SIBELIUS 
Youth violin and piano Vols 1 & 2
Folke Grasbeck (piano) & Jaakko Kuusisto (violin)
2000

BIS-CD-1022 (Volume 1)
[77:34]

The School Years in Hameenlinna (1883-1885)
01-04. Sonata in A major (1884)
05. Andante grazioso D major
06. Sonata movement in D major

The Study Years in Helsinki (1885-1889)
07. Moderato in A minor
08. Menuetto in D minor
09. Menuetto in E minor
10. Andantino in A minor
11. Allegretto in G major
12. Tempo di valse in B minor
13. Mazurka in A major
14. Andante molto in C major
15. Aubade in A major
16. Scherzino in F major
17. Andante elegiaco in F sharp minor
18. Andante cantabile in G major
19. Sonata movement in B minor [fragment]
20-25. Suite in D minor

BIS-CD-1023 (Volume 2)
[73:12]

The Study Years in Helsinki (1885-1889)
01-04. Suite for in E
05. Lento for in E flat minor, JS 76
06. Alegretto in E flat major, JS 22
07. Moderato in E flat major, JS 132
08. Interludium in C minor
09. Maestoso in C minor
10. Allegretto in C major, JS 19
11. Tempo di valse in A major
12. Sonata in A minor, JS 26 [fragment]
13-15. Sonata in F major

Studies in Berlin (1889-90) and Vienna (1890-91)
16. Largamente in E minor [fragment]
17. Adagio in D minor
18. Larghetto in D minor [fragment]
19. Grave in D minor [fragment]

Complete Works for Solo Violin
20. Etude for Violin in D major, JS 55 (1886)
21. Allegretto for Violin solo in A major (1891-94)
22. Romance for Violin solo in G major (1915)
23. A Happy Musician, JS 70 (1924-26)


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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.

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 Grasbeck, who played all of these works at Sibelius Hall in Jarvenpaa, 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.