programmes - Consulate General of Estonia

ERKKI-SVEN TÜÜR (1959)
– Requiem for chamber choir, two soloists, piano and strings (1994)
ARVO PÄRT (1935)
– Da pacem Domine (2004)
ERKKI-SVEN TÜÜR
– Action. Passion. Illusion for strings (1993)
TÕNU KÕRVITS (1969)
– Kreegi vihik / Kreek’s Notebook (2007)
I Nüüd ole, Jeesus, kiidetud / May Jesus, Thee Be Praised
II Oh võta, armas Jeesus, vastu mult / Dear Jesus, Do Receive
III Ma vaatan üles mäele / I Gaze At The Mountain
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Tallinn Chamber Orchestra
Conductor Tõnu Kaljuste
This concert is produced by the Consulate General of Estonia.
The concert tour in the United States is organised by New World Classics and supported by
Estonian Ministry of Culture, Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Tallinn City Government.
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Photo by Peeter Langovits
ERKKI-SVEN TÜÜR (1959) is one of Estonia’s most highly acclaimed contemporary
composers. He began his career as a ‘chamber rock’ musician and founded the
intellectual rock group In Spe in Tallinn at the age of seventeen. In 1980—1984 he
studied at the Tallinn Conservatoire with Jaan Rääts.
Tüür seeks to write music that combines technical know-how with emotional
power to develop a musical reality where the two sides — intellectual and emotional — can live together side by side. As a student Tüür was interested both in
American minimalism and also the post-serial textures of Ligeti and Xenakis. Both
traditions find an echo in his works. His musical architecture is often influenced
by visual ideas and he is interested in a combination of opposites: tonality versus
atonality, regular repetitive rhythms versus irregular complex ones, tranquil
meditativeness versus explosive theatricality.
Tüür’s output ranges from chamber music to symphonies, concertos and large
scale choral works, among them for instance the oratorio Ante finem saeculi (1985),
an opera Wallenberg (2001), Architectonics etc.
Requiem for chamber choir, two soloists, piano and strings (1994) is dedicated
to the memory of the composer’s friend conductor Peeter Lilje. Tüür has shortened
the liturgical text of the catholic mass and it could not be regarded as a cycle but as
an integral whole. This composition became the recommended work at the Paris
Rostrum and has been broadcasted in radios in many countries all over the world.
Action, Passion, Illusion were first performed by Tallinn Chamber Orchestra
and Tõnu Kaljuste in 1993. The individual works are constructions in which the
higher the musical building blocks go, the more they are joined together to form a
building. This is the principle behind the string series Action-Passion-Illusion.
Passion and Illusion are recorded on the CD “Crystallisatio”.
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Photo by Kaupo Kikkas
ARVO PÄRT (1935) attracts large audiences in the world with the beauty and balance
of his musical style. He is the most remarkable and distinctive musical figure of
Estonian origin. He was born in Paide and grew up in Rakvere and Tallinn, in
1980 he emigrated and now lives in Berlin. Arvo Pärt’s first orchestral work Nekroloog (Necrology) of 1960 was the first Estonian work to employ serial technique.
He continued with serialism through to the mid 1960s, but ultimately tired of its
rigours and moved on to experiment with collage techniques. At the very beginning
of the 1970s, he wrote a few compositions in the spirit of early European polyphony,
like his Symphony No 3 from 1971. Thereafter he turned to self-imposed silence,
but re-emerged in 1976 after a transformation so radical as to make his previous
music almost unrecognisable as that of the same composer. The technique he invented, or discovered, and to which he has remained loyal, practically without exception, he calls “tintinnabuli” (from the Latin, little bells).
Since leaving Estonia, Pärt has concentrated on setting religious texts, which
have proved popular with choirs and ensembles around the world. His long time
collaborators have been The Hilliard Ensemble, the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir with its conductors Tõnu Kaljuste and Paul Hillier, the conductor Neeme
Järvi, and Manfred Eicher of ECM Records.
Da pacem Domine for mixed choir a cappella (2004) is an eloquent example of
Pärt at his most characteristic — a simple texture (four parts throughout), a slow
straightforward pattern with almost no rhythmic variation, and near harmonic
stasis in which each pitch is carefully placed in position like stones in a Zen garden.
