Finnish Miniatures

23 years ago, I moved to Europe. I was 18.

The destination: a small city in Finland called Lahti.

It was very different from my hometown of Lima, Perú. The weather, the population density, the culture…

Virtually everything was different.

I hadn’t yet picked up on the bandoneon and I was studying piano at the Conservatory.

One of my earliest musical memories over there was going to the school’s music library and loaning a book with a collection of Finnish piano miniatures.

I found many charming little pieces in the album. A couple of them remained in my repertoire till now, one of them being Sibelius´s Étude op.76 nr.2.

Though I had never heard it before, it made a lasting impression and it has followed me ever since. I love playing it as an encore in my piano recitals, or, why not, on the bandoneon!

For some reason, it never occurred to me to play it on this instrument until now. I tried it recently and I quite like how it sounds.

I decided to make a video performance of it which you can see now on YouTube by following this link.

I hope you enjoy it.

Have a nice day,

Claudio.