Jean Sibelius, Music for violin and piano

Sibelius’s violins If one thinks about the most recorded violin concertos of the 20th Century, Jean Sibelius’s Op. 47 becomes impossible to surpass. Curiously, it is often forgotten that this well-known Finnish artist composed a series of works for violin and orchestra besides his major Concerto written in 1904-1905: Two serenades Op. 69 (1912-1913), Two pieces Op. 77 (1914-1915), Six humoresques Op. 87 and Op. 89 (1917-1918) and the Suite for Violin and Orchestra Op. 117 (1929). Even more interestingly, he wrote several pieces for violin and piano that have remained almost unknown until recently.

In this recording, Carlos Damas and Anna Tomasik present us with some little treasures from between 1915 — the year Sibelius composed his Symphony No. 5, later revised in 1919 — and 1924 — the year of his Symphony No. 7, his last one and his “most remarkable compositional achievement”, according to some critics. It is worth remembering that Sibelius, born in 1865, wrote most of his music during the first five decades of his career (1880s-1920s), and then almost completely abandoned his compositional talents up until his death in 1957. Therefore, what is recorded here serves to enrich the musical imaginary that one usually conceives about this outstanding period on a completely unexpected way: instead of Sibelius’s most epic and luxurious symphonies we find some small, picturesque, unpretentious, entertaining and easily accessible miniatures.

One of the reasons he wrote such light and contrasting music can be put down to mere financial necessity, notably during World War I, but it is worth noting that the violin was one of his favourite instruments, and he even had the ambition to become a violinist. There is no reason one should dismiss these highly amusing and inventive works: in the one hand, they bring forward a youthful yet intimate spirit, a candour and heartiness that reveals to us an open-minded and humble composer; in the other hand, their extraordinarily well-crafted virtuosity — and yet their efficiency — is the mark of a weighty and versatile master.