Publisher's Synopsis
(Southern Music). The SERENADE is the prelude to the third act of Adolf Paul's play KING CHRISTIAN II, for which Sibelius composed the incidental music. The SERENADE, preceding a court ball scene, is perhaps suggestive of the King's and Dyveke's love, and is emblematic of the composer's distinctive compositional style. That style, eminently apparent in this piano quintet arrangement, features a drive towards continuous growth by means of steady thematic transformation and supportive, highly diversified ostinato textures.