Sonatine pour piano, composed in 1947 during ‘the period of neoclassicism’ Matsudaira called himself, and premiered the next year by Tatsue Tanaka, proves that Matsudaira was deeply familiar with French piano music. Yasuji Kiyose, who listened to this piece on the radio, said that he was ‘surprised at Matsudaira’s maturity and familiarity with French music.’ According to the composer, the two themes in the first movement are based on ancient Greek modes. The leaping grace notes in the second theme and the syncopation in the transition sound particularly elegant. The second movement, a menuetto, is based on the Yatara Byōshi (2/4 + 3/4), a rhythm characteristic of gagaku, which makes the texture thin despite the frequent use of chords. In the final movement, a sort of toccata, the right hand’s part written in F sharp major is combined with that of the left hand without key signatures. As Matsudaira says, the first theme is written in the ryo mode and the second in the ritsu mode. Sonatine was first published as the Zen-On Piano Pieces 437, then included in his OEuvres pour piano, published by Zen-On Music Company in 1991.