Gothóni's playing is of an entirely different league and his artistry of a different order. His account of Kyllikki is commanding, full of character and imagination. Whether in the Five Pieces, Op. 75, or the finely wrought Song in the Forest from Esquisses, Op. 114 Gothóni plays with both authority and sensitivity. While the piano music is, by the exalted standards Sibelius set elsewhere, limited in resource he never – to quote Glenn Gould – "wrote against the grain of the keyboard". Gothóni shapes and colours every phrase with fantasy and without the slightest trace of exaggeration. The Op. 34 Bagatelles are particularly successful and persuasive.
