Five Pieces
The Trees
Piano solos by Jean Sibelius
Sibelius in middle age (c. 1915)
Opus75
Composed1914 (1914), rev. 1919
Publisherpiecemeal by three firms[1]
Duration11 mins[1]

The Five Pieces (in French: Cinq Morceaux),[2] Op. 75, is a collection of compositions for piano written in 1914 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The Five Pieces, however, is more commonly referred to by its informal nickname The Trees due to the fact that the descriptive titles of the five pieces share a thematic link.

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.

Structure and music

No. 1: When the Rowan Blossoms

When the Rowan Blossoms (Swedish: När rönnan blommar; in Finnish: Kun pihlaja kukkii) was published in 1921 by the London-based firm of Augener & Co.. Marked Allegretto, it has a duration of about two minutes.[2]

No. 2: The Solitary Fir Tree

The Solitary Fir Tree (in Swedish: Den ensamma furan; in Finnish: Yksinainen honka) was published in 1921 by London's J. & W. Chester. Marked Grave, it has a duration of about two minutes.[3]

No. 3: The Aspen

The Aspen (in Swedish: Aspen; in Finnish: Haapa) was published in 1922 by Edition Wilhelm Hansen in Copenhagen. Marked Andantino, it has a duration of about 2.5 minutes.[4]

No. 4: The Birch

The Birch (in Swedish: Björken; in Finnish: Koivu) was also published in 1922 by Hansen. Marked Allegro – Misterioso, it has a duration of about 1.5 minutes.[5]

No. 5: The Spruce

The Spruce (in Swedish: Granen; in Finnish: Kuusi) was also published in 1922 by Hansen, after Sibelius had revised the piece in 1919. Marked Stretto – Lento – Risoluto – Lento, it has a duration of about three minutes.[6]

Reception

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

Discography

The Finnish-German pianist Ralf Gothoni made the first studio recording of the complete Op. 75 Five Pieces in 1971 for EMI; of these, When the Rowan Blooms, The Solitary Fir Tree, and The Birch (Nos. 1–2 and 4) were world premieres.[7] The remaining two pieces, The Aspen and The Spruce (Nos. 3 and 5), had been recorded earlier in 1959 by the Hungarian pianist Ervin László for RCA Victor (RCA LM–9828).[8] The sortable table below lists, in addition to the aforementioned Gothoni traversal, other commercially available recordings of The Trees, as a whole:

No. Pianist Runtimes[lower-alpha 1] Rec.[lower-alpha 2] Recording venue Label Ref.
Op. 75/1
Op. 75/2
Op. 75/3
Op. 75/4
Op. 75/5
Total
1 Ralf Gothoni (1) 1971 [unknown], Helsinki EMI
2 Izumi Tateno (1) 1:45 2:30 2:30 1:25 3:00 11:10 1971 EMI
3 Liisa Karhilo 10:33 Musical Heritage Society
4 Erik T. Tawaststjerna 1:52 2:03 2:23 1:25 2:53 11:01 1983 Studio BIS, Djursholm BIS
5 Izumi Tateno (2) 1988 Järvenpää Hall Canyon Classics
6 Marita Viitasalo 1:55 2:42 2:50 1:35 3:28 12:30 1992 Järvenpää Hall Finlandia
7 Annette Servadei 2:09 2:15 3:39 1:27 2:35 12:05 1994 St George's Church, Brandon Hill Olympia
8 Izumi Tateno (3) 1:42 2:18 2:36 1:32 3:00 11:08 1994 Ainola Canyon Classics
9 Ralf Gothoni (2) 1995 Järvenpää Hall Ondine
10 Risto Lauriala 1:45 2:50 2:18 1:44 3:40 12:17 1995 Järvenpää Hall Naxos
11 Eero Heinonen (1) 1:51 2:43 2:40 1:41 3:32 12:27 1996 YLE M2 Studio, Helsinki Finlandia
12 Kyoko Tabe 2:00 2:44 2:21 1:41 3:20 12:13 1999 New Broadcasting House, Manchester Chandos
13 Håvard Gimse 1:51 2:43 2:20 1:41 3:32 12:07 2000 St Martin's Church, East Woodhay Naxos
14 Katriina Korte 2001 Järvenpää Hall Alba
15 Tuija Hakkila 2008 Nya Paviljongen Alba
16 Folke Gräsbeck 1:55 3:05 2:43 1:32 3:17 12:49 2009 Kuusankoski Hall BIS
17 Janne Mertanen (1) Presence
18 Joseph Tong 1:40 2:14 2:19 1:38 3:01 10:52 2014 Jacqueline Du Pré Music Building Quartz
19 Janne Mertanen (2) Sony Classical
20 Eero Heinonen (2) 1:46 2:37 2:20 1:39 4:40 13:02 2015 Sello Hall, Espoo Piano Classics

Notes, references, and sources

Notes
References
  1. 1 2 Dahlström 2003, pp. 325–329.
  2. 1 2 Dahlström 2003, p. 325.
  3. ↑ Dahlström 2003, p. 326.
  4. ↑ Dahlström 2003, p. 327.
  5. ↑ Dahlström 2003, p. 328.
  6. ↑ Dahlström 2003, p. 329.
  7. ↑ Dahlström 2003, pp. 325–326, 328.
  8. ↑ Dahlström 2003, pp. 327, 329.
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.
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