Obscure Music Monday: Palmgren's Nocturne in Three Scenes

Selim Gustav Adolf Palmgren (Feb. 16, 1878 - Dec. 13, 1951) was a Finnish composer, conductor, and pianist. He studied at the Helsinki Conservatory in Helsinki from 1895 to 1899, then continued his piano studies in Berlin. He conducted several orchestras and music societies in Finland, and had successful performances as a pianist in Finland and Scandanavia. In 1921 he moved to the United States to teach at the Eastman School of Music, and from 1936 - 1951, he was Professor of Harmony and Composition at the Sibelius Academy.

Palmgren mainly wrote for piano, including his wonderful Nocturne in Three Scenes. Palmgren was incredibly talented at blending late Romanticism and Impressionism together to create beautiful moods and atmospheres. In the first of the three scenes, Stars Twinkling you can "hear" the stars in the right hand, while the left plays a calm peaceful melody. The second movement, Song of the Night, is passionate, romantic, and slightly restless with the continuous left hand eighth notes. The final movement, Twilight, is teeming with whole tones, giving it a mystical, other-wordly atmosphere. The colors and moods he creates in this work are intriguing and stunning.