# Two Serenades

The Two Serenades, Op. 69, are concertante compositions for violin and orchestra, written from 1912 to 1913 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. They are the:
* Serenade No. 1 in D major, Op. 69a. Andante assai
* Serenade No. 2 in G minor, Op. 69b. Lento assai
The Two Serenades premiered on 8 December 1915 during the composer's semicentennial celebration. Sibelius conducted the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra; the soloist was Polish-American violinist Richard Burgin. Also on the program was the initial version of the Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major (Op. 82), as well as the tone poem The Oceanides (Op. 78).

## Instrumentation

The Serenade No. 1 is scored for the following instruments:
* Soloist: violin
* Woodwinds: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in A), and 2 bassoons
* Brass: 4 horns (in F)
* Percussion: timpani
* Strings: violins, violas, cellos, and double basses
The Serenade No. 2 has identical scoring, except for the addition of triangle to the percussion section; it also has the clarinetists switch to B♭ clarinet.

## Recordings

The sortable table below lists commercially available recordings of the complete Two Serenades:
| No. | Conductor | Orchestra | Soloist | Rec. | Time | Recording venue | Label |
| 1 | Paavo Berglund | Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra | Ida Haendel | 1975 | 13:27 | Southampton Guildhall | EMI Classics |
| 2 | Vladimir Ashkenazy | Philharmonia Orchestra | Boris Belkin | 1979 | 14:55 | Kingsway Hall | Decca |
| 3 | Vernon Handley | Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin | Ralph Holmes | 1980 | 13:33 | Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin | Schwann, Koch |
| 4 | Neeme Järvi | Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra | Dong-Suk Kang | 1989 | 13:16 | Gothenburg Concert Hall | BIS |
| 5 | Jukka-Pekka Saraste | Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (2) | Joseph Swensen | 1990 | 12:42 | Kulttuuritalo | RCA Red Seal |
| 6 | André Previn | Staatskapelle Dresden | Anne-Sophie Mutter | 1995 | 13:25 | Lukaskirche, Dresden | Deutsche Grammophon |
| 7 | Atso Almila | Kuopio Symphony Orchestra [fi] | Jaakko Kuusisto | 1999 | 14:44 | Kuopio Music Center | Finlandia |
| 8 | Thomas Dausgaard | Danish National Symphony Orchestra | Christian Tetzlaff | 2002 | 11:40 | Danish Radio Concert Hall (old) | Virgin Classics |
| 9 | Pekka Kuusisto | Tapiola Sinfonietta | Pekka Kuusisto | 2006 | 11:22 | Tapiola Hall, Espoo Cultural Centre | Ondine |
| 10 | Douglas Bostock | Gothenburg-Aarhus Philharmonic | Sakari Tapponen | 2007 | 12:20 | Frichsparken [da], Aarhus | Classico |
| 11 | Santtu-Matias Rouvali | Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra | Baiba Skride | 2015 | 14:23 | Tampere Hall | Orfeo |
| 12 | Sir Edward Gardner | Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra | James Ehnes | 2023 | | Grieg Hall | Chandos |

## Notes, references, and sources
### Notes

* ↑ Refers to the year in which the performers recorded the work; this may not be the same as the year in which the recording was first released to the general public.
* ↑ P. Breglund–EMI Classics (7243 5 75236 2 2) 2002
* ↑ V. Ashkenazy–Decca (473 590–2) 2003
* ↑ [ V. Handley–Koch-Schwann (CD 311 003 F1) 1988]
* ↑ N. Järvi–BIS (CD–472) 1990
* ↑ J. Saraste–RCA Red Seal (19439704812 (8)) 2020
* ↑ A. Previn–DG (447 895–2) 1995
* ↑ A. Almila–Finlandia (3984–23391–2) 1999
* ↑ T. Dausgaard–Virgin Classics (7243 5 45534 2 4) 2002
* ↑ P. Kuusisto–Ondine (ODE 1074–5) 2006
* ↑ D. Bostock–Classico (CLASSCD 733) 2007
* ↑ S. Rouvali–Orfeo (C 896 152 A) 2015
* ↑ E. Gardner–Chandos (CHAN 5267) 2024

### References

* ↑ Dahlström 2003, pp. 304–305.
* 1 2 Dahlström 2003, pp. 303, 305.
* ↑ Tawaststjerna 1997, pp. 69–70.
* ↑ Barnett 2007, p. 255.

### Sources

* Barnett, Andrew (2007). Sibelius. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-11159-0.
* Dahlström, Fabian [in Swedish] (2003). Jean Sibelius: Thematisch-bibliographisches Verzeichnis seiner Werke [Jean Sibelius: A Thematic Bibliographic Index of His Works] (in German). Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel. ISBN 3-7651-0333-0.
* Tawaststjerna, Erik (1986). Sibelius: Volume 2, 1904–1914. (Robert Layton, English translation). London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-24773-8.
* Tawaststjerna, Erik (1997). Sibelius: Volume 3, 1914–1957. (Robert Layton, English translation). London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-24774-5.
* Classical Music