Two Serenades

Six concertante pieces by Jean Sibelius

Two Serenades
Concertante pieces by Jean Sibelius
The composer (c. 1913)
Opus	69
Composed	1912 (1912)–1913
Publisher	Breitkopf & Härtel (1913)^[1]
Duration	13 mins.^[2]
Premiere
Date	8 December 1915 (1915-12-08)^[2]
Location	Helsinki, Finland
Conductor	Jean Sibelius
Performers	Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra Richard Burgin (violin)

The Two Serenades, Op. 69, are concertante compositions for violin and orchestra, written from 1912 to 1913 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. They are:

Serenade No. 1 in D major, Op. 69a (Andante assai)
Serenade No. 2 in G minor, Op. 69b (Lento assai)

The Two Serenades premiered on 8 December 1915 during the composer's semicentennial celebration. Sibelius conducted the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra; the soloist was Polish-American violinist Richard Burgin. Also on the program was the initial version of the Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major (Op. 82), as well as the tone poem The Oceanides (Op. 78).^[3]^[4]

Instrumentation

The Serenade No. 1 is scored for the following instruments:

Soloist: violin
Woodwinds: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in A), and 2 bassoons
Brass: 4 horns (in F)
Percussion: timpani
Strings: violins, violas, cellos, and double basses

The Serenade No. 2 has identical scoring, except for the addition of triangle to the percussion section; it also has the clarinetists switch to B♭ clarinet.

Recordings

The sortable table below lists commercially available recordings of the complete Two Serenades:

No.	Conductor	Orchestra	Soloist	Rec.^[a]	Time	Recording venue	Label	Ref.
1	Paavo Berglund	Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra	Ida Haendel	1975	13:27	Southampton Guildhall	EMI Classics	^[b]
2	Vladimir Ashkenazy	Philharmonia Orchestra	Boris Belkin	1979	14:55	Kingsway Hall	Decca	^[c]
3	Vernon Handley	Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin	Ralph Holmes	1980	13:33	Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin	Schwann, Koch	^[d]
4	Neeme Järvi	Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra	Dong-Suk Kang	1989	13:16	Gothenburg Concert Hall	BIS	^[e]
5	Jukka-Pekka Saraste	Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (2)	Joseph Swensen	1990	12:42	Kulttuuritalo	RCA Red Seal	^[f]
6	André Previn	Staatskapelle Dresden	Anne-Sophie Mutter	1995	13:25	Lukaskirche, Dresden	Deutsche Grammophon	^[g]
7	Atso Almila	Kuopio Symphony Orchestra [fi]	Jaakko Kuusisto	1999	14:44	Kuopio Music Center	Finlandia	^[h]
8	Thomas Dausgaard	Danish National Symphony Orchestra	Christian Tetzlaff	2002	11:40	Danish Radio Concert Hall (old)	Virgin Classics	^[i]
9	Pekka Kuusisto	Tapiola Sinfonietta	Pekka Kuusisto	2006	11:22	Tapiola Hall, Espoo Cultural Centre	Ondine	^[j]
10	Douglas Bostock	Gothenburg-Aarhus Philharmonic	Sakari Tapponen	2007	12:20	Frichsparken [da], Aarhus	Classico	^[k]
11	Santtu-Matias Rouvali	Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra	Baiba Skride	2015	14:23	Tampere Hall	Orfeo	^[l]

Notes, references, and sources

Notes

^ Refers to the year in which the performers recorded the work; this may not be the same as the year in which the recording was first released to the general public.
^ P. Breglund–EMI Classics (7243 5 75236 2 2) 2002
^ V. Ashkenazy–Decca (473 590–2) 2003
^ [ V. Handley–Koch-Schwann (CD 311 003 F1) 1988]
^ N. Järvi–BIS (CD–472) 1990
^ J. Saraste–RCA Red Seal (19439704812 (8)) 2020
^ A. Previn–DG (447 895–2) 1995
^ A. Almila–Finlandia (3984–23391–2) 1999
^ T. Dausgaard–Virgin Classics (7243 5 45534 2 4) 2002
^ P. Kuusisto–Ondine (ODE 1074–5) 2006
^ D. Bostock–Classico (CLASSCD 733) 2007
^ S. Rouvali–Orfeo (C 896 152 A) 2015

References

^ Dahlström 2003, pp. 304–305.
^ ^a ^b Dahlström 2003, pp. 303, 305.
^ Tawaststjerna 1997, pp. 69–70.
^ Barnett 2007, p. 255.

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.
Tawaststjerna, Erik (1986). Sibelius: Volume 2, 1904–1914. (Robert Layton, English translation). London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-24773-8.
Tawaststjerna, Erik (1997). Sibelius: Volume 3, 1914–1957. (Robert Layton, English translation). London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-24774-5.

