A violinist by training, Sibelius seemed to have had little natural affinity for the piano. Consequently, it was relatively late in his career that he finally managed to produce genuinely pianistic works, overcoming a natural tendency—most noticeable in the early Piano Sonata, Op.12—to try to find in that instrument the same rich, sonorous textures he extracted from the full orchestra. The three Sonatinas of 1912 that collectively form Sibelius' Opus 67 are widely considered his most successful, and therefore most important, piano works. This is with good cause, since in no other of his compositions for the piano would he achieve the same level of pianistic effectiveness. Composed almost immediately after the celebrated Fourth Symphony, these slender pieces partake of a similarly understated language; yet in their purity and simplicity could hardly be more different.

The Sonatina, Op. 67 No.1 is most often described as being in A major. The work is, however, in F sharp minor, and we have the initial publisher to thank for this persistent error. In the publisher's defense, Sibelius is quite keen to avoid any strong tonal associations throughout the beginning of this miniature sonata: the incredibly lean, efficient opening gesture (a far cry from the thick textures then being composed by most of his contemporaries) would seem to outline D major, after which the piece does move to A major for a while. The second of the Sonatina's three small movements is perhaps the most eminently pianistic of all his works for the instrument, while the finale shows the same kind of concentrated energy—forward-moving and seemingly unstoppable—that marks so many of his other last movements. One might draw an immediate comparison between the finale of this Sonatina and of the Third Symphony: both, despite the radical differences in compositional techniques used and in the basic musical atmosphere created, rely on a similar "less-is-more" attitude to achieve their goals.

The remaining two Sonatinas are perhaps less successful than the first of the group, but worth getting to know nonetheless. All three movements of the bright Sonatina in E major, Op. 67 No. 2 are held within the scope of the principal key (showing, again, the tendency towards apparent external simplification), and the player is given the opportunity to engage in delightful canonic interplay during the first movement. The third Sonatina (Op.67 No.3 in B flat minor) takes the case for thematic and structural unity to the utmost: all three movements are based upon melodic material derived from one small set of motives, and the second and third movements—an andante and a rondo, respectively—are condensed into one larger structure in much the same way that the opening movement and scherzo are fused in the Fifth Symphony.

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