In today’s post I talk about an exquisite miniature by Selim Palmgren (1878-1951), his “Snöflingor” or “Snowflakes” Op. 57 no. 2. Palmgren was a highly regarded composer, pianist and conductor in his time—he was one of the generation of composers after Sibelius who made some mark with his hauntingly beautiful piano miniatures.
Since his death, his music has more or less fallen away in popularity, perhaps because he wrote very few larger, substantial works (excepting his 5 piano concerti). It is music with a very unique sound world however, and many of these little pieces are gems of the highest order, and well worth hearing.
For me he also represents a time when the majority of performers were also composers. Whether or not each and every one was turning out masterworks every other day, they at least strove to be multi-faceted in their command of musical language, and this lends an authority to their playing that is very compelling. In the video I discuss some of the reasons for the increase in specialization in the 19th and 20th centuries—and some of the reasons that we might want to push back against this narrowing of artistic capability.
Stay tuned for more posts coming soon on Percy Grainger and Fanny Mendelssohn, as well as Rachmaninoff’s Concerto no. 1!