Search - Jean Sibelius, Havard Gimse :: Sibelius: Piano Music, Vol. 3

Interesting music - though not at all "Sibelian" - well play

G.D. | Norway | 11/30/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The third installment in Naxos series of Sibelius' piano music under Håvard Gimse focuses on works from the middle of his artistic career. Sibelius is usually not considered a great piano composer, and anyone seeking piano equivalents of his orchestral works here will be disappointed - in fact, there are only a handful of moments and passages from which anyone coming new to these pieces would be able to guess the composer. Certainly not in the 10 pieces op. 58 or the rondinos op. 68, perhaps at certain points in the sonatinas op. 67.



Even so, these are not mere salon trinkets, but interesting, colorful impressionistic pieces that does not seem to be stylistically very close to anyone (which is indeed interesting insofar as they don't resemble Sibelius the orchestral composer either). Some touches of Debussy, perhaps? Some passages resembling Scriabin, maybe - a little (but not very much) Grieg. Liszt and Schumann are certainly influences ...



None of these works are masterpieces, but they are certainly interesting and more so than Sibelius the piano composer has often been given credit for. Gimse plays them as if they were masterpieces - sometimes he might even over-interpret them a little - and the sound is a tad unnatural. All in all, recommended for those who wants some imaginative and interesting piano music and who do not expect the Sibelius of the orchestral works."