Considering that the vast majority of
Sibelius' piano works are regarded as lightweight salon music even by the composer's most ardent supporters, it is quite amazing how many recordings of his complete piano music have emerged in the digital era. There's
Erik Tawaststjerna's recordings for BIS,
Havard Gimse's for Naxos,
Folke Gräsbeck's is also BIS, and here
Annette Servadei's for Alto, though previously released on Olympia and Continuum. When confronted with such plentitude, two questions inevitably arise: is the music worth hearing, and if so, which performances are worth hearing. To answer the first, it has to be admitted that the music is only intermittently worth hearing except by dedicated fans of the composer. Though the Piano Sonata from 1893 is an impressive early effort, the Three Lyric Pieces, called "Kyllikki," from 1904 hold together as a convincing cycle, and the Three Sonatinas from 1912 come close to the baleful magnificence of the contemporary Fourth Symphony, virtually all the rest of the works on these five discs could fairly be described as salon music, delightful and entertaining salon music but salon music nevertheless. In answer to the second, it has to be acknowledged that
Servadei's performances are as fine as any and better than most. She has the skill to play everything no matter how virtuosic or un-pianistic. She has the touch to make everything sound beautiful no matter how heavy or light. And most importantly, she has the belief to make everything sound as good, as strong, as honest, and as true as possible. So while those who don't already know and love the music of the Finnish modernist master are advised to seek out his symphonies and tone poems first, those who already know and love the symphonies and tone poems and who feel the overwhelming urge to check out his complete piano music could do worse than to try
Servadei.