Kaspars Putnins and Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir at Hoddinott Hall |
Tallinn Chamber Orchestra |
The orchestra often works without a conductor, with rehearsals being democratic under Harry Traksmann who has been the leader since 1997. One of the players commented, 'We're family, we have our quarrels; the principal violin decides but we all have our say'. The orchestra performs a lot of Estonian music; Margit Tohver-Aints said that more than half of their programs include Estonian music, for example in May 2015 they played Estonian composers in every concert. Their 2015/16 season opens with a piece by a 21 year-old-composer, and Tõnu Kõrvits is their composer in residence. They will be performing two new works by him including an hour-long song cycle for choir and orchestra, to be performed with the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir.
Regarding playing new music, one of the players said that 'we consider ourselves very flexible, never saying bad things about music we don't know about', whilst the other commented that 'we learn more about our instruments when we play contemporary music'.
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir photo Kaupo Kikkas |
Kreek's piece was sacred one, traditional sounding with a warm, lyrical sound. Arvo Pärt's was rather a surprise, being remarkable perky with multiple things going on, and words including the Latin Te Deum. Though the use of a chattering melody was unusual in Arvo Pärt, the way he handled the other material round it was familiar and evinced stunning control from the choir. Veljo Tormis's piece was one of his St John's Day songs, and they sang with a lovely freedom, very toe-tapping with a sense of joy.
Kaspers Putnins talked to Peter Reynolds about the choir and the music they had performed. He explained that the music of Cyrillus Kreek (1889-1962) dates from an important time for singing and for music in the Baltic region, and there is still a background of traditional songs which are widely sung in Estonia but unknown elsewhere.
Putnins felt that Arvo Pärt's 1996 piece, Dopo la vittoria showed him to be a man of humour and that when the choir first performed it in Arvo Pärt's presence, he was dancing. Veljo Tormis is expert in the folk songs of Estonia, and his St John's Day songs are arrangements.
Kaspars Putnins is Lativian and also conducts a choir in Latvia. Though both countries have strong singing traditions, he feels that the choral traditions have different roots, the traditional music is different as is the language. But there is a lot in common too in the musical culture, language and phrasing is important. Intriguingly, at their concert the previous night the group had performed Veljo Tormis's Tower Bell in my Village in an English translation.
Helena Tulve |
Tõnu Kõrvits - photo Kaupo Kikkas |
Tõnu Kõrvits musical background has included a great deal of arranging. He explained that his father was a professional arranger and that when Tõnu Kõrvits was 30 he had to help his father with some work. He ended up doing arrangements in lots of styles, including rock and big band. It taught him a lot, and he developed empathy with a variety of different styles and worked with all kinds of musicians.
He explained that his Elegies of Thule (which we had heard at Tallinn Chamber Orchestra's concert earlier that day), referred to a mystical Nordic land, presumed to be in western Estonia. He is influenced by Estonian nature and uses the sounds of nature in his music a lot. The Elegies of Thule use nature, the night wind and stars in the first movement, the second includes old tunes from Estonia which imitate bells, and the third is based in a religious folk-tune from western Estonia, the heart of Thule.
Märt-Matis Lill - photo EestiFoto |
The previous night his work The Dream Stream had been given its UK premiere by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir. This was a piece immersed in Scandinavian folk culture. He had head the music of the Sami people and it had made a big effect, and he had started to use it in works. Sami pieces tended not to have a beginning or and end, they reflect the state of mind of the singer; this is a different concept to Western music and he tries to bring something of it into his music. He explained that a lot of his music comes from external stimulus, where literary or philosophical but that since getting older his music had become more abstract.
The afternoon provided just a brief taster of the liveliness and vitality of contemporary music in Estonia. Whilst the name Arvo Pärt is best known, there are generations of musicians following him in a vibrant musical culture.
Elsewhere on this blog:
- East of Tallinn: Orient Music Festival - conference report
- Surrender: Ilona Domnich in an imaginative opera arias recital - CD review
- Bach Pilgrimage revisited: Cantatas volume 8, John Eliot Gardiner - CD review
- Myth and magic: Andrew Griffiths & Londinium - concert review
- Stunning display: Tallinn Chamber Orchestra in Cardiff - concert review
- Vocal quality, distinctive style: Voces8 Lux - CD review
- Something for the weekend: Music at Paxton celebrates it 10th festival - interview
- Finely crafted: Till the stars fall - CD review
- Heroic indeed: Bryan Hymel Heroique - CD review
- Show-stopping: Jessic Pratt at Rosenblatt Recitals - concert review
- Vivaldi's Women in action: A visit to the Pieta - concert review
- Post-minimal modes: Michael Vincent Waller - CD review
- Home
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