Jean Sibelius

SKU: BR.SON-633

ISBN 9790004803684. 10 x 12.5 inches.

Symphony, symphonic poem, fantasy, or something else entirely different? For a long time while working on the Sixth Symphony, Sibelius was not certain what his new orchestral work was now about to become or what to call it. He had to interrupt work on the symphony time and again during the Finnish civil war and because of financial difficulties that forced him to earn a living with little things. So, it is not surprising that many small ideas for other works repeatedly culminated in the Sixth. In a letter to a friend, he describes his early ideas for the work: The 6th symphony is wild and turbulent in character. Gloomy with pastoral contrasts. Probably in 4 movements with a conclusion growing into a dark orchestral shower in which the main theme drowns. The editor Kai Lindberg now presents the definitive version within the context of the Sibelius Complete Edition.

SKU: BR.OB-4953-16

Sibelius composed this short (only five minutes long) Romance in C Op. 42 in 1903; the work was first performed in Turku in March 1904. The Romance is not a concerto movement in disguise, but features the dark, dense string writing typical of Sibelius. Early modern; Late-romantic. Part. 4 pages. Duration 5'. Breitkopf and Haertel #OB 4953-16. Published by Breitkopf and Haertel (BR.OB-4953-16).

ISBN 9790004326473. 10 x 12.5 inches.

Sibelius composed this short (only five minutes long) Romance in C Op. 42 in 1903; the work was first performed in Turku in March 1904. The Romance is not a concerto movement in disguise, but features the dark, dense string writing typical of Sibelius.

SKU: BR.SON-627

ISBN 9790004803295. 10 x 12.5 inches.

In 1998, at the end of the 20th century, Breitkopf & Hartel started the publication of the Complete Edition, which is made possible thanks to the cooperation of the various Sibelius publishers. The Editors (Helsinki University Library and The Sibelius Society of Finland) and the Editorial Committee (Chairman: Timo Virtanen, Helsinki) believe that the volumes of JSW will provide the basis for a now conception of the creative work of Jean Sibelius.Reviews: One immediately recognizes the towering production quality of these volumes - a point that can be extended to all volumes thus far published in the set. The music is a joy to read; and the lucidity and thoroughness of the texts … are models of scholarly editions, and should be required reading for all bibliography and music-editing courses. … In sum, the JSW is a remarkable project: the scholarship is impeccable, the music scores and texts are simply a joy to study. Edward Jurkowski, Notes December 2011: 442-443At the back of this magnificent book are pages of critical commentary on a bar-by-bar analysis of an endless supply of musical notation requiring interpretation by the editor. … For the general, non-musically trained, purchaser of the edition there is the magisterial introduction to read, and fascinating reading it is. Edward W. Clark, Sibelius Society Newsletter 2009 The Sibelius pieces, however, are a revelation. I opened this magnificently produced volume - complete with multilingual critical report and generous facsimiles of original manuscripts - expecting Grieg-style quasi-nationalistic character pieces, and was instead presented with an incredible array of styles, textures, harmonic languages and levels of difficulty. Chris White, Piano Professional Summer 2009: 2This is not only a scholarly edition of one of the composer's major works, it is also a model for the philological editing of music in general. … JSW has chosen to have the emendations reflected in two places, in certain cases even in three: as graphic indications in the music text, in prose form in the critical commentary, and sometimes also in the form of a warning footnote on the music page. There can be no doubt that such a procedure is very user-friendly, but it disturbs the appearance of the music and may mislead the user into thinking that there are two or more equally valid readings. Niels Krabbe, Fontes Artis Musicae 54/2, 2007: 248 Editorial standards are high throughout, and maintain a careful balance between the competing demands of practical exigency and the need to provide as much scholarly evidence of variants as possible. The critical commentaries provide concise and effective descriptions of the sources and, where appropriate, information on compositional genesis and historical context. The introduction to each volume provide useful background information on historical reception, including much new material not previously brought to light in Tawaststjerna's biography. Daniel M. Grimley, Nineteenth-Century Music Review 2/2, 2005: 244.

SKU: BR.OB-5746-27

SKU: BR.PB-5587-07

ISBN 9790004213971. 6.5 x 9 inches.

... a forest god in New YorkThe symphonic poem Tapiola is the final major composition for orchestra that Sibelius was able to complete and publish. In January 1926 he had accepted the commission from the conductor Walter Damrosch to compose an orchestral work of at most 20 minutes in length for a performance in New York at the end of that year. Shortly thereafter Sibelius was successful in getting Breitkopf & Hartel to do the first publication of this tone poem. The premiere of Tapiola took place on 26 December 1926. The edition takes over the music text published in volume I/16 of the complete edition Jean Sibelius Works.

SKU: BR.PB-5584

ISBN 9790004213940. 10 x 12.5 inches.

Little is known about the actual composition process of Lemminkainen and the performance and publication history is rather complex, resulting in a first complete printing of all the four movements en suite through the complete edition of Jean Sibelius Works only in 2013.In summer 1894 Sibelius went to Central Europe, carrying among others a plan for an opera freely based on the Kalevala in his mind. But during this trip he reassessed his composing: I think I have found my old self again, musically speaking. I think I really am a tone painter and a poet. As a result he abandoned his opera plans, but musical material may have found its way into the Lemminkainen pieces which he started composing during that time. Lemminkainen became popular from the beginning and has attained a fixed position in the concert repertoire.Sibelius said about Lemminkainen in Tuonela: The cradle song at the end of the work is maternal love, which rakes the pieces of Lemminkainen together from the River Tuonela..

SKU: BR.SON-621

Chamber music by Jean Sibelius - a welcome addition to the chamber music repertoire for strings with piano.

ISBN 9790004803233. 9 x 12 inches.

This volume presents partly less known, but undoubtedly interesting and highly welcome additions to the chamber music repertoire for violinists and cellists in the reliable Urtext of the Complete Edition. The violin was Sibelius's instrument. He was active as a violinist mainly during his studies at the Helsinki Music Institute from 1885-1889 and for a short time thereafter. The present volume contains Jean Sibelius's opus-numbered works for violin or cello and piano, 36 compositions in total. Most of the works of this volume were created at the beginning of the 20th century and remained unpublished until the early 1920s. Sibelius composed far less music for the cello than for the violin. Malinconia (Op. 20), published in 1911, remained his only opus-numbered work exclusively for cello and piano. This volume also includes Two Pieces (Op. 77) and Four Pieces (Op. 78) as versions for violin with piano and for cello with piano.

Chamber music by Jean Sibelius - a welcome addition to the chamber music repertoire for strings with piano.