Eller:
Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 in D minor
Fantasy for Solo Violin
Valse melancolique
Allegretto in D major
Dance in G minor
Moment musical
Adagio in A minor
Three Pieces - No. 1. Lyrical Song
In Moonlight
Fantasy in G minor
Canzonetta in G major
Cross-stick Dance
Evening Song
Berceuse
Nordic Tune
Pines

Heino Eller (1887-1970) is the founding father of Estonian professional instrumental music, both as a masterful and original composer, and as a teacher of composition over half a century. His output of around 300 titles is almost exclusively dedicated to instrumental music. Though Eller wrote three symphonies, around a dozen symphonic poems, six string quartets and four piano sonatas, he is nevertheless essentially a master of the small form. Eller's music is characterised by a bright pantheistic lyricism and a Nordic restraint in expression, whilst retaining a philosophically charged, at times epic undercurrent. This magnificent album is the first ever devoted to Eller's music for violin, about half of which is represented here -- including the demanding second of his two sonatas for violin and piano, the remarkable, hyper-expressionist Fantasy for solo violin, and the most popular, emblematic work in Estonian repertoire for the instrument, Pines.