Heino Eller: Complete Piano Music, Volume Six
The piano music of the Estonian composer 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 piano repertoire of the twentieth century, with Eller’s sensitive lyricism underpinned by gentle humour and an occasional epic tone. Volume Six in this series of nine recordings brings over a half-century of music, from 1910 to 1965, including the melodious Sonatina in G minor, the spirited Piano Music in Folk Tone and the exquisite La fille du nord.
Sten Lassmann, piano
Listen To This Recording:
-
Sonatina in G minor (1946)**
- I Allegretto moderato
- II Sostenuto quasi andante
- III Allegro vivo
- Ballade
- Fantasie
- Étude
- Impromptu
- Valse
- No. 1 Allegretto grazioso
- No. 2 Andantino
- No. 3 Scherzino, Vivo
- No. 4 Moderato
- No. 5 Lento
- No. 7 Vivace
- No. 8 Allegro moderato
- No. 9 Allegretto piacevole
- No. 11 Andante con moto
- No. 12 Moderato – poco allegro
- No. 13 Sostenuto espressivo
- No. 14 Allegro capriccioso
- Muusikaline hetk
- Scherzino
- Caprice
- Karjase laul
- La fille du nord
Ballade in B flat minor (1910)*
Fantasie in F minor (c. 1910)*
Étude in F minor (1916)*
Impromptu in B flat minor (1915?)*
Valse in B flat minor (1915)*
Klaverimuusika rahvatoonis (’Piano Music in Folk Tone’; 1965)**
Muusikaline hetk in F sharp minor (‘Musical Moment’; 1915)**
Scherzino in B minor (1935)**
Caprice in B minor (1919–24)*
Karjase laul (‘Herdsman’s Song’; 1917)*
La fille du nord (1919)*
*FIRST RECORDINGS
**FIRST DIGITAL RECORDINGS
MusicWeb International :
‘First and foremost, Eller’s music here is eminently listenable, with a real variety of style and idiom guaranteed to hold the listener’s attention for all of the CD’s 64 minutes or so. […] Estonian pianist Sten Lassmann’s superb, and totally empathetic playing is again as convincing in performance […] enhanced, of course, by the excellence of the recording itself.’
—Philip R Buttall, MusicWeb International