There are two basic elements in the work: the first is a manner of composition that
immediately calls to mind the organ piece “Pari intervallo” (1976), and the second
comprises passages of faburden (a short succession of parallel chords with the
root note either in the top voice or in the middle), resolving with a Landini cadence.
The text is a prayer for peace and has been set by numerous composers over the
age. The original version is scored for choir and full orchestra. The work is recorded
by the EPCC and Paul Hillier (Harmonia Mundi) and the CD of the same title
received a Grammy award in 2007.
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Photo by Harri Rospu
TÕNU KÕRVITS (1969) graduated from Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre
(1994, composition with Raimo Kangro). His work spans both chamber and
symphonic genres, contains incidental music for puppet animations and cartoons,
plus arrangements and orchestrations of popular music. Music of Tõnu Kõrvits is
filled with highly poetical imagery. It varies from gentle and fragile sound paintings
to dramatic orchestral textures, full of vivacity and passion. Composer’s heedful
treatment of melodic lines is combined with well-considered timbre choice. Last
years Oriental melodic styles and Estonian folk song are reflected in his work.
Tõnu Kõrvits is Laureate of Heino Eller Music Award (2001). In 2003 his orchestra
piece Eldorado won III Prize at International Lepo Sumera Composition Contest
for Young Composers. In 2002, Tõnu Kõrvits received the Young Cultural Figure
Award of the President of the Republic’s Cultural Foundation, and in 2004 the
Annual Prize of the Endowment for Music of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.
In 2007 he was awarded the Annual Music Prize of the Estonian Music Council
for his contribution to Estonian orchestral music.
“Kreek’s Notebook” (“Kreegi vihik”) for choir and strings was first performed
in 2007 by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra
and conductor Tõnu Kaljuste.
The work is based on Estonian spiritual folk tunes that the Estonian composer
Cyrillus Kreek (1989—1962) used and collected. He was the first to thoroughly
and systematically delve into the world of popular versions of church hymns.
Kreek wrote them down and arranged them to three- or four-voice choral casts.
“Kreek’s Notebook” by Tõnu Kõrvits thus presents a new, modern look at these
hymns, yet it sounds as homage to Cyrillus Kreek. The movements of the work
are written for different casts. Tonight there are performed three parts of the eightmovement work, all created for choir and string instruments: I May Jesus, Thee Be
Praised (Estonian folk hymn from Kihnu island), IV Dear Jesus, Do Receive (Estonian
folk hymn from Kolga-Jaani) and VIII I Gaze At The Mountain (Estonian folk hymn
from Saaremaa).
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Photo by Kaupo Kikkas
THE ESTONIAN PHILHARMONIC CHAMBER CHOIR (EPCC) is the Estonia’s best-known
professional music group abroad. The EPCC was founded in 1981 by Tõnu Kaljuste,
who was its artistic director and chief conductor for 20 years. In the years 2001—
2007 the artistic director was Paul Hillier. Since the season 2008/2009 the artistic
director and chief conductor is Daniel Reuss.
The EPCC’s repertoire ranges from Gregorian Chant to the 20th century music.
The choir has a close relationship with Estonian composers Veljo Tormis and Arvo
Pärt, whose music has hold a very special place in its repertoire for many years.
The choir gives 60—70 concerts per season and tours regularly in Europe, the
United States, Canada, and Japan.
The EPCC has worked with famous conductors and orchestras including
Claudio Abbado, Helmuth Rilling, David Willcocks, Eric Ericson, Ivæn Fischer,
Ward Swingle, Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Nikolai Aleksejev, Andrew LawrenceKing, Roland Böer; Norwegian, Australian, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestras, Israel
Philharmonic Orchestra, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Berlin Rundfunk Orchestra,
Concerto Copenhagen, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, etc.
The EPCC has been invited to participate in many famous music festivals all
over the world, for instance BBC Proms, Edinburgh International Festival,
Cheltenham Music Festival, Salzburg Festival, Abu Gosh Music Festival, Moscow
Easter Festival, Bergen International Festival, Gaida Festival etc.
Besides the concerts the recordings for companies ECM, Virgin Classics, Carus,
Harmonia Mundi hold an important place in the choir’s activity. The recordings
have won several prizes, from which the Grammy award for Arvo Pärt’s „Da
Pacem” recorded by the EPCC and Paul Hillier (2007, Harmonia Mundi) is the
most remarkable. Besides, the choir’s recordings with Arvo Pärt’s, Erkki-Sven
Tüür’s and Baltic composers’ music have received eight Grammy nominations.
