I’ve already reviewed
volumes 3
and 4
in this series and I have to stress
again, for readers who love Sibelius’s
orchestral works and hope to find more
of the same here, how extraordinary
it is that a composer whose orchestral
music is instantly recognizable and
generally instantly memorable as well,
simply becomes another person when he
writes for the piano. It is not that
the writing is as unpianistic as it
is sometimes said to be – or at least,
in Gimse’s hands it sounds mostly well-written
and resourceful – and I suppose we have
to hand it to Sibelius for recognizing
that his orchestral style would not
transfer to the keyboard and for not
trying to make it do so. No, the puzzling
thing is that here is (apparently) music
by a minor late-romantic with a deft
turn of phrase, a droll sense of humour
and some gift for atmosphere, but also
with a tendency to lapse into sentimentality
and stock effects. If Sibelius had written
nothing else we might still remember
his name, but not as that of a great
composer. The music has a voice of its
own, but that voice is not Sibelius’s.
Still, if you like
listening to fluent and agreeable romantic
piano music, in Håvard Gimse you
will find an interpreter who sometimes
makes free with the music but who brings
it all vividly to life. His vitality
in the attractive Kleiner Walzer (op.97/3),
his passionate sweep in the Romance
(op.101/1; not the fairly well-known
Romance in D flat and perhaps the better
for it) and his realisation of the gentle
melancholy of several of the op.114
pieces (the nearest any of this music
comes to actually sounding a little
like Sibelius) suggest a real love of
his task and not just stern duty. In
short, if you want this music I can’t
imagine it better done – and the few
alternatives around don’t come at the
Naxos price anyway. But if you want
Sibelius, go to the symphonies, the
other orchestral pieces, and also to
the songs. You won’t find him here.
Christopher Howell
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Håvard Gimse (piano) 
