Overture in A minor

Concert overture by Jean Sibelius

Overture in A minor
Concert overture by Jean Sibelius
The composer (c. 1902)
Catalogue	JS 144
Composed	1902 (1902)
Publisher	Fazer Music [fi] (1997)^[1]
Duration	6.5 mins.^[1]
Premiere
Date	8 March 1902 (1902-03-08)^[2]
Location	Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland
Conductor	Jean Sibelius
Performers	Helsinki Philharmonic Society

The Overture in A minor, JS 144, is a single-movement work for orchestra written in 1902 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The piece premiered in Helsinki on 8 March 1902, the with Sibelius conducting the Helsinki Philharmonic Society. The overture led a program that evening also included two other first performances: the Second Symphony (Op. 43) and the Impromptu for female choir and orchestra (Op. 19; revised in 1910).^[3]^[4]

Instrumentation

The Overture in A minor is scored for the following instruments,^[1] organized by family (woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings):

2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, and 2 bassoons
4 horns, 4 trumpets, 2 trombones, and 1 tuba
Timpani
Violins (I and II), violas, cellos, and double basses

Discography

The Estonian-American conductor Neeme Järvi and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra made the world premiere studio recording of the Overture in A minor (then still in manuscript) in 1987 for BIS.^[1] The table below lists this and other commercially available recordings:

No.	Conductor	Ensemble	Rec.^[a]	Time	Recording venue	Label	Ref.
1	Neeme Järvi	Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra	1987	6:26	Gothenburg Concert Hall	BIS	^[b]
2	Atso Almila	Kuopio Symphony Orchestra [fi]	1998	7:01	Kuopio Music Centre [fi]	Finlandia	^[c]
3	Osmo Vänskä	Lahti Symphony Orchestra	2002	9:13	Sibelius Hall	BIS	^[d]
4	Leif Segerstam	Turku Philharmonic Orchestra	2014	6:58	Turku Concert Hall	Naxos	^[e]

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.
^ N. Järvi–BIS (CD–372) 1987
^ A. Almila–Finlandia (3984–23391–2) 1999
^ O. Vänskä–BIS (CD–1265) 2004
^ L. Segerstam–Naxos (8.573299) 2015

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Dahlström 2003, p. 587.
^ Dahlström 2003, pp. 78, 587.
^ Barnett 2007, pp. 146, 148.
^ Dahlström 2003, p. 78.

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.

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)