Vladimir Ashkenazy – Sibelius: Piano Pieces (2008) [Japan] [MCH SACD ISO + DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC]

Vladimir Ashkenazy - Sibelius: Piano Pieces (2008) [Japan] [MCH SACD ISO + DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC] Download

After a series of symphonic recordings, one of the greatest musicians of our time completes his love of Jean Sibelius with solo performances of the composer’s intimate piano pieces. Vladimir Ashkenazy recorded these works at Jarvenpaa Hall – which has the best acoustics in Finland – and at Ainola, the composer’s own home. For “Valse triste”, one of the most popular Sibelius pieces, Ashkenazy recorded the composer’s transcription twice, first at Jarvenpaa, and then at Ainola using the composer’s piano.The piano music of Jean Sibelius has been distinctly subordinate to his orchestral works in the concert sphere. They are mostly in character-piece genres, and these short works have little of the profound thematic development of the composer’s symphonies. Sibelius himself told his children that he wrote them for commercial reasons, “so that you will have bread and butter.” Yet, giving the lie to that, he seems to have become more and more interested in the piano as he grew older, and his uneasy relationship with the instrument as a performer (he was an indifferent pianist at best) turned from a liability into a virtue as he devised intriguing textures that, when brought out by a master pianist, stick in the head. Vladimir Ashkenazy, a fine Sibelius specialist as a conductor, here offers one of the few large groupings of Sibelius piano music available, at least outside of Finland, and it’s fair to say he uncovers unexpected riches. The album opens and closes with the same piece, a piano arrangement of the Valse Triste, Op. 44; the second recording is made on Sibelius’ own piano, at his home studio, and it’s a delightfully intimate document. In between are a lone early impromptu and pieces from four sets of short works from the middle and later parts of Sibelius’ career. Indeed, the Five Esquisses, Op. 114, composed in 1929 for an American publisher but not issued until the early ’60s, are among his very last compositions. All are recognizably Sibelian, and although a few are in the idioms of Grieg or Tchaikovsky they’re not simply parlor pieces. Annotator Anthony Burton offers a reasonable comparison: they are the equivalent of the drawings of a great painter, enhancing appreciation of the masterworks but also fascinating in their own right.” Often they rest on some kind of anomalous harmonic or textural detail that functions analogously to, say, the recurring motive in the Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 105, both tying the work together and posing its central question. “Song in the Forest” (track 26), from the Five Esquisses group, offers a good sample with its tritone-based main thematic material, not really answered by the limpid melody in the middle. The “Tempo di minuetto” (track 9) from the 10 Pieces, Op. 58, is a curiously humorous piece that exemplifies the unique mixture of light music and quirky experiment in these works. A lovely hour with the venerable Ashkenazy.

Tracklist:

01. Valse triste Op.44-1
02. Impromptu Op.5-5
03. 10 Pieces Op.58 1 Reverie
04. 10 Pieces Op.58 2 Scherzino
05. 10 Pieces Op.58 3 Air varié
06. 10 Pieces Op.58 4 The shepherd
07. 10 Pieces Op.58 5 The evening
08. 10 Pieces Op.58 6 Dialogue
09. 10 Pieces Op.58 7 Tempo di minuetto
10. 10 Pieces Op.58 8 Fisher song
11. 10 Pieces Op.58 9 Sérénade
12. 10 Pieces Op.58 10 Summer song
13. 5 Pieces Op.85 1 Bellis
14. 5 Pieces Op.85 2 Oeillet
15. 5 Pieces Op.85 3 Iris
16. 5 Pieces Op.85 4 Aquileja
17. 5 Pieces Op.85 5 Campanula
18. 5 Pieces romantiques Op.101 1 Romance
19. 5 Pieces romantiques Op.101 2 Chant du soir
20. 5 Pieces romantiques Op.101 3 Scène lyrique
21. 5 Pieces romantiques Op.101 4 Humoresque
22. 5 Pieces romantiques Op.101 5 Scène romantique
23. 5 Esquisses Op.114 1 Landscape
24. 5 Esquisses Op.114 2 Winter Scene
25. 5 Esquisses Op.114 3 Forest Lake
26. 5 Esquisses Op.114 4 Song in the Forest
27. 5 Esquisses Op.114 5 Spring Vision
28. Valse triste Op.44-1