Selim Palmgren (1878-1951)
Complete Piano Works vol. 7
Jouno Somero (piano)
rec. 2022, Kuusaa Hall, Kuusankoski, Finland
Grand Piano GP939 [71]

I was aware that Selim Palmgren had written ‘a few’ piano pieces but had no idea just how prolific he was. I reviewed volume one of this series back in June 2021(Grand Piano GP867 review) and here we are, already at volume seven and there are still at least 25 opus numbers and a host of unpublished or posthumous works for future volumes.

This latest volume, as with all the volumes so far, includes its share of unpublished pieces. Two of his earliest are the Waltz-like and rather Russian sounding G minor Serenade, remarkably assured for a twelve year oldand Wandering in the woods, a short bustling scherzo rather than the dreamy nature piece that I, at least, expected. More exotic is the Humoresque on a left hand fifth, a folk-dance if a rather sophisticated one; apparently it proved difficult to track down though it did appear in print in the composer’s lifetime, published by a Danish magazine Nordens Musik. Entre’act valsante, composed at roughly the same time, is a dark-hued waltz that may indeed, as the booklet suggests, been an attempt to repeat the success of Sibelius’ valse triste. Two marches without opus end the recital; Carl XIIs Marsch vid Narva, is the work of an anonymous composer after Sweden’s victory over Russia at Narva in 1700. Its broad stately and funereal tone is hardly celebratory and is still played at Finnish military funerals to this day. Palmgren’s piano arrangement appeared alongside the 1901 publication of an orchestral version. The light-hearted March of the Pori Regiment is a complete contrast, all toe-tapping high-spirits and pompous grandeur.

The rest of Somero’s recital consists of five sets of shorter pieces. The four impromptus were written at the end of the first world war while a civil war was being fought closer to home though there is nothing particularly in the music that reflects this. The opening arpeggio of the first might sound like it is lifted from Grieg’s A minor Piano concerto but it leads instead to a chromatic, finger twisting etude of a piece with an almost Poulenc-like comic refrain – a dazzling and perfect opener. The second, impromptu dans la solitude is a haunting nocturne whose slow melody floats over undulating left hand chords. The champagne impromptu lives up to its name, a fizzy study in staccato chords and the set concludes with a whirling valse-impromptu. The piano pieces op.74 were written as the composer prepared to leave for the United States while op.75 appeared after he set foot on American soil. The three pieces of op.74 are morceau romantique, morceau élégant and morceau bourlesque respectively, the first being a nocturne, a rich blend of Rachmaninov with hints of Debussy. The second is a brusque and quirky minuet while the third is an even odder dance, full of sudden harmonic twists and impish figuration. The op.75 pieces range from grumpy Prokofievan humour in the intermezzo, haunting obsession in the elegy to a barcarolle which has more of a white foamed river than a serene canal. The canzonetta is sub-titled Finnish popular song and sounds like one of Percy Grainger’s more evocative settings though the central arpeggio section is all Palmgren. The Hunter and the squirrel, with its alternating bars of duple and triple time is as comic as its title suggests and why? the seventh piece is as capricious and unsettled as a sleepless night. The set closes with a short hymn of praise whose harmonies grow more adventurous as the piece develops.

There is a hymn like quality to Honorary Arch too, the first of the Diary Pieces which are amongst Palmgren’s final piano works. He wrote them in an almost autobiographical style at a time when his wife was hospitalised with pneumonia though the second piece, the light-hearted careless menuet seems far from any hint of worry. Anxiety is reserved for the next pieces, prayer, waiting and evil forces. The penultimate piece Ray of hope is almost a continuation of the dark mood of the previous piece and lets in little light to the listener though its end is tranquil. The final piece is called Victory and even here it seems a hard won one, hardly believing it has been achieved.

The final set, Finnish rhythms is perhaps a little more familiar andis among the few pieces here that has been recorded before – according to the booklet everything but these five pieces and Why? from  op.75 is being recorded for the first time. No less a pianist than Benno Moiseiwitsch recorded the final piece, Vestfinsk dans, recording it is 1921 and 1941 and more recently APR have released a survey of Una Bourne’s recordings that includes nos. 1, 2 and 4 (APR6037 review)  recorded in 1924. Two fast dances and two minuets, one tender and lyrical the other boisterous with hints of Grieg surround a curiously driven and obsessive toccata like piece aptly titled guilty conscience,.

Sound and presentation are more than satisfactory. The qualities that I heard from Somero in volume one ring true here; he can be charming, as the Canzonetta from op.75 will testify and the breathtaking opening piece shows that he can dazzle. He manages the contrast of moods well which often changes from enigmatic to romantic passion or comedy, certainly from piece to piece but occasionally within a few bars. There is a huge amount of unknown piano music being introduced in the volume and the series as a whole and Somero and Grand Piano can be congratulated on leaving no stone unturned to ensure it is as complete as possible and presenting it so well.

Rob Challinor

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Contents
Four Impromptus Op.63 (1918 or earlier)
Päiväkirjan Lehtisiä – Diary Sheets Op.109 (1946)
Serenade in G minor SP.252 (c.1890)
Humoresque on a left hand fifth SP.87 (c.1920)
Wandering in the woods SP.327 (c.1900?)
Entre’act valsante SP.52 (1921 or earlier)
Trois Morceaux Op.74 (1921)
Finska Rytmer – Five sketches from Finland (1911)
Eight Piano Pieces Op.75 (1921-22)
Anonymous arr. Selim Palmgren
Carl XIIs Marsch vid Narva – the March of Narva SP.26 (pub.1901)
Björneborgarnes Marsch – March of the Pori Regiment SP.22 (arr.1901?)