Sibelius: Piano Music, Vol. 1

Havard Gimse

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Cat No: 8553899

Release Date: 12 January 1999

Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 730099489928

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: SIBELIUS

Description
Jean Sibelius(1865-1957)Piano Music Volume 1Six Impromptus, Op. 5;Sonata in F major, Op. 12; Ten Pieces, Op. 24The Finnish composer Jean Sibelius was born the son of a doctor, in asmall town in the south of Finland. The language and culture of his family, aswith others of their class and background at the time, was Swedish. It was atschool that Sibelius was to learn Finnish and acquire his first real interestin the early legends of a country that had become an autonomous grand duchy ofthe Tsar of Russia in the period after the defeat of Charles XII of Sweden atPoltava in 1709. Throughout the later nineteenth century there were division,between the Swedish-speaking upper classes and the Finnish-speaking people, thecause of the latter embraced by influential nationalists, and accentuated bythe repressive measures instituted by Tsar Nicholas II, before the revolutionof 1905.The musical abilities of Sibelius were soon realised, although notdeveloped early enough to suggest music as a possible profession, until he hadentered university in Helsinki as a law student. His first ambition had been tobe a violinist. It later became apparent that any ability he had in thisrespect - and here his own violin concerto would have offered insurmountable technicaldifficulties for him - was far outweighed by his gifts as a composer, developedfirst by study in Helsinki with Martin Wegelius, then with the pedantic Beckerin Berlin and with Goldmark, and more effectively, with Robert Fuchs in Vienna.In Finland once more, Sibelius won almost immediate success in 1892 witha symphonic poem, Kullervo, based on an episode from the Finnish epic,the Kalevala. There followed compositions of particular national appealthat further enhanced his reputation in Helsinki, including the incidentalmusic to the student patriotic pageant Karelia, En Saga and the LemminkainenSuite. During this period Sibelius supported himself and his wife byteaching, as well as by composition and the performance of his works, but itproved difficult for him to earn enough, given, as he was, to bouts ofextravagance, continuing the practice of his days as a student. In 1896 he wasvoted the position of professor at the University of Helsinki, but thecommittee's decision was overturned in favour of Robert Kajanus, theexperienced founder and conductor of the first professional orchestra inHelsinki. As consolation for his disappointment, Sibelius was awarded agovernment stipend for ten years, and this was later changed into a pension forlife. The sum involved was never enough to meet his gift for improvidence,inherited, perhaps, from his father who, at his death in 1868, had left hisfamily bankrupt.For the last 25 years of his life Sibelius wrote nothing, now isolatedfrom and largely antipathetic to contemporary trends in music. His reputationin Britain and America remained high, although there were inevitable reactionsto the excessive enthusiasm of his supporters. On the continent of Europe hefailed to recaptur
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