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TALLINN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA (TCO) was founded in 1993 by the conductor Tõnu
Kaljuste. The members of the orchestra are all outstanding musicians, who often
perform as soloists and are invited to perform with various other orchestras and
ensembles.
In cooperation with the company ECM Tallinn Chamber Orchestra has recorded
many important CD’s: Arvo Pärt’s “Te Deum”, Erkki-Sven Tüür’s “Crystallisatio”,
Arvo Pärt’s “Litany” etc.
Tallinn Chamber Orchestra has performed together with Estonian Philharmonic
Chamber Choir in many prestigious music festivals: Bach Cantatas Festival in
Milan, Bremen Music Festival, Huddersfield Festival of Contemporary Music etc.
Concert tours have taken orchestra and the choir to Canada, USA, Japan and to
many European countries.
The orchestra’s instrumental programmes have been prepared together with
foreign and Estonian conductors, for instance Juha Kangas, John Storgårds, Richard
Tognetti, Terje Tonnesen, Valentin Zhuk, Daniel Raiskin, Samuel Wong, Eri Klas,
Olari Elts, Paul Mägi, Arvo Volmer, Vello Pähn, Kristjan Järvi, Tarmo Leinatamm. In 1993—1995 and 1996—2001 the Artistic Director and General Conductor
of the orchestra was Tõnu Kaljuste, in the seasons 1995/1996 and 2001—2003 Juha
Kangas. At the present the Artistic Director is Eri Klas.
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Photos by Harri Rospu
TÕNU KALJUSTE founded the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir (EPCC) in
1981 and the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra (TCO) in 1993. In 1990s he was also
engaged as principal conductor of Swedish Radio Choir and the Netherlands
Chamber Choir. Freelance conductor since 2001.
In 2004 he initiated the project Nargen Opera which summerly productions’
list includes three operas by Joseph Haydn, and in cooperation with Von Krahl
Theatre Estonian Ballads, Songs of Estonian Women and Songs of Estonian Men by
Veljo Tormis; chamber operas Firegarden and My Swans, My Thoughts by Tõnu
Kõrvits, and Fidelio by Beethoven.
Mr Kaljuste has dedicated a significant part of his work to Estonian composers
(Heino Eller, Arvo Pärt, Veljo Tormis, Erkki-Sven Tüür), whose music he has recorded for ECM. He has also recorded vespers and litanies by Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart, as well as church music by Antonio Vivaldi (Carus). He has collaborated
with composers Arvo Pärt, Alfred Schnittke, György Kurtag, Krzysztof Penderecki,
Erik Bergman, Giya Kancheli, Sven-David Sandström, Knut Nystedt, Einojuhani
Rautavaara, Brett Dean, Lera Auerbach and many others. In 2006 he initiated yet
another project, a yearly Nargen Festival.
He is a Grammy nominee and the winner of several prizes for his recordings
(Diapason d’Or de l’Annee 2000, Cannes Classical Award, Edison Prize).
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ESTONIAN PHILHARMONIC
CHAMBER CHOIR
TALLINN CHAMBER
ORCHESTRA
SOPRANO
Kaia Urb
Vilve Hepner
Tui Hirv
Hele-Mai Poobus
Karoliina Kriis
Maarja Kukk
Kati Jaanimäe
I VIOLIN
Harry Traksmann
Olga Voronova
Katrin Matveus
Marge Uus
Kristjan Hallik
II VIOLIN
Kaido Välja
Pille Prans
Mai Rosenroth
Kadi Vilu
Kristel Arund
ALTO
Marianne Pärna
Helis Naeris
Merili Kristal
Ave Hännikäinen
Juta Roopalu-Malk
Evelin Ester
VIOLA
Martti Mägi
Kristiina Olev
Laur Eensalu
Arvo Haasma
TENOR
Tiit Kogerman
Martin Lume
Kaido Janke
Toomas Tohert
Raul Mikson
Vladislav Horuþenko
CELLO
Leho Karin
Kaido Kelder
Margus Uus
BASS
Kalev Keeroja
Aarne Talvik
Märt Krell
Tõnu Tormis
Rainer Vilu
Hideyuki Nishimura
Ott Indermitte
CONTRABASS
Jüri Lepp
Janel Altroff
PIANO
Marrit Gerretz-Traksmann
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