Sibelius: Chamber Music Bits 'n Bobs

 

I believe most, if not all of the performances covered in this segment of Bits 'n Bobs, were all gathered together into BIS' The Essential Sibelius 15CD set. If I had to quantify my listening experience here, these are all important recordings of not-so important music from Sibelius.



Piano Quintet in G minor

One work where such a phrase might not apply is to the Finnish composer's magnificent Piano Quintet. This is a hefty work, timing in at nearly 40 minutes in length. However, each moment swept this listener away and set my imagination running.

Here, Sibelius is bursting with excellent melodies and musical ideas. So many, in fact, that if you didn't like one particular motive in the first movement, another would come along in no time. Its music is nearly rhapsodical so often does it bandy between thematic areas.

Best yet, the harmonic modal landscape and folksy musical settings are a lot of fun. The final two movements (of five) bear swashbuckling qualities which led this listener along even stronger. Altogether, Sibelius' Piano Quintet was a surprising joy!

While I did not cover the rest of this recording, it is filled with two more smaller piano-quintet pieces, plus a number of works requiring narration, thus the Melodrama title to this album.

Piano Quartet in D minor

Sibelius must have been really serious about his chamber music, for here in his Piano Quartet, we have a work nearing 33 minutes total. I feel the length a little more here, for this work isn't as heaven touched as the quintet. Part of this lies in the d minor key, which Sibelius really doesn't seem overly enthusiastic to explore compared to the G minor I heard in the quintet. The inclusion of a Minuet instead of a Scherzo also makes the work stand a tad more academically as well. One can still hear the echoes of Beethoven in Sibelius' writing, however.

What I can't complain about, and is something I did not mention in the quintet, are these players, here listed on the cover. The BIS sound is immediate, while still capturing the ambiance of the performing space. I do believe the balances to be better here as well. In the Piano Quintet, the piano hid some of the lower voices and pizzicatos at times, but that is not a problem in these other sets of chamber music.

Their playing is lively and eager, rarely trying to make this music over serious. Had they done so, I probably would have enjoyed myself much less. I never felt shortchanged at any moment from this chamber ensemble; any issues I might have had lays solely on Sibelius.

The rest of this album, which I didn't explore, is filled with briefer piano quartet movements. The oddity which I will probably give a listen in the near future is a short piano quartet with an added harmonium, a piece that sounds curious to my ears.

Piano Trio in A minor 'Hafträsk'

The Hafträsk isn't too bad of a piano trio. While I will get into more detail as to my preferences in Vol. 2 below, the Andantino movement is a little overly sweet, where in general, Sibelius prefers accompaniment figures over texturally varied instrumental interactions. The Rondo is a fun romp, plus the spectre of Beethoven hangs over much of the music, as is the case across all of the piano chamber works. Let's say, this piano trio lays between the next two, at least in regard to an overall enjoyment factor.

As an aside into non-musical matters, I love the water colors on this cover, a style which will continue into Vol. 2. As a matter of fact, I enjoy all of these covers, including the photograph from the Piano Quintets and the painting from the Piano Quintet cover, each with an majority of white or sepia-toned hue.

Otherwise, the rest of Vol. 1 of Piano Trios from Sibelius covers shorter early works, including another non-subtitled Piano Trio in A minor.

Piano Trio in D Major 'Korpo'
Piano Trio in C Major 'Loviisa'

In chamber music, I am always put off by an overly saccharine, drawing-room sweetness, usually at its worst during the slow movement. I get a prevailing sense of this throughout the Korpo Trio, perhaps due to its D-Major key, where all of the previous works were in minor. But moreso for me, I think it is this quality stretched across 36 minutes.

It is probably the middle Fantasia movement which will appeal to most listeners, one which, after its 16 minutes, leads directly into the final Vivace. To me, though, it makes for long music making that doesn't completely appeal to me. This is highly Romantic, but hardly inspiring. Others will disagree, for music affects different souls in many different ways, one of the great aspects of a musical listening community.

But if I was reticent to approach another major-keyed piano trio, the Loviisa Trio shooed any worries away. Maybe it is its concise 15 minutes, yet I think the musical argument is really strong here, never getting sidetracked by fluff or undue ardor. Sibelius even makes way for occasional counterpoint, an unexpected musical texture in these chamber works.

Violinist Jaakko Kuusisto and pianist Folke Gräsbeck are the common denominators across these four recordings. Sibelius treats the piano in all of these chamber pieces as an active, virtuosic participant. I assume Kuusisto is the leader across these performances, and an excellent job he does in works that don't always rise to the highest heights of aspiration in musical content. Additionally, Gräsbeck has a number of BIS Sibelius recordings to himself as well, if listeners are interested in solo piano repertoire. Certainly his terrific playing here should easily make those of great interest.

Bits 'n Bobs

Piano Quintet in G minor, JS 159
  Jaakko Kuusisto & Laura Vikman, violins
  Anna Kreetta Gribajcevic, viola
  Joel Laasko, cello; Folke Gräsbeck, piano
  BIS; 2007

Piano Quartet in D minor, JS 157
  Jaakko Kuusisto & Satu Vänskä, violins
  Taneli Turunen, cello; Folke Gräsbeck, piano
  BIS; 2004

Piano Trio in A minor 'Hafträsk', JS 207
Piano Trio in C Major 'Loviiso', JS 208
Piano Trio in D Major 'Korpo', JS 209
  Jaakko Kuusisto & Marko Ylönen, violins
  Folke Gräsbeck, piano
  BIS; 2004

Find more Sibelius recordings HERE!