Musical Toys

From her own experience, Sofia Gubaidulina also found the repertoire for piano lessons at music schools, which she was expected to learn and play at a young age, rather tedious and monotonous. In 1969, she therefore decided to write a collection of piano pieces for children herself, which she called ‘Musical Toys’. The small pieces, which are extremely varied in style and expression and not always easy, are still very popular today. Sofia Gubaidulina says of her collection: ‘I have often thought back to my childhood and the lack of piano pieces at that time that could transport you back to the imaginative world of toys. At that time, I also regarded toys as a material from which sounds could be elicited; they were part of the world of my musical sensations. With this collection, I have paid a late tribute to my childhood.’