Two Rondinos

Two Rondinos
Piano solos by Jean Sibelius
The composer (1911)
Opus68
Composed1912 (1912)
PublisherUniversal Edition (1912)[1]
Duration5.75 mins[2]

The Two Rondinos (in German: Zwei Rondinos), Op. 68, is a collection of compositions for piano written in November 1912 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.

History

An 1892 sketch of Sibelius at the piano by his future brother-in-law Eero Järnefelt
Sibelius (1927) plays the Steinway grand piano at his home, Ainola.

Structure and music

Rondino No. 1

The First Rondino is in G-sharp minor and begins with the tempo marking Andantino.

Rondino No. 2

The Second Rondino is in C-sharp minor and is marked Vivace.

Reception

Erik Tawaststjerna, who authored seminal biography on Sibelius, was an early, vocal advocate for many of the composer's piano pieces.

Robert Layton characterizes the Two Rondinos as "closely related ... in character" to the Three Sonatinas for solo piano from the same year, and as such, he endorses as "highly probable" the music lexicographer and critic Eric Blom's speculation that the rondinos might have originated as movements for an incomplete fourth sonatina, with the First Rondo as a central slow movement and the Second Rondino as "delightful finale".[3]

Discography

The Hungarian pianist Ervin László made the world premiere studio recording of Rondino No. 1 in 1959 for RCA Victor; Rondino No. 2, on the other hand, was first recorded in 1971 by the Japanese pianist Izumi Tateno for EMI.[2] The sortable table below lists this and other commercially available recordings of the Rondinos:

No. Pianist Runtimes[a] Rec.[b] Recording venue Label Ref.
Op. 68/1
Op. 68/2
1 Izumi Tateno 2:45 1:55 1971 EMI Classics
[c]
2 Erik T. Tawaststjerna 3:39 1:59 1981 Studio BIS, Djursholm BIS
[d]
3 Marita Viitasalo [fi] 3:27 2:07 1994 Järvenpää Hall [fi] Finlandia
[e]
4 Annette Servadei [ja] 3:07 1:55 1993 St George's Church, Brandon Hill Olympia
[f]
5 Eero Heinonen [fi] 3:32 1:55 1998 YLE M2 Studio, Helsinki Finlandia
[g]
6 Håvard Gimse 3:31 1:48 2000 St Martin's Church, East Woodhay Naxos
[h]
7 Katriina Korte 2:59 1:56 2001 Järvenpää Hall [fi] Alba [fi]
[i]
8 Olli Mustonen Ondine
[j]
9 Tuija Hakkila 2008 Nya Paviljongen Alba [fi]
[k]
10 Folke Gräsbeck [fi] 3:16 1:56 2009 Kuusankoski Hall [fi] BIS
[l]
11 Joseph Tong 3:00 1:48 2014 Jacqueline Du Pré Music Building Quartz
[m]
12 Janne Mertanen 4:16 1:45 2015 [Unknown], Helsinki Sony Classical
[n]
13 Terhi Dostal [fi] Alba [fi]
[o]

Notes, references, and sources

Notes
  1. ^ All runtimes are official, as printed on CD or LP liner notes.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ I. Tateno–EMI Classics (7491062) 1988
  4. ^ E. Tawaststjerna–BIS (CD–196) 1987
  5. ^ M. Viitasalo–Finlandia (4509–98984–2) 1995
  6. ^ A. Servadei–Olympia (OCD 633) 1997
  7. ^ E. Heinonen–Finlandia (8573–80776–2) 2000
  8. ^ H. Gimse–Naxos (8.554814) 2001
  9. ^ K. Korte–Alba (ABCA 159) 2001
  10. ^ O. Mustonen–Ondine (ODE 1014–2) 2002
  11. ^ T. Hakkila–Alba (ABCD 297) 2010
  12. ^ F. Gräsbeck–BIS (CD–1927/29) 2010
  13. ^ J. Tong–Quartz (QTZ 2111) 2015
  14. ^ J. Mertanen–Sony Classics (888751614222) 2015
  15. ^ T. Dostal–Label (ABCD 514) 2022
References
  1. ^ Dahlström 2003, p. 303.
  2. ^ a b Dahlström 2003, p. 302.
  3. ^ Layton 1993, p. 193.
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.