Sibelius’s life of
more than ninety years could be divided
into three roughly equal periods. The
creative genius of the middle period
has him gaining recognition as a truly
great composer. Unusually in art, and
sadly for us, he subsequently became
silent for almost three decades and
probably destroyed his 8th
Symphony. In his first period, which
may be considered to have ended by the
time he composed the Kullervo
symphony (in 1892), he had yet to develop
a distinctive voice. Virtually all the
music on this disc predates that work
and was mostly written during summer
holidays for his family to play. If
played "blind", it would be
unrecognisable as Sibelius or even as
Scandinavian. Central Europe would seem
nearer the mark, especially in the Korpo
trio where he alludes to a Bach fugue;
Haydn and Beethoven are noticeable influences.
In particular, the section beginning
at 9’26" in the slow movement recalls
the Moonlight Sonata. This is
by far the longest work on the disc
at almost 36 minutes. The Lovisa
trio also has three movements but lasts
just 15 minutes; it is clearly an advance
on the earlier Korpo trio – a
move towards the concision of later
Sibelius. Everything else is in miniature,
with the A flat Allegretto occupying
all of 46 seconds. All of these works
except the Lovisa trio are receiving
their première recordings.
This disc, the second
and presumably last of a series of Sibelius’s
music for piano trio, is beautifully
played, recorded and presented. The
performers make as much as they can
of the music without ever pretending
these are masterworks. The sound is
intimate and well-balanced. The booklet
is excellent and contains authoritative
notes by the pianist, Folke Gräsback
who is a Sibelius specialist and has
apparently given 79 world premières
of his music.
In summary, don’t come
here looking for recognisable Sibelius.
We should nevertheless be grateful to
BIS for an interesting insight into
his development.
Patrick C Waller
Volume
1
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Jaakko Kuusisto (violin); Marko Ylönen
(cello); Folke Gräsback (piano) 
