Heino Eller : Musique pour piano (Intégrale – Volume 4)

Piano International (Jan, 2014)
This disc marks the mid-way point in Sten Lassmann’s eight-disc survey of Heino Eller’s complete piano music. Once again, Lassmann has assembled a programme ranging across Eller’s career, from 1918 to 1955, and in size from the grand canvas of the First Sonata (1919-1920) to tiny miniatures such as Butterfly (1935) or the Six Pieces of 1953 (not to be confused with the 1946 set recorded on Volume 1).

And fascinating insights it provides. At 40 minutes, Eller’s First Sonata, his graduation piece, is the largest work he wrote for the piano. Unsurprisingly, it is an uneven work. The fine, dramatic opening Allegro assai dwarfs the three succeeding movements, all …