Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928-2016)
Complete Piano Works
Morta Grigaliūnaité (piano)
rec. 2023, Lithuanian National Philharmonic Hall, Vilnius
Piano Classics PCL10331 [2 CDs: 103]

Rautavaara is best known for his large-scale works, among them eight symphonies, more than a dozen concertos and concertante works and nine operas. However, he also wrote chamber and piano music, and here we have all his piano music conveniently gathered together, along with a couple of transcriptions, easily accommodated on two discs.

The first thing to say is that this is real piano music, idiomatically written for the instrument and always sounding good.  Apart from an early flirtation with serial technique, the idiom is basically neo-Romantic and it occasionally recalls earlier composers, whom I shall mention as they arise. These are mostly quite demanding pieces, requiring a fluent technique, often fast moving or with chunky chordal writing or rhythmic irregularities, but none of this music is of the barn-storming kind.

The recital does not present the works in chronological order, and the order in which the booklet discusses them is different again. I shall take them in the order they are given.

We begin then with a set of six dances, The Fiddler, to which are added a couple of pendants, Aleksanteri Könni and The Devil and the Drunkard. The six dances all have names too, but as these are given only in Finnish, I do not know what they mean. Not to worry – these are delightful and varied pieces, featuring a wide variety of piano textures and moods. The last of them also includes some spoken interjections, delivered by the pianist, which are quite hard to hear.

We then move straight to the second of Rautavaara’s two piano sonatas. This one is subtitled The Fire Sermon, though apparently the composer was not inspired by the Buddhist work of that name, nor by T. S. Eliot’s use of it in The Waste Land. It is in three short movements and seems to me a successor to Scriabin’s later sonatas in its intensity and chromaticism.

Icons, which follows is a suite of six pieces suggested by icons at the Valamo monastery  and a book about them. The subjects are taken from Christian legend, with the titles given in English, and the whole cycle is rather in the mood of Liszt’s later religious piano cycles.  Some are sombre or contemplative , while others are surprisingly brisk, even skittish.

The Three Symmetric Preludes are very short and are early constructivist works.

We then have a group of three pieces which together effectively make up a suite: Narcissus, Fuoco and Passionale. The idiom is here rather Ravelian, though it seems to me even closer to that of Szymanowski in his piano cycles Masques and Métopes. The writing is quite intricate and this is a powerful work.

The second disc begins with the set of six Etudes – Rautavaara clearly likes writing works in groups of six. Each of these is given to exploring a particular interval, beginning with thirds, then sevenths and so on. Rauatavaara’s treatment is sometimes unexpected: the études in thirds is surprisingly fierce for a work exploiting this most consonant of intervals, while the one in tritones starts like a meditation on the opening of Wagner’s Tristan, and the one in fourths sounds a little like Hindemith.

The first piano sonata, which follows, has the subtitle Christ und die Fischer, i.e. Christ and the fishermen, the early disciples.  Like the other sonata this is in three short movements and the mood is predominantly calm and meditative.

The Seven Preludes are all short and rather more appealing than the earlier Symmetric Preludes on the first disc. They are strongly contrasted , each favouring a particular texture and are generally quite light and cheerful in mood.

Mirroring, which follows, was Rautavaara’s last piano work and is playful and light-footed.

Finally, we have two transcriptions. Partita was originally written for guitar, and was later transcribed for the piano by the composer. It is a very short suite in three movements, a pleasant but not major work.

Cantus arcticus, for many years Rautavaara’s best-known work, is an orchestral work incorporating the recorded sounds of birds. The transcription for piano was made by Peter Lönnqvist and is surprisingly successful, though I imagine that most listeners would rather hear the original.

Morta Grigaliūnaité is a Lithuanian pianist who is making a good career for herself. She says she has long been fascinated by these works, ‘captivated by their strength of character and unreserved virtuosity.’ She plays fluently and well and wrote the sleevenote herself. The recording is good, except that the spoken words in The Devil and the Drunkard are much quieter than the piano. However, I would not miss them were they omitted entirely.

There is an earlier recording of some of these works on Naxos by Laura Mikkola, a pianist who worked with Rautavaara, and there have been others which I have not heard. However, this will fit the bill nicely for Rautavaara fans.

Stephen Barber

Contents
The Fiddler’s Child Op. 1 (1952)
Aleksanteri Könni (1952/1976)
The Devil and the Drunkard (1952/1976)
Piano Sonata No. 2 The Fire Sermon, Op. 64 (1970)
Icons Op. 6 (1955)
Three Symmetric Preludes (1949)
Narcissus (2002)
Fuoco (2007)
Passionale (2003)
Etudes Op. 42 (1969)
Piano Sonata No. 1 Christus und die Fischer Op. 50 (1969)
Seven Preludes for Piano Op. 7 (1956)
Mirroring (2014)
Partita Op. 34 (1958)
Cantus Arcticus Op. 61 arr. Peter Lönnqvist (1972)

Note: Rauatavaara stopped using opus numbers during the 1970s

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