Piano Quintet in G minor (Sibelius)
| Piano Quintet in G minor | |
|---|---|
| by Jean Sibelius | |
 The composer in 1889 | |
| Catalogue | JS 159 |
| Composed | 1890 |
| Publisher | Hansen (1993)[1] |
| Duration | 36.5 mins.[2] |
| Movements | 5 |
| Premiere | |
| Date | 5 May 1890 (Movements I, III)[1] |
| Location | Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland |
| Performers |
|
The Piano Quintet in G minor, JS 159, is a five-movement chamber piece for two violins, viola, cello, and piano[3] written in 1890 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. When composing the piece, Sibelius replaced the original Movement IV (marked Vivace) with a scherzo (Vivacissimo); the earlier Vivace is extant.[4]
History
[edit]Movements I and III of the Piano Quintet premiered in Helsinki on 5 May 1890 at the Music Institute (now the Sibelius Academy); the performers included the Norwegian composer Johan Halvorsen (violin) and the Italian composer Ferruccio Busoni (piano), as well as Karl Wasenius (violin), Josef Schwartz (viola), and Otto Hutschenreuter (cello).[1] Movements II and IV had their premieres a half-year later on 11 October the first four movements were performed in Turku; among the soloists was Sibelius's close friend, the playwright Adolf Paul, who played piano, as well as Richard Hagel on first violin.[1]
At neither of the two 1890 concerts was Movement V played. As a result, Sibelius rescued themes from the finale by reusing them for the Rondo in D minor (JS 162, 1893) for viola and piano duo, as well as the first of the Six Impromptus (Op. 5/1, 1893) for solo piano.[4] In 1965, Movement V was played for the first time when the quintet in its entirety was premiered properly on 24 May at the Turku Concert Hall; the instrumentalists were as follows: Tuomas Haapanen (violin), Pekka Kari (violin), Mauri Pietikäinen (viola), Erkki Rautio (cello), and Liisa Pohjola (piano).[1]
Structure
[edit]
The G minor Quintet is in five movements, as follows:
- Grave – Allegro
- Intermezzo. Moderato
- Andante
- Scherzo. Vivacissimo
- Moderato – Vivace
The piece was published posthumously in 1993 by Edition Wilhelm Hansen.[1]
Movement I
[edit]The first movement, marked Grave – Allegro, is in 3
2 time; it has a duration of about 10 minutes.[3]
Movement II
[edit]The second movement is an intermezzo; marked Moderato and in 4
4 time, it has a duration of about 4.5 minutes.[5]
Movement III
[edit]The third movement, marked Andante, is in 2
4 time; it has a duration of about nine minutes.[5]
Movement IV
[edit]The fourth movement is a scherzo; marked Vivacissimo and in 3
4 time, it has a duration of about 3.5 minutes.[5]
Movement V
[edit]The fifth movement begins Moderato in 4
4 time before switching to 6
8 for the Vivace. It has a duration of about 9.5 minutes.[1]
Discography
[edit]The Finnish pianist Erik T. Tawaststjerna and the Sibelius Academy Quartet made the world premiere studio recording of the G minor Quintet for Finlandia in 1985.[1] The table below lists this and other commercially available recordings:
| No. | Violin I | Violin II | Viola | Cello | Piano | Runtime[a] | Rec.[b] | Recording venue | Label | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seppo Tukiainen | Erkki Kantola | Veikko Kosonen | Arto Noras | Erik T. Tawaststjerna | 36:15 | 1985 | Roihuvuoren kirkko | Finlandia | |
| 2 | John Georgiadis | Brendan O'Reilly | Ian Jewel | Keith Harvey | Anthony Goldstone | 39:35 | 1989 | Snape Maltings Concert Hall | Chandos | |
| 3 | Götz Bernau | Antti Meurman | Ulla Kekko | Juha Malmivaara | Ella & Jaakko Untamala | 37:30 | 1994 | [Unknown], Kuopio | Edition Abseits | |
| 4 | Jaakko Kuusisto | Laura Vikman | Anna Kreetta Gribajcevic | Joel Laakso | Folke Gräsbeck | 38:53 | 2005 | Järvenpää Hall | BIS | |
| 5 | Roger Coull | Philip Gallaway | Gustav Clarkson | Nicholas Roberts | Martin Roscoe | 37:16 | 2008 | St Paul's Church, Birmingham | Somm |
Notes, references, and sources
[edit]- 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.
- ^ Sibelius Academy Quartet, Tawaststjerna–Finlandia (FACD 375) 1989
- ^ Gabrieli Quartet, Goldstone–Chandos (CHAN 8742) 1989
- ^ Pihtipudas Quintet–Edition Abseits (EDA 007–2) 1994
- ^ Kuusisto, Vikman, Gribajcevic, Laakso, Gräsbeck–BIS (CD–1412) 2007
- ^ Coull Quartet, Roscoe–Somm (SOMMCD 096) 2010
- References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Dahlström 2003, p. 598.
- ^ Dahlström 2003, pp. 596–598.
- ^ a b Dahlström 2003, p. 596.
- ^ a b Barnett 2007, pp. 56–58, 84.
- ^ a b c Dahlström 2003, p. 597.
- 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.
