Selim Palmgren - 24 Preludes Op. 17 (audio + sheet music)
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- Опубликовано: 18 окт 2024
- When Palmgren arrived in Italy in summer 1907, he had other projects on the drawing board besides the opera, the most urgent of these being a collection of 24 Preludes for piano. He had begun writing these pieces while still in Finland, and the first few had already been sent to the printers. Palmgren worked on the Preludes intensely and completed the collection in September.
The obvious model for Palmgren’s Preludes may be found in Chopin’s 24 Preludes, although Palmgren was less methodical about arranging his pieces by key than Chopin. It should be noted that Debussy’s well-known 24 Preludes, published in two collections, did not appear until a few years later. However, Palmgren may well have known the 11 Preludes that Rachmaninov had published by that time; in any case, Palmgren had a great admiration for his Russian colleague and was influenced by him.
Compared with the Piano Sonata of six years earlier, Palmgren clearly broadened his horizons in the Preludes. While the music is still very much Romantic, there are now newer elements too: bolder harmonies and an Impressionist flavor. The pieces are short, and in the tradition of keyboard preludes each is based on a single textural or harmonic idea. The collection is uneven but contains many of Palmgren’s finest gems, and as a whole the Preludes cover a wide range of styles and expression.
One of the dimensions in the collection is National Romanticism, at times melodic (no. 1 in E minor; no. 2 in A major, Kansan tapaan [In folk style]; no. 9 in G sharp minor, Kehtolaulu [Cradle song]; no. 10 in A flat major) and at times dance-like (no. 3 in E major; no. 15, Piiritanssi [Round dance]; no. 22 in E flat major, Kansan tapaan [In folk style]). A more general Romantic style may be found in the restrained waltz rhythms of no. 4 in C sharp minor; the calm flow of no. 6 in G minor, Sarabande; the simple intense translucence of no. 7 in D major; the dialogue of melodies above and below a mid register accompaniment in no. 18 in F sharp minor, Duo; the majestic procession of chords in no. 14 in D minor; the salon tones of no. 16 in F major; the funereal mood in no. 20 in E flat minor, In memoriam; and the agonizing dissonances in no. 21 in C minor. A lighter mood may be found in no. 5 in G major and no. 13 in B major.
Impressionist elements appear in some of the Preludes as a new addition to Palmgren’s musical palette. No. 11 in C major, Unikuva [Dream picture], is a vibrant piece based on whole-tone harmonies and colored by a semiquaver tremolo throughout. No. 19 in F sharp major, Linnunlaulua [Bird song], is an improvisational and whimsical piece written without bar lines. This piece was frequently performed for instance by Wilhelm Backhaus and Myra Hess in their day. Prelude no. 23 in B flat minor, Venezia, paints a nocturnal and mysterious picture of the canals of the famous city, which Palmgren visited briefly just before writing this piece. Palmgren’s harmonic quest resulted in a quite modern echoing of Prokofiev in the chromatically intense and intensely hammered no. 8 in B minor and the tumultuous no. 17 in F minor, in 5/4 meter. This was a parallel development; there can be no question of influence here, as Prokofiev was only 16 years old at the time.
The best-known Preludes in the collection are two grandiosely Romantic pieces in a very Rachmaninov-like style. If we consider the collection to be formed of two halves, the first half culminates in Prelude no. 12 in A minor, Meri (The Sea), its dramatic sonorities tinged with an Impressionist flavor, while the second half and the entire collection concludes with a gesture of heroic nobility harking back to the days of chivalry, Prelude no. 24 in D flat major, Sota (War), in the spirit of Chopin’s Polonaises and Rachmaninov’s Prelude in G minor.
(Naxos Music Library)
Please take note that the audio AND sheet music ARE NOT mine. Change the quality to a minimum of 480p if the video is blurry.
Original audio: • Selim Palmgren: 24 Pre...
(Performance by: Henri Sigfridsson)
Original sheet music: imslp.org/wiki...)
No. 1 0:07
No. 2 1:26
No. 3 2:19
No. 4 3:37
No. 5 6:28
No. 6 7:24
No. 7 9:47
No. 8 11:01
No. 9 12:27
No. 10 15:26
No. 11 16:34
No. 12 18:30
No. 13 20:06
No. 14 21:45
No. 15 23:35
No. 16 24:54
No. 17 26:59
No. 18 27:34
No. 19 29:26
No. 20 30:32
No. 21 32:32
No. 22 33:32
No. 23 34:29
No. 24 37:36
Thanks for the fine biographical text accompaning the wonderful and very interesting music.
I love your videos of less known composers.
1) Andante 0:00
2) Kansan tapaan 1:28
3) Allegretto con grazia 2:19
4) Poco moderato 3:37
5) Presto 6:29
6) Sarabande 7:24
7) Un poco mosso 9:48
8) Allegretto feroce 11:00
9) Kehtolaulu 12:26
10) Kansan tapaan 15:27
11) Unikuva 16:34
12) Meri 18:30
13) Veloce 20:07
14) Pesante 21:45
15) Piiritanssi 23:34
16) Andante con moto 24:55
17) Allegro agitato 26:59
18) Duo 27:35
19) Linnunlaula 29:26
20) In memoriam 30:32
21) Un poco mosso 32:33
22) Kansan tapaan 33:32
23) Venezia 34:29
24) Sota 37:37
Curioso notare come anche Blumenfeld scrisse 24 Preludes op. 17 e pubblicati sempre su questo eccellente canale! Emotivamente quelli di Blumenfeld sono per me più coinvolgenti. Grazie per il bel post!
No. 3 2:19
No. 5 6:28
No. 8 11:01
No. 10 15:26
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No. 19 29:26
No. 22 33:32
No. 24 37:36
Please do the Exotic Preludes of Pancho Vladigerov ....Astonishingly GOOD
It is so notorious when a composer writes music being inspired. Amazing pieces.
What’s the order here, if any?
Also, these pieces are awesome.
THAT is the order.
The no.3 remebers me on the Alkans op.39 no.2
gsarci back at it!
I guess it got automatically monetized for its original pianist!
As expected, yes.
Very Grieg "Lyric Pieces." Nice.
Interrupting the music with ads is a crime. Don't do that.
The performance of no. 1 is rather wooden, but it gets more interesting later. I wish some pianists with warmer blood in their veins (Latin?) would take interest in this music.
...strange music