Heino Eller: Complete Piano Music, Volume Five
This fifth volume in Sten Lassmann's complete survey of the piano music of the Estonian composer Heino Eller (1887-1970) contains two works of central importance: the Preludes, Book II (1920), are Eller's highest achievement in a modernist-expressionist style, and the Bartókian 13 Pieces on Estonian Motifs (1940-41) mark his turn to the folk-like style favoured in the Soviet period. They are joined by a group of attractive, mostly early, miniatures and a prentice set of variations in the Romantic, virtuoso tradition.
Sten Lassmann, piano
Listen To This Recording:
- Caprice in F sharp minor (1911)
- Romanze in F sharp major (1914)
- Molto vivo in F sharp minor (mid-1910s)
- Nocturne in B major (1915)
- Presto in F sharp major (mid-1910s)
- Lyric Waltz (1930–31, later rev.)
- Waltz in B major (1931)
- Small Waltz (1935)
- Méditation (1936)
- No. 1 Lento pensieroso
- No. 2 Andante con espressione
- No. 3 Allegro agitato
- No. 4 Sostenuto
- No. 5 Allegretto capriccioso
- No. 6 Spiritoso
- No. 7 Grave
- Theme: Andantino
- Variation I: Allegretto
- Variation II: Moderato assai
- Variation III: Allegro
- Variation IV: Adagio
- Variation V: Vivace
- No. 1 Andantino
- No. 2 Vivo
- No. 3 Allegretto pastorale
- No. 4 Allegro
- No. 5 Andante sostenuto
- No. 6 Presto scherzando
- No. 7 Alla ballata
- No. 8 Allegro con brio
- No. 9 Lento
- No. 10 Allegretto grazioso
- No. 11 Allegro giusto
- No. 12 Vivace
- No. 13 Moderato assai
Preludes, Book II (1920)
Theme and Variations in E major (1912)
13 Pieces on Estonian Motifs (1940–41)
Fanfare Magazine :
‘…Eller’s Méditation dates from what Lassmann refers to as “a golden period in Eller’s oeuvre.” I find it to be the most compelling piece on this disc. An interval of a major second, sounded in the bass and answered by a treble motif outlining a perfect fifth, appears throughout the opening section beneath a long-phrased melancholic melody featuring descending fourths, creating a spacious, somber atmosphere. The piece becomes increasingly rhapsodic, culminating in emphatic minor-ninth chords and rapid treble arpeggios before returning to the opening material. The final moments convey a sense of despairing resignation. In this piece, Eller demonstrates an impressive ability to produce a significant emotional impact with a great economy of musical material. The nearly omnipresent opening motif never feels repetitive or unwelcome; instead, it is clearly the axis around which the drama of the piece revolves. …Lassmann’s playing is confident and expressive throughout the disc. Eller’s music has moments of impressive technical display, and Lassmann is more than capable in his execution of these moments. His lyrical passages are expressive and songlike, and his musical choices strike me as being stylistically apt. The recording itself is well-engineered, with a clean piano sound. Eller’s music is well worth exploring.’
—Myron Silberstein, Fanfare Magazine, September/October 2014
Sirp :
‘Kuid Elleri klaveriteoste tihe polüfooniline kude Sten Lassmanni eripäraselt intellektuaalses esituses kinnitab selle rahvuslik-modernistliku muusika täielikku suveräänsust, Elleri- ja eestipärasust. Selles on pigem assotsiatsioone põhjamaise juugendliku rahvusromantilise arhitektuuri ja maalikunstiga. Eeskätt on huvitav Elleri eripärane tehnitsism: on palju virtuooslikku faktuuri modernistlikule muusikale omase meloodika ja harmooniaga. Sten Lassmanni tähelepanelikult faktuuri tõlgendav kunstikeel on Elleri klaverimuusikaga tihedalt kokku kasvanud: detailide pideva minimaalse muutumise varjundid interpretatsioonis on talle tähtsad ja kohati intonatsioonilt täiuslikud. […]
Sten Lassmann on pisut enam kui 40 aastat pärast Heino Elleri surma elustanud tema klaverimuusika sedavõrd esileküündivas mahus ja tõlgenduses, et see lubab liialdust kartmata märgata huvitavat Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdyga seotud paralleeli J. S. Bachi (1685–1750) loomingu elustamisel saksa kultuuris ligi 80 aastat pärast Bachi surma, nimelt „Matteuse passiooni” BWV 244 esitusega Berliinis 1829. […] See on ideaalne sissejuhatus Elleri muusikasse, milles ei ole olnud midagi doktrinaarset.’
English translation:
‘However, the dense polyphonic weave of Eller’s piano works in Sten Lassmann’s distinctively intellectual performance confirms the complete sovereignty of this national-modernist music, its Ellerian and Estonian identity. It rather has associations with Nordic Art Nouveau national-romantic architecture and painting. Eller’s distinctive technicality is especially interesting: there is a lot of virtuoso texture with the melody and harmony typical of modernist music. Sten Lassmann’s artistic language, which carefully interprets texture, has grown closely with Eller’s piano music: the shades of the constant minimal change of details in the interpretation are important to him and at times perfect in intonation. […]
A little more than 40 years after Heino Eller’s death, Sten Lassmann has revived his piano music in such a groundbreaking volume and interpretation that it allows us, without fear of exaggeration, to notice an interesting parallel with Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy in the revival of the work of J. S. Bach (1685–1750) in German culture nearly 80 years after Bach’s death, namely with the performance of the St. Matthew Passion BWV 244 in Berlin in 1829. […] This is an ideal introduction to Eller’s music, which has nothing doctrinaire about it.’
—Maris Valk-Falk, Sirp