Spruce

The first thing I noticed when I arrived in Finland was the amount of green space.

It was my first time in Europe, although, to me, Finland seems culturally different than the rest of Europe in many ways (with the exception, perhaps, of other Scandinavian countries).

It was a long trip. I was 18 years old. I embarked in Lima, Perú, my whole family waving goodbye to me at the airport; we wouldn´t see each other for over 2 years.

The flight flew first to Bogotá, Colombia, then onwards to Frankfurt (the first European ground I touched, I can still remember the excitement!), then on to Helsinki, the capital of Finland.

From high above, I could see a vast green landscape filled with what seemed like an infinite amount of lakes. It was so beautiful.

The trip was not over yet. From Helsinki, I still had to travel 100 kilometers north to Lahti, the city I lived and studied in for the next 4 years.

It was exactly 22 years ago, around these dates. It was the end of May, the air was fresh, the forests were full of life, and the lake was full of ducks, geese, and swans. Truly idyllic.

Two types of trees seemed more abundant than others: Birches and Spruces. They were magnificent!

I got to know the music of Jean Sibelius, perhaps the greatest Finnish composer, in much more depth than before. And I discovered that not only did he have great orchestral music, but his piano miniatures, although tiny in scope, were also gems.

I´ve added today one of my favorite piano miniatures of Sibelius to my Piano playlist. It´s called: The Spruce, or Kuusi in Finnish. You can listen to it by clicking here, it is the first piece on the playlist.

Enjoy, and have a great day.

Claudio.