The publisher Fennica Gehrman has issued new, revised editions of two works by Sibelius based on Breitkopf & Härtel’s complete JSW critical edition.
The choral suite Rakastava was originally composed for tenor and male choir in 1894; this arrangement for soprano, baritone and mixed choir dates from four years later. The first version was composed for a competition organized by the YL choir, in which it won second prize, and the mixed-choir version was made for a volume in the collection Sävelistö. Many years later Sibelius transformed the choral work into a delicate and highly regarded suite for string orchestra, triangle and timpani.
The Five Esquisses were written in 1929 and are Sibelius’s last opus-numbered piano works. In these pieces Sibelius explores a new, bolder harmonic language. The titles of the pieces all allude in some way to nature, though the music contains few specifically pictorial elements. They do not share any thematic material, but are nonetheless closely related in mood and texture.
Rakastava for soprano, baritone and mixed choir, JS 160c
979-0-55011-307-7 · €10.00 · Click here to order
Five esquisses for piano, Op. 114
979-0-55011-304-6 · €21.10 · Click here to order