Overture in A minor

Overture in A minor
Concert overture by Jean Sibelius
The composer (c. 1902)
CatalogueJS 144
Composed1902 (1902)
PublisherFazer Music [fi] (1997)[1]
Duration6.5 mins.[1]
Premiere
Date8 March 1902 (1902-03-08)[2]
LocationHelsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland
ConductorJean Sibelius
PerformersHelsinki 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]

Newspaper adver­tise­ment (in Finnish) from Uusi Suometar for the premiere of the Overture

Instrumentation

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

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
  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ N. Järvi–BIS (CD–372) 1987
  3. ^ A. Almila–Finlandia (3984–23391–2) 1999
  4. ^ O. Vänskä–BIS (CD–1265) 2004
  5. ^ L. Segerstam–Naxos (8.573299) 2015
References
  1. ^ a b c d Dahlström 2003, p. 587.
  2. ^ Dahlström 2003, pp. 78, 587.
  3. ^ Barnett 2007, pp. 146, 148.
  4. ^ 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.