Heino Eller: Complete Piano Music, Volume Nine
The piano music of Heino Eller (1887–1970), a total of 206 works, is not only the largest part of his output: it is also the largest body of works in Estonian classical music. But most of these pieces are unknown, even though the best of them are original contributions to the twentieth-century piano repertoire, with Eller’s sensitive lyricism underpinned by gentle humour and an occasional epic tone. This ninth and final volume in its first-ever complete recording prefaces his expansive Piano Sonata No. 3 with a series of charming miniatures and ends with the emblematic anthem Homeland Tune, a musical embodiment of Estonian national feeling.
Sten Lassmann, piano
Listen To This Recording:
- Meditation in B Major (1938)* (2:55)
- Miniature in G Sharp Minor (1916)* (2:08)
- Toccata in B Major (1919)** (4:15)
- Tempo di marcia in G Major (1909)* (1:07)
- Tempo di marcia in E Flat Major* (2:06)
- Allegro moderato in E Minor (1909)* (1:08)
- Andante espressive in B Flat Major* (0:48)
- Sostenuto in E Flat Minor* (1:24)
- Moderato con anima in B Flat Minor* (1:06)
- Sostenuto in B Flat Minor* (1:36)
- Tempo di valse in G Major* (0:57)
- Allegro vivace I in E Major* (0:48)
- Piece in C Sharp Minor* (0:42)
- Lento in C Minor* (1:01)
- Waltz in A Flat Major (1913)* (3:38)
- Impromptu in F Minor (c. 1910)* (4:23)
- Waltz in B Flat Major (1913)* (4:09)
- Andante moderato in G Minor (1914/1942)* (2:43)
- Humoresque: Une mouche importune (1916)* (2:51)
Four Lyric Pieces (1947)** (10:13)
- No. 1 Sostenuto in B Major (1:43)
- No. 2 Moderato assai in B Minor (2:02)
- No. 3 Lento espressivo in F Sharp Major (3:02)
- No. 4 Andante con moto in F Sharp Minor (3:26)
- Sostenuto for the left hand(1940)* (3:09)
Piano Sonata No. 3 in E Flat Minor (1944)** (22:20)
- I. Allegro moderato (8:38)
- II. Larghetto (7:01)
- III. Allegro vivo (6:41)
- Kodumaine viis (‘Homeland Tune’; 1918-1940s) (3:37)
*First Recordings
**First Digital Recordings
Fanfare Magazine :
‘Despite the scope of this project, Lassmann gives every piece his full attention. No performance seems casual. When virtuosity is called for, he provides it, and he shades the music with expressivity.
This release can be recommended to listeners who are sympathetic to Eller’s engagingly accessible Romantic idiom and who have an interest in exploring unfamiliar repertoire. The recorded sound is excellent, and the booklet includes Lassmann’s perceptive notes alongside a full listing of all 206 solo piano pieces by Eller.
—Henry Fogel, Fanfare Magazine