Folke Grasbeck - Sibelius:On The Ainola Piano

In Ainola, the house that Jean Sibelius built in 1904 and lived in until his death in 1957, it is said that Sibelius composed more than 300 works, and that in the fireplace he is thought to have burnt the manuscript of his Eighth Symphony, before falling almost completely silent as a composer. The house is now a museum, and among its most treasured objects is the Steinway grand piano that Sibelius was presented with on his fiftieth birthday, in 1915. It is on this instrument, that Folke Gr�sbeck has recorded this tribute to the composer on his 150th anniversary. A recognized authority on the piano music of Sibelius, Gr�sbeck has put together a rich and varied selection that spans the composer's entire career and includes rarities as well as some of his most popular original piano compositions alongside his transcriptions of orchestral favourites such as Finlandia and Valse triste.