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Kyllikki (Sibelius)

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Kyllikki
Piano solos by Jean Sibelius
The composer (c. 1905)
Opus41
Composed1904 (1904)
PublisherBreitkopf & Härtel (1906)[1]
Duration10.5 mins[2]
Movements3

Kyllikki (subtitled "Three Lyric Pieces"; in German: "Drei lyrische Stücke"),[3] Op. 41, is a three-movement suite for piano written in September 1904[1] by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. Although the title is taken from the Kalevala, Finland's national epic, Sibelius denied that the piece was programmatic in nature.[1] (Kyllikki [fi] is a maiden who appears in Runos XI–XII.)

History

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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.

In September 1904 found Sibelius beset by dual distractions. First, he worried that he was beginning to go deaf (as he wrote to his patron, Axel Carpelan [fi], "My hearing is very bad ... As far as the new works I am working on are concerned, I rely on the inner ear ...") and he even admitted himself to a private clinic). Moreover, construction on Sibelius's new home in Järvenpää (subsequently named Ainola after his wife, Aino) was nearing completion and the family was preparing to move in at the end of the month.[4] Nevertheless, Sibelius was in a good mood ("I have sunny thoughts".) and experienced a creative surge: he had begun work two major projects, the Third Symphony (Op. 52, 1904–1907) and the incidental music to Pelléas et Mélisande (JS 147/Op. 46, 1904–1905) for a production at the Swedish Theatre of Maurice Maeterlinck's 1893 play. Moreover, around 22 September he finished work on a three-movement piano piece called Kyllikki.[4]

Structure and music

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The work consists of three movements:

  1. Largamente – Allegro
  2. Andantino
  3. Comodo

Musically, Robert Layton argues that Kyllikki "speaks much the same harmonic language as the Second Symphony and the Violin Concerto".[5] The Sibelius biographer Andrew Barnett, too, emphasizes the suite's "Kalevala romanticism"—indeed, the "end of a stylistic" in the composer's output for piano.[6]

Reception

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

Layton, however, dismisses Kyllikki as "on the whole ... an unsuccessful piece with few attractions ... the actual paint writing is, by the exhalted standards Sibelius himself set elsewhere, limited in resource".[7]

Discography

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The American pianist David Rubenstein made the world premiere studio recording of Kyllikki in 1971 for the Musical Heritage Society.[1] The table below lists this and other commercially available recordings:

No. Pianist Time Rec.[a] Recording venue Label Ref.
1 David Rubenstein 11:44 c. 1971 Musical Heritage Society
[b]
2 Izumi Tateno 10:20 Toshiba
[c]
3 Glenn Gould 12:24 1977 Eaton's Auditorium Sony Classical
[d]
4 Erik T. Tawaststjerna 10:59 1979 Nacka Aula [sv], Nacka BIS
[e]
5 Viktoria Postnikova 11:49 Melodiya
[f]
6 Annette Servadei [ja] 12:09 1993 St George's Church, Brandon Hill Olympia
[g]
7 Marita Viitasalo [fi] 11:41 1994 Järvenpää Hall [fi] Finlandia
[h]
8 Ralf Gothoni 12:09 1995 Järvenpää Hall [fi] Ondine
[i]
9 Risto Lauriala 11:01 1995 Järvenpää Hall [fi] Naxos
[j]
10 Håvard Gimse 12:26 1999 St Martin's Church, East Woodhay Naxos
[k]
11 Eero Heinonen [fi] 11:00 1999 YLE M2 Studio, Helsinki Finlandia
[l]
12 Kikuo Watanabe 2003 Tokyo Bunka Kaikan Exton
[m]
13 Jean Dubé 11:30 2004 Studio Spidam, Passavant, Doubs Syrius
[n]
14 Alexander Vaulin 11:52 2004 Bach Recording, Copenhagen Classico
[o]
15 Folke Gräsbeck [fi] 10:26 2007 Kuusankoski Concert Hall [fi] BIS
[p]
16 Joseph Tong 11:38 2014 Jacqueline Du Pré Music Building Quartz
[q]
17 Janne Mertanen 11:01 2015 [Unknown], Helsinki Sony Classical
[r]
18 Leif Ove Andsnes 2016 Teldex Studio, Berlin Sony Classical
[s]

Notes, references, and sources

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Notes
  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ D. Rubenstein–Musical Heritage Society (MHS 1218) 1977
  3. ^ I. Tateno–Toshiba (TA–60001) 1975
  4. ^ G. Gould–Sony Classical (SM2K 52 654) 2002
  5. ^ E. Tawaststjerna–BIS (CD–153) 1987
  6. ^ V. Postnikova–Melodiya (С10–22413/4) 1985
  7. ^ A. Servadei–Olympia (OCD 633) 1997
  8. ^ M. Viitasalo–Finlandia (4509–98984–2) 1995
  9. ^ R. Gothóni–Ondine (ODE 847–2) 1995
  10. ^ R. Lauriala–Naxos (8.553661) 1996
  11. ^ H. Gimse–Naxos (8.554808) 2000
  12. ^ E. Heinonen–Finlandia (8573–80776–2) 2000
  13. ^ K. Watanabe–Exton (OVCX–00009) 2004
  14. ^ J. Dubé–Syrius (SYR 141386) 2004
  15. ^ A. Vaulin–Classico (CLASSCD 493) 2004
  16. ^ F. Gräsbeck–BIS (CD–1909/11) 2008
  17. ^ J. Tong–Quartz (QTZ 2111) 2015
  18. ^ J. Mertanen–Sony Classics (888751614222) 2015
  19. ^ L. Andsnes–Sony Classical (88985408502) 2017
References
  1. ^ a b c d Dahlström 2003, p. 194.
  2. ^ Dahlström 2003, pp. 193–194.
  3. ^ Dahlström 2003, p. 193.
  4. ^ a b Tawaststjerna 2008, p. 20.
  5. ^ Layton 1993, p. 191.
  6. ^ Barnett 2007, p. 165.
  7. ^ Layton 1993, pp. 191–192.
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.
  • Tawaststjerna, Erik (2008) [1965/1967; trans. 1976]. Sibelius: Volume I, 1865–1905. Translated by Layton, Robert. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-24772-1.
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