Piano Trio in A minor (Sibelius)

Piano Trio in A minor
Hafträsk
by Jean Sibelius
The composer (c. 1885–1888)
Catalogue	JS 207
Composed	1886 (1886)
Duration	21 mins.[1]
Movements	4

The Piano Trio in A minor, Hafträsk, JS 207, is a four-movement chamber piece for violin, cello, and piano^[2] written in the summer of 1886 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The trio derives its nickname from the small village of Hafträsk on Norrskata [fi], an island located in the Turku archipelago, at which the Sibelius family vacationed in 1886. Immediately upon its completion, Sibelius substantially revised the first movement; this version, however, is fragmentary, although the cello part is complete.^[3]

Structure

The A minor trio is in four movements, as follows:

1. Allegro maestoso
2. Andantino
3. Scherzo. Vivace
4. Rondo. [without tempo marking]

The Hafträsk Trio remains in manuscript.^[4]

Discography

The Finnish musicians Jaakko Kuusisto (violin), Marko Yltinen (cello), and Folke Gräsbeck [fi] (piano) made the world premiere studio recording of the Hafträsk Trio in 2002 for BIS.^[5] The table below lists this and other commercially available recordings:

No.	Violin	Cello	Piano	Runtime[a]	Rec.[b]	Recording venue	Label	Ref.
1	Jaakko Kuusisto	Marko Yltinen	Folke Gräsbeck [fi]	21:59	2002	Danderyds gymnasium [sv]	BIS	[c]
2	Petteri Iivonen	Samuli Peltonen	Juho Pohjonen [fi]	19:34	2016	Segerstrom Center for the Arts	Yarlung	[d]

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. Kuusisto, Yltinen, Gräsbeck–BIS (CD–1282) 2004
4. Sibelius Piano Trio–Yarlung (YAR54763) 2016

References

1. Dahlström 2003, pp. 635–636.
2. Dahlström 2003, p. 635.
3. Barnett 2007, pp. 19–20.
4. Dahlström 2003, p. 636.
5. Dahlström 2003, pp. 505, 636.

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.