Triin Ruubel, Xandi van Dijk, Theodor Sink: Tubin

The Strad Issue: March 2026

Description: A rewarding dive into the music of an Estonian master

Musicians: Triin Rubel (violin) Xandi van Dijk (viola) Theodor Sink (cello) Kärt Ruubel (piano)

Works: Tubin: Piano Quartet; Viola Sonata; Alto Saxophone Sonata (arr.viola); Sarcasm; Sonnet; Ballade; Pastorale

Catalogue number: MDG 903 2370-6 (SACD)

This carefully curated and well-recorded collection of chamber music by the Estonian Eduard Tubin (1905–82) is the brainchild of his countryman, pianist Kärt Ruubel, whose enthusiastic booklet-notes usefully set the scene.

Tubin’s Piano Quartet marked the end of the composer’s studies in 1930; its cyclic structure and thematic workout prove him a master craftsman in the tradition of César Franck.

The Viola Sonata from 35 years later embodies Tubin’s mature style. Characterised by dark colours and obsessive ostinatos, the piece showcases the instrument’s full register and includes some effective double-stopping that rings sonorously in Xandi van Dijk’s hands.

In an arrangement by the composer himself, Tubin’s Saxophone Sonata features some undulating melodic contours that recall the original instrument while also sitting comfortably on the viola. Van Dijk begins this piece with a wan sound which develops into full bloom when the Allegro’s main section gets going.

The haunting slow movement – a setting of a 13th-century troubadour song – prompts some intimate phrasing and filigree ornaments before giving way to a lively interlude that foreshadows the piece’s cheeky finale.

Pastorale, its original organ accompaniment unobtrusively adapted for the piano, makes for a charming encore for the closely knit husband-and-wife partnership of van Dijk and Kärt Ruubel, while the silvery sound of Triin Ruubel shines in Tubin’s Ballade, a plum example of the composer’s highly personal melodic invention.

CARLOS MARÍA SOLARE