Five Pieces
The Flowers
Piano solos by Jean Sibelius
The composer (c. 1918)
Opus85
Composed1916 (1916)–1917
Publisherpiecemeal by two firms[1]
Duration10 mins[1]

The Five Pieces (in French: Cinq Morceaux),[2] Op. 85, is a collection of compositions for piano written from 1916 to 1917 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The Five Pieces, however, is more commonly referred to by its informal nickname The Flowers due to the fact that the descriptive titles of the five pieces share a thematic link.

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.

Structure and music

No. 1: The Daisy

The Daisy (in French: Bellis; in Finnish: Kaunokki) was published in 1921 by the London-based firm of Augener & Co.. Marked Presto – Allegretto, it has a duration of about 1.5 minutes.[2]

No. 2: The Carnation

The Carnation (in French: Œillet; in Finnish: Neilikka) was also published in 1921 by Augener. Marked Con moto, it has a duration of about 1.5 minutes.[2]

No. 3: The Iris

The Iris (in French: Iris; in Finnish: Iiris) was published in 1921 by London's J. & W. Chester. Marked Allegretto e deciso, it has a duration of about three minutes.[3]

No. 4: The Columbine

The Columbine (in French: Aquileja; in Finnish: Akileija) was also published in 1921 by Chester. Marked Allegretto, it has a duration of about 1.75 minutes.[4]

No. 5: The Campanula

The Campanula (in French: Campanula; in Finnish Kellokukka) was also published in 1921 by Chester. Marked Andantino, it has a duration of about 2.25 minutes.[4]

Reception

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

Discography

The Japanese pianist Izumi Tateno made the world premiere studio recording of the Op. 85 Five Pieces in 1971, albeit across two labels: Toshiba Records (TA 60103) released The Daisy and The Carnation (Nos. 1–2), while EMI (5E 063–34472) released The Iris, The Columbine, and The Campanula (Nos. 3–5).[5] The sortable table below lists, in addition to the aforementioned Tateno traversal, other commercially available recordings of The Flowers, as a whole:

No. Pianist Runtimes[lower-alpha 1] Rec.[lower-alpha 2] Recording venue Label Ref.
Op. 85/1
Op. 85/2
Op. 85/3
Op. 85/4
Op. 85/5
Total
1 Izumi Tateno 2:55 2:00 2:00 1971 Toshiba + EMI
2 Erik T. Tawaststjerna 1:19 1:34 2:57 1:46 2:12 10:09 1983 Studio BIS, Djursholm BIS
3 Marita Viitasalo 1:28 2:03 3:01 1:57 2:08 10:37 1992 Järvenpää Hall Finlandia
4 Annette Servadei 1:25 2:06 3:28 1:42 2:21 11:02 1994 St George's Church, Brandon Hill Olympia
5 Izumi Tateno 1:15 1:45 3:05 1:52 2:08 10:05 1994 Ainola Canyon Classics
6 Risto Lauriala 1:28 1:32 2:24 1:46 2:18 9:28 1995 Järvenpää Hall Naxos
7 Eero Heinonen 1:26 1:54 3:06 2:08 2:14 10:48 1997 YLE M2 Studio, Helsinki Finlandia
8 Kyoko Tabe 1:18 2:12 3:36 1:52 2:15 11:20 1999 New Broadcasting House, Manchester Chandos
9 Håvard Gimse 1:15 1:34 3:27 1:49 2:16 10:21 2000 St Martin's Church, East Woodhay Naxos
10 Vladimir Ashkenazy 2007 Järvenpää Hall Exton
11 Tuija Hakkila 2008 Nya Paviljongen Alba
12 Folke Gräsbeck (1) 1:19 1:47 3:34 2:11 2:08 11:14 2009 Kuusankoski Hall BIS
13 Folke Gräsbeck (2) 1:19 1:43 3:11 2:13 2:15 10:55 2014 Ainola BIS
14 Joseph Tong 1:15 1:54 3:22 1:36 2:37 10:44 2014 Jacqueline Du Pré Music Building Quartz
15 Janne Mertanen Sony Classical

Notes, references, and sources

Notes
References
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.
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