Concerto pour piano opus 7, Symphonie numéro 1

Description

The Piano Concerto in D minor was composed between 1931 and 1935 and premiered on November 23, 1935, by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Toivo Haapanen, with Ernst Linko as the soloist. The concerto is preserved only in a piano reduction and instrumental parts, but the original score is lost. The piano part contains several cuts and simplifications from the 1935 soloist, while the instrumental parts show no omissions. The most likely outcome was that the orchestra played some passages without the soloist. For this recording, the original solo part by Leiviskä has been restored. Several critics, most under pseudonyms, discussed the symphony after its premiere. The reviews were generally favorable. It was both praised and criticized for its structure and the inclusion of the waltz motif, and comments on the themes and melodies were also ambiguous. After 1948, the symphony was performed three more times until 1951. After 70 years of silence, the symphony was revived in 2022.