This text was originally published on the leaflet of Väinö Raitio – Œuvres pour piano CD, played by Jean Dubé. (Syrius SYR 141491) Read a review of the album here.
The earliest of the piano pieces featured on this CD, Andante (1912), Danse macabre (1912), Toccata (1913), and the 4-part suite Kesäidyllejä [Summer idylls] (1914) are firmly rooted in the Romantic tradition, with a clear tonality and structure. Stylistically, the surprisingly slow Danse macabre differs from the other early pieces with its quotation and variation of a known hymn melody.
Impressionist influences start to emerge in the Romantic idiom first in the pieces from the opus 8 (probably from 1915–1916). The first one, Ballade, appears to relate to the Piano Concerto No. 2 (”The River”, 1913) by a Finnish impressionist-romantic composer and pianist Selim Palmgren (1878–1951). The second, Valoisa yö (La nuit Boréale), is dedicated to Raitio’s younger sister Sylvi, a pianist who also studied in the Helsinki Music Institute.
In the opus 12 (probably from 1917) and opus 14 (probably from 1918) works the Romantic traits fade, while thematic, harmonic and structural ambiguity increases. The impact of Debussy’s piano music, which Raitio frequently performed in 1910s and 1920s, is clear in these works, especially in the Étude of opus 12.
Neljä värirunoelmaa pianolle [Four colour poems for piano], op. 22 (1923) is often considered Raitio’s main work for the piano. It was composed at the same time as Raitio’s most modernist orchestral works. Indeed, the thematic material relates to the orchestral works; it’s fragmentary and includes similar motives. The titles of the short movements – Haavan lehdet [Aspen leaves], Punahattaroita [Red cloudlets], Kellastunut koivu [Yellowed birch] and Auringon savua [Sun haze] reflect Raitio’s love for the nature and its phenomena.
The last piece on this disc is an unfinished Pilven varjo [Shadow of a cloud] (probably from 1923 or 1924), that was to be the first piece of another piano opus, 26. The reason why Raitio never finished this or the possible other works in the opus 26 is not known. Pilven varjo is stylistically comparable with the Neljä värirunoelmaa pieces.
c) Hanna Isolammi 2019