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Life,
thankfully, can be full of surprises. For years, nearly all the
pieces on these two discs were thought to be lost. Thanks to the
Sibelius family, which donated an extensive collection of manuscripts
to the University of Helsinki in 1982, we can now hear these works
for ourselves, and even though they are essentially juvenilia, they
are well worth a listen.
These
two discs contain everything Sibelius wrote for violin and piano
from 1883 to 1890, including compositions he wrote while living
in Berlin and Vienna. Anyone expecting to hear hints of music the
composer would write later, or the sophistication of a prodigy on
the level of a Mendelssohn or Korngold,
will be seriously disappointed. On the other hand, anyone wanting
to hear light, tuneful and exceptionally pleasant music is going
to have a very good time.
What
is really surprising is that the music here would not be out of
place in the Vienna of Johann Strauss. It is extremely melodious,
much of it containing a lilting, dance-like quality. None of it
would be out of the range of intermediate to advanced violin students
(note to violin teachers - check out these works), but all of it
is enjoyable to hear and probably also to play.
The
violin would take a very important and special place in Sibelius's
life. Born in to an extended family of amateur musicians in 1865,
Sibelius showed musical precocity early on but otherwise lacked
discipline. Some now think that he may have suffered from Attention
Deficit Disorder [Guy Rickards' suggestion had many Sibelius
scholars up in arms though... but hey, my attention is pretty short
too. Maybe it helps an artist to be concise? - The ISN]. He
scribbled musical phrases instead of doing his schoolwork, receiving
poor grades and earning the name "Slapdash Jeanne" from
his grandmother as a result. Piano practice bored him. He preferred
to improvise, which usually earned him a sharp rap on the knuckles
from his aunt, and started writing music at the age of 10. He also
formed a toy orchestra with other school friends, conducting from
the keyboard.
By
1880, the family felt that Sibelius's musicality needed more expert
guidance, so they sent him to the local bandmaster, Gustaf Levander,
to study the violin. Sibelius was immediately captivated by the
instrument and retained a love for it the rest of his life, even
though he took up the violin too late to fulfill his dream of becoming
a virtuoso and broke his right arm and shoulder a year later, which
inhibited his bowing action (and gave him occasional challenges
in conducting well into adult life).
 Violin
studies helped Sibelius develop some discipline. Making quick progress,
he was soon pestering his uncle Pehr, an amateur composer with an
instrumental collection, for replacement violin strings and musical
scores. He also gained additional instruction from a local composer,
Emil Genetz, as well as from books in the school library. He also
formed a trio (photo right) with his sister Linda playing piano
and his brother Christian at the cello, and became sought after
as a chamber musician.
His
playing in chamber groups gave Sibelius practical performance experience
and encouraged him to expand the scale of his compositions. Along
with a number of trios, by 1884 Sibelius had written a sonata in
A minor, apparently modeled on Beethoven's early violin sonatas,
and shortly afterwards completed an Andante grazioso in D major
and a movement for a second sonata, also in D major. The other sonata
movements were either never written or no longer exist.
In
1885, Sibelius left his hometown of Hämeenlinna to study at
the University of Helsinki, concentrating initially on the violin
but still writing mostly small, classically proportioned works for
the instrument - hence the relative brevity of the Helsinki pieces
on Volume One. Nevertheless, a pattern of growth can be detected
in these compositions, with a budding sophistication in musical
material and instrumental technique.
The
Suite in E major that opens Volume Two, dating from 1888, is a watershed
point in this collection. By this time, Martin Wegelius, the founder
and director of Helsinki's Music Institute, had recognized Sibelius's
compositional talent and started tutoring him in musical theory
and composition. Sibelius earned top marks in composition in the
spring 1888 term, and was consequently allowed to collaborate with
Wegelius in writing incidental music for Gunner Wennerberg's fairy-tale
drama Nächen ("The Watersprite").
The
suite, with its extended introduction for piano and more varied
emotional palette, shows a greater maturity in its melodic elements
and general construction than the shorter pieces that preceded it,
as well as the marked influence of Edvard Grieg. It is still very
tuneful, with Viennese inflections in the violin part coming through
the Nordic colors, but demands a greater violin technique than the
short works in order to play it. The Più lento quasi andantino
is especially touching, though the work as a whole is still basically
salon music.
Equally
impressive, and more sophisticated in its interplay of violin and
piano, is a Sonata in F major that Sibelius wrote the following
year. This work, like the Suite in E major, shows a shift from the
more classically oriented shorter pieces toward a more emotionally
varied, romantic style.
Also
like the suite, the sonata also betrays the influence of Grieg to
some listeners - in this case, Grieg's First Violin Sonata, written
in the same key and having the same sequence of keys in the second
movement. That movement, an andante, is the most memorable of the
three in its outer sections, and shows its Nordic influences most
readily in its central episode. But the sonata as a whole stands
very well in its own right, and deserves to be heard more often.
If the composer was still not writing what would be considered great
music, at least he was growing.
 Not
long after writing this sonata, Sibelius (left, photo from 1900)
graduated and went abroad for further study, first to Berlin, then
to Vienna. Though the four violin works he wrote abroad at this
time are short, slow ones, they show an increased seriousness, emotional
depth and economy of musical materials, and make for fitting listening
after the F major sonata.
Volume
Two is rounded off with the four works Sibelius wrote in his maturity
for solo violin - an Etude in D major from the Helsinki years that
wears out its welcome by repeating the same material too many times;
an Grieg-influenced Allegretto in A major, written in 1894;
a Romance in G major dating from 1915; and "En glad musikant"
(A Happy Musician), a setting of a text by the eminent Sweedish
song composer Ture Rangström, with the words written above
the violin part. None of these works are as fresh or as interesting
as the others on this disc, and can be skipped easily by all but
the most curious.
All
the recordings except for the Suite in E major and the Sonata in
F major are world premieres. Violinist Jaakko Kuusisto and pianist
Folke Gräsbeck, who played all of these works at Sibelius Hall
in Järvenpää, Finland in September 1999, perform
with all the charm and simple enjoyment that these compositions
deserve. Kuusisto's tone, never strident or thin, is clear, bell-like
and extremely pleasant on the ear.
If
none of the works presented is a revelation, they are all valuable
at least in showing Sibelius's development in his understanding
of violin technique and musical form. Though the composer apparently
saved his greatest efforts for the Violin Concerto, I can think
of much worse ways to spend a couple of hours than listening to
these discs.
Bibliography:
Rickards, Guy, Jean Sibelius (London: Phaidon Press Limited,
1997), 16-48. 
JONATHAN
YUNGKANS did
not develop a sudden urge for marzipan, Viennese pastries and rich
cocoa with schlag (heavy whipped cream) after hearing these discs,
though the thought of these confections suddenly seemed more pleasant
than usual
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850:
2.11.2000 © Jonathan Yungkans
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