abandoned)
- Overture in E major (1891)
- Ballet Scene (1891)
- Karelia Suite (1893)
- Rakastava (1894, arr. 1912)
- Scènes historiques I (1899, arr. 1911)
- Overture in A minor (1902)
- Romance in C major (1904)
- Cassazione (1904, rev. 1905)
- Pan and Echo (1906)
- In memoriam (1909, rev. 1910)
- Scènes historiques II (1912)
- Suite mignonne (1921)
- Suite champêtre (1922)
- Suite caractéristique (1922)
- String Quartet in E-flat major (1885)
- String Quartet in A minor (1889)
- String Quartet in B-flat major (1890)
- String Quartet in D minor, Voces intimae (1909)
- Andante festivo (1922, orch. 1938)
- Piano Trio in A minor, Hafträsk (1886)
- Piano Trio in D major, Korpo (1887)
- Piano Trio in C major, Lovisa (1888)
- Water Droplets (c. 1875–1881)
- Pieces for brass septet (1889–1899)
- Piano Quintet (1890)
- Malinconia (1900)
- Violin Sonatina (1915)
- Six Impromptus (1893)
- Piano Sonata (1893)
- Ten Pieces, Op. 24 (1895–1903)
- Kyllikki (1904)
- Three Sonatinas (1912)
- The Bells of Kallio Church (1912, arr. 1912)
- Two Rondinos (1912)
- Five Pieces, The Trees, Op. 75 (1914)
- Five Pieces, The Flowers, Op. 85 (1916–1917)
- Five Esquisses (1929)
- Seven Runeberg Songs, Op. 13 (1891–1892)
- "Serenad", JS 168 (1894–1895)
- Six Songs, Op. 36 (1899–1900)
- Five Songs, Op. 37 (1900–1902)
- Seven Songs, Op. 17 (1891–1904)
- Five Songs, Op. 38 (1903–1904; includes "Höstkväll")
- Six Songs, Op. 50 (1906)
- Two Songs, Op. 35 (1908)
- "Kom nu hit, död", Op. 60/1 (1909, orch. 1957)
- "Arioso", Op. 3 (1911)
- Five Christmas Songs, Op. 1 (1897–1913; includes "Giv mig ej glans, ej guld, ej prakt")
- Six Runeberg Songs, Op. 90 (1917)
- Hymn, Op. 21 (1896, rev. 1898)
- Songs for Mixed Chorus from the 1897 Promotional Cantata (arr. 1898)
- Finlandia Hymn (1899, arr. 1938–1940)
- Six Partsongs, Op. 18 (1893–1901)
- Jäger March (1917)
- Ainola (home)
- Aino Sibelius (wife)
- Ruth Snellman [fi] (daughter)
- Heidi Blomstedt (daughter)
- Christian Sibelius (brother)
- Aulis Blomstedt (son-in-law)
- Jussi Jalas (son-in-law)
- Jussi Snellman [fi] (son-in-law)
- Alexander Järnefelt (father-in-law)
- Elisabeth Järnefelt (mother-in-law)
- Armas Järnefelt (brother-in-law)
- Arvid Järnefelt (brother-in-law)
- Eero Järnefelt (brother-in-law)
- Kasper Järnefelt [fi] (brother-in-law)
- Helsinki Music Institute: Martin Wegelius (theory, composition)
- Mitrofan Vasiliev (violin)
- Hermann Csillag [de] (violin)
- Post-graduate studies: Albert Becker
- Robert Fuchs
- Karl Goldmark
- Toivo Kuula
- Leevi Madetoja
- Bengt de Törne [fi]
- Juhani Aho
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- Granville Bantock
- Ferruccio Busoni
- Axel Carpelan [fi] (patron)
- Olin Downes
- Ida Ekman
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- Oskar Merikanto
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- Abraham Ojanperä
- Selim Palmgren
- Adolf Paul
- Wilhelm Stenhammar
- Karl Wasenius [fi]
- Fabian Dahlström [fi]
- Karl Ekman [fi]
- Erik Furuhjelm [fi]
- Glenda Dawn Goss
- Cecil Gray
- Robert Layton
- Nils-Eric Ringbom [fi]
- Erik W. Tawaststjerna
- International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition
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- Sibelius (2003 film)
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