Jean Sibelius

Symphonies

Kullervo (1892)
Symphony No. 1 (1899, rev. 1900)
Symphony No. 2 (1902)
Symphony No. 3 (1907)
Symphony No. 4 (1911)
Symphony No. 5 (1915, rev. 1916, 1919)
Symphony No. 6 (1923)
Symphony No. 7 (1924)
Symphony No. 8 (mid 1920s–c. 1938, abandoned)

Concertante

Violin Concerto (1904, rev. 1905)
Two Serenades (1912–1913)
Two Serious Melodies (1914–1915)
Six Humoresques (1917–1918, No. 1 rev. 1940)
Suite for Violin and String Orchestra (1929)

Tone poems

En saga (1892, rev. 1902)
Spring Song (1894, rev. 1895)
The Wood Nymph (1895)
Lemminkäinen Suite
- 1895, rev. 1897, 1900, 1939; includes The Swan of Tuonela
Finlandia (1899)
Pohjola's Daughter (1906)
Nightride and Sunrise (1909)
The Dryad (1910)
The Bard (1913)
Luonnotar (1913)
The Oceanides (1914, rev. 1914)
Tapiola (1926)

Opera & theatre

The Building of the Boat (1893–1894, abandoned)
The Maiden in the Tower (1896)
King Christian II (1898)
Kuolema
- 1903; includes Valse triste
Pelléas et Mélisande (1905)
Belshazzar's Feast (1906)
Swanwhite (1908)
The Lizard (1909)
The Language of the Birds (1911)
Scaramouche (1913)
Everyman (1916)
The Tempest (1925)

Cantatas

Cantata for the University Graduation Ceremonies of 1894
Cantata for the Coronation of Nicholas II (1896)
Cantata for the University Graduation Ceremonies of 1897
The Origin of Fire (1902, rev. 1910)
The Captive Queen (1906)
My Own Land (1918)
Song of the Earth (1919)
Hymn of the Earth (1920)
Väinämöinen's Song (1926)

Other voice(s) & orchestra

The Rapids-Rider's Brides (1897)
The Breaking of the Ice on the Oulu River (1899)
Snöfrid (1900)
Marjatta (1905, abandoned)
Impromptu (1902, rev. 1910)
The Raven (1910, abandoned)

Other orchestral

Overture in E major (1891)
Ballet Scene (1891)
Karelia Suite (1893)
Rakastava (1894, arr. 1912)
Scènes historiques I (1899, arr. 1911)
Overture in A minor (1902)
Romance in C major (1904)
Cassazione (1904, rev. 1905)
Pan and Echo (1906)
In memoriam (1909, rev. 1910)
Scènes historiques II (1912)
Suite mignonne (1921)
Suite champêtre (1922)
Suite caractéristique (1922)

String quartets

String Quartet in E-flat major (1885)
String Quartet in A minor (1889)
String Quartet in B-flat major (1890)
String Quartet in D minor, Voces intimae (1909)
Andante festivo (1922, orch. 1938)

Piano trios

Piano Trio in A minor, Hafträsk (1886)
Piano Trio in D major, Korpo (1887)
Piano Trio in C major, Lovisa (1888)

Other chamber

Water Droplets (c. 1875–1881)
Pieces for brass septet (1889–1899)
Piano Quintet (1890)
Malinconia (1900)
Violin Sonatina (1915)

Piano

Six Impromptus (1893)
Piano Sonata (1893)
Ten Pieces, Op. 24 (1895–1903)
Kyllikki (1904)
Three Sonatinas (1912)
The Bells of Kallio Church (1912, arr. 1912)
Two Rondinos (1912)
Five Pieces, The Trees, Op. 75 (1914)
Five Pieces, The Flowers, Op. 85 (1916–1917)
Five Esquisses (1929)

Songs

Seven Runeberg Songs, Op. 13 (1891–1892)
"Serenad", JS 168 (1894–1895)
Six Songs, Op. 36 (1899–1900)
Five Songs, Op. 37 (1900–1902)
Seven Songs, Op. 17 (1891–1904)
Five Songs, Op. 38 (1903–1904; includes "Höstkväll")
Six Songs, Op. 50 (1906)
Two Songs, Op. 35 (1908)
"Kom nu hit, död", Op. 60/1 (1909, orch. 1957)
"Arioso", Op. 3 (1911)
Five Christmas Songs, Op. 1 (1897–1913; includes "Giv mig ej glans, ej guld, ej prakt")
Six Runeberg Songs, Op. 90 (1917)