Volume five of Grand Piano’s Palmgren focuses on the exotic. As with the other volumes, there are several world premiere recordings. That’s not surprising. Only a fraction of Palmgren’s roughly 400 works has ever been recorded. What continues to surprise me is the quality and variety of Palmgren’s compositions. He was an excellent pianist. That […]
Selim Palmgren
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Jouni Somero presents Palmgren’s “American” music in Vol. 4
Selim Palmgren studied with Ferruccio Busoni. So it’s not surprising that he had incredible pianistic chops. Palmgren’s keyboard skills let his musical imagination roam unfettered — especially in his piano music. This volume of Grand Piano’s series features works written during Palmgren’s time in America. Palmgren emigrated to the United States in 1921. He joined […]
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Jouni Somero surveys Selim Palmgren piano repertoire
This volume in Grand Piano’s series spans fifty years of Selim Palmgren compositions. They show the development of the composer over time. The album opens with Three Piano Pieces, Op. 4, written in 1893. Palmgren was 15. These are charming, unprepossessing pieces with traces of Brahms and Schumann. Palmgren wrote his Lyrical Intermezzo, Op. 8 […]
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Jouni Somero presents Selim Palmgren miniatures
This volume of Selim Palmgren’s piano music shows the Finnish composer’s skill as a miniaturist. The works span almost three decades, and none of them longer than four minutes in length (many under a minute). Palmgren studied piano with Ferruccio Busoni and had phenomenal technique. That knowledge of the instrument is apparent in these works. […]
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Selim Palmgren piano cycle begins
I’m not sure how many volumes a traversal of Selim Palmgren piano music would run. But it should be a lot. Palmgren was a virtuoso pianist and composer. Naturally, a great deal of his catalog is piano music. And he was quite prolific. Palmgren was one of Finland’s greatest composers, pre-Sibelius. Many of the works […]