The enterprising BIS
label are now up to volume 56 in their
complete Sibelius series. The Sibelius
Edition has drawn on the manuscript
scores that the Sibelius family donated
in the mid-1980s to Helsinki University
Library.
Sibelius’s output in
the genre of the string quartet has
proved to be far richer and more extensive
than was first realised and BIS state
that all of these recordings, with the
exception of the String Quartet in
E flat major from 1885, are world
premières.
For many years any
discussion of Sibelius’s chamber music
was monopolised by the famous String
Quartet in D minor, ‘Intimate voices’,
op. 56 (1908-09). The Helsinki manuscripts
show just how the genre gained the composer’s
affection during his early twenties,
in the latter part of the 1880s. Commencing
with works for string trio gradually
pieces for the string quartet started
to assume a more prominent position
in his chamber output.
The main work here
is the String Quartet in E flat
major which Sibelius composed
in the summer of 1885. It is one of
Sibelius’s earliest works to be preserved
intact and was composed in Hämeenlinna
just before he moved to Helsinki to
start his university studies. This fascinating
work has been compared to a school report
documenting his boyhood and his interest
in the classical masters. There is much
that recalls Haydn in the extended opening
movement especially its sonata form.
The middle two movements, andante
and scherzo, are of modest
proportions. Sibelius uses a sprightly
polonaise to conclude the score.
The set of pieces entitled
33 Small Pieces for String Quartet
were composed between 1888 and
1889. Each of these brevities has its
own well defined musical character.
They represent Sibelius at his most
uninhibited. The seventh piece sounds
somewhat like Dvořák’s
American Quartet and piece
number twelve anticipates Prokofiev’s
ballet: Romeo and Juliet. There
is no significant thematic development
and one can hardly imagine that they
were intended for public performance.
Sibelius thought highly
enough of his Theme and Variations
in C sharp minor from 1888 to
include it in his first sequential list
of works. It originally formed part
of a full String Quartet that was performed
in 1888. Unfortunately the complete
work has not survived intact and the
single surviving movement has been made
performable by Kalevi Aho.
By the years 1888 and
1889 Sibelius was making great strides
as a composer. The Andante – Allegro
molto in D major sounds like
an attempt to write a rondo finale.
Another such work from around the same
period is the Andante molto
sostenuto in B minor presented
in rondo form that could serve
as the slow movement of a String Quartet.
The Tempera Quartet
from Finland are to be congratulated
for their utmost enthusiasm and considerable
verve. I especially enjoyed their impressive
poignancy in the Andante molto sostenuto
in B minor, their warm expressiveness
in the Theme and Variations in C
sharp minor and their fresh and
firm-bodied interpretation of the String
Quartet in E flat major.
This is a fine recording.
The sound is cool and clear and the
booklet notes are excellent. These are
fascinating early works from Sibelius
that will appeal mainly to specialist
collectors.
Michael Cookson
Tempera Quartet 
