String Quartet in B-flat major (Sibelius)

The String Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 4, is a four-movement chamber piece for two violins, viola, and cello written from the summer of 1889 to September 1890 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. It is the third of Sibelius's four string quartets. Musicologists have speculated: first, that the Adagio in D minor may have been intended as a slow movement for the Op. 4 quartet; and second, that the Allegretto in B-flat major may be an abandoned sketch.
Sibelius began composing the piece before attending a course in Berlin with Albert Becker. The regime at the Berlin training institute was much stricter than that in Helsinki, to which he was accustomed. As a result, this composition was not completed until his return to Loviisa, Finland after the course. It seems the Berlin course had little influence on his composition. The work appears to be a continuation of his Adagio in D minor, which he composed shortly after his return from Berlin. The quartet includes a passage in which Sibelius specifies pizzicato, a technique he later used extensively in his Second Symphony.
The B-flat major Quartet received its premiere in Helsinki on 13 October 1890 at the Helsinki Music Institute ; the Norwegian composer Johan Halvorsen was the first violinist, joined by Wilhelm Santé, Josef Schwartz, and Otto Hutschenreuter.
In February 1894, Sibelius arranged Movement III for strings and titled it Presto. This version received its premiere on 17 February 1894 in Turku, with Sibelius conducting the Orchestra of the Turku Musical Society.

Structure

The B-flat major Quartet is in four movements, as follows:
The piece was published posthumously in 1991 by.

Movement I

The first movement, marked Allegro, is in time; it has a duration of about nine minutes.

Movement II

The second movement, marked Andante molto, is in time; it has a duration of about 7.5 minutes.

Movement III

The third movement, marked Presto, is in time; it has a duration of about six minutes.

Movement IV

The fourth movement, marked Allegro, is in time; it has a duration of about nine minutes.

Discography

The Sibelius Academy Quartet made the world premiere studio recording of the B-flat major Quartet for Finlandia in 1985. The table below lists this and other commercially available recordings:

	Quartet	Violin I	Violin II	Viola	Cello	Runtime		Recording venue	Label
1	Sibelius Academy					31:28	1984	Convent Church, Naantali	Finlandia
2						29:42	2004		BIS

The Finnish conductor and the made the world premiere studio recording of Presto in 1985 for Finlandia. The table below lists this and other commercially available recordings:

	Conductor	Ensemble		Time	Recording venue	Label
1			1985	6:41		Finlandia
2		Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra	1987	6:41	Gothenburg Concert Hall	BIS
3		Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra	1994	6:00		Finlandia
4		Lahti Symphony Orchestra	2004	6:45	Sibelius Hall	BIS
5		Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra	2011	5:57	Snellman Hall, Kokkola