# Three Sonatinas

The Three Sonatinas (in German: Drei Sonatinen), Op. 67, is a collection of compositions for piano written in July 1912 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.

## History

In 1912 Sibelius found himself creatively at a crossroads, still searching for his next major project in the wake of the Symphony No. 4 in A minor (Op. 63), which he had premiered the previous April in Helsinki. He considered composing one to two orchestral fantasies or, alternatively, a new symphony. Moreover, he toyed with the idea of, finally, undertaking a large-scale opera (The Maiden in the Tower, JS 101, from 1896 had been a brief, one-acter), after the Finnish operatic soprano Aino Ackté and Jalmari Finne [fi] had approached him with a libretto.

## Structure and music
### Sonatina No. 1

The First Sonatina is in F-sharp minor and has three movements:
* Allegro
* Largo
* Allegro moderato

### Sonatina No. 2

The Second Sonatina is in E major and also has three movements:
* Allegro
* Andantino
* Allegro

### Sonatina No. 3

The Third Sonatina is in B-flat major and has two movements, although some commentators consider the Allegretto (bar 39) in Movement II to be sufficiently distinct in its thematic material that it constitutes a de facto third movement:
* Andante – Allegro moderato
* Andante – Allegretto

## Reception

Robert Layton characterizes the Three Sonatinas as "probably Sibelius's most convincing keyboard works. They are compact in design and economical in utterance ... the suitability of the ideas to the medium ... shows a considerable advance over Sibelius's earlier work". Indeed, Layton proclaims the First Sonatina as "the most perfect" composition in Sibelius's entire output for solo piano, although "the remaining two ... are very nearly as fine".

## Discography

The Hungarian pianist Ervin László made the world premiere studio recording of the Three Sonatinas in 1959 for RCA Victor. The sortable table below lists this and other commercially available recordings of the Sonatinas:
| No. | Pianist | Runtimes | Runtimes | Runtimes | Rec. | Recording venue | Label | Ref. |
| No. | Pianist | Op. 67/1 | Op. 67/2 | Op. 67/3 | Rec. | Recording venue | Label | Ref. |
| 1 | Ervin László | | | | | | RCA Red Seal | |
| 2 | Izumi Tateno | 6:25 | 5:25 | – | 1971 | | EMI Classics | |
| 3 | Glenn Gould | 10:53 | 7:10 | 7:24 | 1977 | Eaton's Auditorium | Sony Classical | |
| 4 | David Rubenstein | 6:09 | 4:50 | 4:52 | | | Musical Heritage Society | |
| 5 | Erik T. Tawaststjerna | 7:15 | 5:42 | 6:22 | 1981 | Studio BIS, Djursholm | BIS | |
| 6 | Viktoria Postnikova | 10:52 | 6:32 | 8:27 | | | Melodiya | |
| 7 | Annette Servadei [ja] | 7:43 | 6:35 | 7:45 | 1993 | St George's Church, Brandon Hill | Olympia | |
| 8 | Marita Viitasalo [fi] | 7:55 | 6:34 | 7:30 | 1994 | Järvenpää Hall [fi] | Finlandia | |
| 9 | Eero Heinonen [fi] | 7:13 | 5:57 | 6:20 | 1996 | YLE M2 Studio, Helsinki | Finlandia | |
| 10 | Håvard Gimse | 6:58 | 5:40 | 6:33 | 2000 | St Martin's Church, East Woodhay | Naxos | |
| 11 | Katriina Korte | 7:08 | 6:18 | 6:38 | 2001 | Järvenpää Hall [fi] | Alba [fi] | |
| 12 | Folke Gräsbeck [fi] | 7:04 | 5:37 | 5:23 | 2009 | Kuusankoski Hall [fi] | BIS | |
| 13 | Joseph Tong | 6:34 | 5:39 | 5:36 | 2014 | Jacqueline Du Pré Music Building | Quartz | |
| 14 | Janne Mertanen | 7:02 | 6:07 | 5:53 | 2015 | [Unknown], Helsinki | Sony Classical | |
| 15 | Terhi Dostal [fi] | 7:01 | 5:41 | 6:23 | 2022 | RBB Sall 3, Berlin | Hänssler Classic | |

## Notes, references, and sources
### Notes

* ↑ All runtimes are official, as printed on CD or LP liner notes.
* ↑ Refers to the year in which the performers recorded the work; this may not be the same as the year in which the recording was first released to the general public.
* ↑ [ E. László–RCA Red Seal yyyy]
* ↑ I. Tateno–EMI Classics (7491062) 1988
* ↑ G. Gould–Sony Classical (SM2K 52 654) 2002
* ↑ D. Rubenstein–Musical Heritage Society (MHS 1218) 1977
* ↑ E. Tawaststjerna–BIS (CD–196) 1987
* ↑ V. Postnikova–Label (С10–22413/4) 1985
* ↑ A. Servadei–Olympia (OCD 633) 1997
* ↑ M. Viitasalo–Finlandia (4509–98984–2) 1995
* ↑ E. Heinonen–Finlandia (8573–80776–2) 2000
* ↑ H. Gimse–Naxos (8.554814) 2001
* ↑ K. Korte–Alba (ABCA 159) 2001
* ↑ F. Gräsbeck–BIS (CD–1927/29) 2010
* ↑ J. Tong–Quartz (QTZ 2123) 2017
* ↑ J. Mertanen–Sony Classics (888751614222) 2015
* ↑ T. Dostal–Hänssler Classic (HC23048) 2022

### References

* 1 2 Dahlström 2003, p. 301.
* ↑ Dahlström 2003, p. 299.
* ↑ Dahlström 2003, p. 300.
* ↑ Dahlström 2003, pp. 300–301.
* ↑ Layton 1993, p. 192.

### Sources

* Barnett, Andrew (2007). Sibelius. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-11159-0.
* Dahlström, Fabian [in Swedish] (2003). Jean Sibelius: Thematisch-bibliographisches Verzeichnis seiner Werke [Jean Sibelius: A Thematic Bibliographic Index of His Works] (in German). Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel. ISBN 3-7651-0333-0.
* Layton, Robert (1993) [1965]. Sibelius. (The Master Musicians Series) (4th ed.). New York: Schirmer Books. ISBN 0028713222.