Five Pieces, Op. 75 (Sibelius)

The Five Pieces (in French: Cinq Morceaux), Op. 75, is a collection of compositions for piano written in 1914 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The Five Pieces, however, is more commonly referred to by its informal nickname The Trees due to the fact that the descriptive titles of the five pieces share a thematic link.

No. 1: When the Rowan Blossoms
When the Rowan Blossoms (Swedish: När rönnan blommar; in Finnish: Kun pihlaja kukkii) was published in 1921 by the London-based firm of Augener & Co.. Marked Allegretto, it has a duration of about two minutes.

No. 2: The Solitary Fir Tree
 The Solitary Fir Tree (in Swedish: Den ensamma furan; in Finnish: Yksinainen honka) was published in 1921 by London's J. & W. Chester. Marked Grave, it has a duration of about two minutes.

No. 3: The Aspen
The Aspen (in Swedish: Aspen; in Finnish: Haapa) was published in 1922 by Edition Wilhelm Hansen in Copenhagen. Marked Andantino, it has a duration of about 2.5 minutes.

No. 4: The Birch
The Birch (in Swedish: Björken; in Finnish: Koivu) was also published in 1922 by Hansen. Marked Allegro – Misterioso, it has a duration of about 1.5 minutes.

No. 5: The Spruce
The Spruce (in Swedish: Granen; in Finnish: Kuusi) was also published in 1922 by Hansen, after Sibelius had revised the piece in 1919. Marked Stretto – Lento – Risoluto – Lento, it has a duration of about three minutes.

Discography
The Finnish-German pianist Ralf Gothoni made the first studio recording of the complete Op. 75 Five Pieces in 1971 for EMI; of these, When the Rowan Blooms, The Solitary Fir Tree, and The Birch (Nos. 1–2 and 4) were world premieres. The remaining two pieces, The Aspen and The Spruce (Nos. 3 and 5), had been recorded earlier in 1959 by the Hungarian pianist Ervin László for RCA Victor (RCA LM–9828). The sortable table below lists, in addition to the aforementioned Gothoni traversal, other commercially available recordings of The Trees, as a whole:

Notes, references, and sources

 * Notes


 * References


 * Sources