ABCD 493 – Jean Sibelius: Complete Piano Music vol.1 – Realm of Flowers and Forests

DescriptionThe universal appeal of Jean Sibelius‘s (1865–1957) music has inspired generation after generation of pianists to delve deeper into his piano works. Pianist Ruusamari Teppo’s relationship with Sibelius’s piano music also includes a generous dose of personal family history, as she plays the works of her great-great-grandfather. Ruusamari began performing Sibelius’s piano music while still at school, and her involvement deepened in the 2010s with extensive concert tours organized by the Finland Foundation in her second home country, the United States. In 2020, during the cultural shutdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Ruusamari continued to give concerts through recordings and completed her doctoral dissertation on Sibelius’s Finlandia piano version. For Ruusamari, Sibelius’s piano works have become a journey of discovery and a life’s work spanning generations. Now that journey continues with a complete recording of Jean Sibelius’s opus-numbered piano works. There is plenty to record, as the works span from the six impromptus, Opus 5, composed in 1893, to Opus 114 (Five Pieces for Piano) and the last, the piano duet Rakkaalle Ainolleni (To My Beloved Aino), composed in 1931 as a gift for his wife’s 60th birthday.