Three Sonatinas

Three multi-movement piano pieces by Jean Sibelius (1912)
  • No. 1: 7.25 mins[2]
  • No. 2: 5.5 mins[3]
  • No. 3: 6.5 mins[4]

The Three Sonatinas (in German: Drei Sonatinen), Op. 67, is a collection of compositions for piano written in July 1912 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.

History

An 1892 sketch of Sibelius at the piano by his future brother-in-law Eero Järnefelt
Sibelius (1927) plays the Steinway grand piano at his home, Ainola.

In 1912 Sibelius found himself creatively at a crossroads, still searching for his next major project in the wake of the Symphony No. 4 in A minor (Op. 63), which he had premiered the previous April in Helsinki. He considered composing one to two orchestral fantasies or, alternatively, a new symphony. Moreover, he toyed with the idea of, finally, undertaking a large-scale opera (The Maiden in the Tower, JS 101, from 1896 had been a brief, one-acter), after the Finnish operatic soprano Aino Ackté and Jalmari Finne [fi] had approached him with a libretto.

Structure and music

Sonatina No. 1

The First Sonatina is in F-sharp minor and has three movements:

  1. Allegro
  2. Largo
  3. Allegro moderato

Sonatina No. 2

The Second Sonatina is in E major and also has three movements:

  1. Allegro
  2. Andantino
  3. Allegro

Sonatina No. 3

The Third Sonatina is in B-flat major and has two movements, although some commentators consider the Allegretto (bar 39) in Movement II to be sufficiently distinct in its thematic material that it constitutes a de facto third movement:

  1. Andante – Allegro moderato
  2. Andante – Allegretto

Reception

Erik Tawaststjerna, who authored seminal biography on Sibelius, was an early, vocal advocate for many of the composer's piano pieces.

Robert Layton characterizes the Three Sonatinas as "probably Sibelius's most convincing keyboard works. They are compact in design and economical in utterance ... the suitability of the ideas to the medium ... shows a considerable advance over Sibelius's earlier work". Indeed, Layton proclaims the First Sonatina as "the most perfect" composition in Sibelius's entire output for solo piano, although "the remaining two ... are very nearly as fine".[5]

Discography

The Hungarian pianist Ervin László made the world premiere studio recording of the Three Sonatinas in 1959 for RCA Victor.[1] The sortable table below lists this and other commercially available recordings of the Sonatinas:

No. Pianist Runtimes[a] Rec.[b] Recording venue Label Ref.
Op. 67/1
Op. 67/2
Op. 67/3
1 Ervin László RCA Red Seal
2 Izumi Tateno 6:25 5:25
–
 1971 EMI Classics
3 Glenn Gould 10:53 7:10 7:24 1977 Eaton's Auditorium Sony Classical
4 David Rubenstein 6:09 4:50 4:52 Musical Heritage Society
5 Erik T. Tawaststjerna 7:15 5:42 6:22 1981 Studio BIS, Djursholm BIS
6 Viktoria Postnikova 10:52 6:32 8:27 Melodiya
7 Annette Servadei [ja] 7:43 6:35 7:45 1993 St George's Church, Brandon Hill Olympia
8 Marita Viitasalo [fi] 7:55 6:34 7:30 1994 Järvenpää Hall [fi] Finlandia
9 Eero Heinonen [fi] 7:13 5:57 6:20 1996 YLE M2 Studio, Helsinki Finlandia
10 Håvard Gimse 6:58 5:40 6:33 2000 St Martin's Church, East Woodhay Naxos
11 Katriina Korte 7:08 6:18 6:38 2001 Järvenpää Hall [fi] Alba [fi]
12 Folke Gräsbeck [fi] 7:04 5:37 5:23 2009 Kuusankoski Hall [fi] BIS
13 Joseph Tong 6:34 5:39 5:36 2014 Jacqueline Du Pré Music Building Quartz
14 Janne Mertanen 7:02 6:07 5:53 2015 [Unknown], Helsinki Sony Classical
15 Terhi Dostal [fi] 7:01 5:41 6:23 2022 RBB Sall 3, Berlin Hänssler Classic

Notes, references, and sources

Notes
  1. ^ All runtimes are official, as printed on CD or LP liner notes.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ [ E. László–RCA Red Seal () yyyy]
  4. ^ I. Tateno–EMI Classics (7491062) 1988
  5. ^ G. Gould–Sony Classical (SM2K 52 654) 2002
  6. ^ D. Rubenstein–Musical Heritage Society (MHS 1218) 1977
  7. ^ E. Tawaststjerna–BIS (CD–196) 1987
  8. ^ V. Postnikova–Label (С10–22413/4) 1985
  9. ^ A. Servadei–Olympia (OCD 633) 1997
  10. ^ M. Viitasalo–Finlandia (4509–98984–2) 1995
  11. ^ E. Heinonen–Finlandia (8573–80776–2) 2000
  12. ^ H. Gimse–Naxos (8.554814) 2001
  13. ^ K. Korte–Alba (ABCA 159) 2001
  14. ^ F. Gräsbeck–BIS (CD–1927/29) 2010
  15. ^ J. Tong–Quartz (QTZ 2123) 2017
  16. ^ J. Mertanen–Sony Classics (888751614222) 2015
  17. ^ T. Dostal–Hänssler Classic (HC23048) 2022
References
  1. ^ a b Dahlström 2003, p. 301.
  2. ^ Dahlström 2003, p. 299.
  3. ^ Dahlström 2003, p. 300.
  4. ^ Dahlström 2003, pp. 300–301.
  5. ^ Layton 1993, p. 192.
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.
  • Layton, Robert (1993) [1965]. Sibelius. (The Master Musicians Series) (4th ed.). New York: Schirmer Books. ISBN 0028713222.

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