Snowflakes for solo piano - by Selim Palmgren

A delightful, programmatic piano piece that cleverly conjures up the impression of falling snowflakes. Engraved in a slightly different format, with the lower left-hand part of the middle section set on a separate stave, for clearer reading. Download the free sheet music here: https://www.fullscoremusic.co.uk/product-page/snowflakes-selim-palmgren

Selim Gustaf Adolf Palmgren was a Finnish composer, pianist, and conductor. Born in Pori, Finland, in 1878, he studied at the Conservatory in Helsinki from 1895 to 1899, then continued his piano studies in Berlin with Ansorge, Berger and Busoni. He conducted choral and orchestral societies in his own country and made several very successful concert tours as a pianist in the principal cities of Finland and Scandinavia, appearing also as a visiting conductor.

He came into prominence just before and during the First World War with his Second Piano Concerto (The River) and his Fourth (Metamorphoses); his influence by Franz Liszt has been noted in his five piano concertos. In 1921, he went to the United States, where he taught composition at the Eastman School of Music, later returning to Finland, where he died in Helsinki, in 1951, aged 73.

Palmgren was the second husband (and accompanist) of the singer Maikki Jarnefelt, sister-in-law of Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, through her first marriage. He composed 300 piano pieces and 'the best of them certainly deserve to be heard more frequently...'; many of them are smaller-scale, character pieces such as this piece, Snowflakes (Snöflinger / Snefnug / Schneeflocken).

Watch Shoko Kuroe play Snowflakes, from her CD Snow on Conditura Records. (Link opens in new window, 3m 39s, complete with visual snowflakes): youtu.be/1IH1lyUMWhE