ESTONIAN NOvEMbER 20, 2013 ST. THOMAS AquINAS PHILHARMONIC CHAMBER CHOIR DAnIEl REuss Artistic Director/Chief Conductor PROGRAM Mart Saar Noore veljo, veeritage / Young Brethren, Sing! (1930) Seitse sammeldanud sängi / Seven Moss-Grown Beds (1919) Cyrillus Kreek Sirisege, sirbikesed / Sing, Sickles! (1919) Lauliku omaksed / Singer’s Kinsfolk (Male choir) (1955) Talvine õhtu / Winter Evening (1921) Veljo Tormis Jaanilaulud / St John’s Day Songs (from cycle Estonian Calendar Songs) (1967) Cyrillus Kreek Three David Psalms Psalm 22 (1923) Psalm 104 (1923) Õnnis on inimene / Blessed is the Man (1923) Arvo Pärt Da Pacem Domine (2006) Dopo la Vittoria (1998) Two Slavonic Psalms (1984/1997) Psalm 117 Psalm 131 Magnificat (1989) This performance will be presented without an intermission. The EPCC’s 2013 USA tour is made possible through the support of the Estonian Ministry of Culture. www.epee.ee Exclusive Tour Management Opus 3 Artists 470 Park Avenue South, 9th Floor North New York, NY 10016 www.opus3artists.com ESTONIAN PHILHARMONIC CHAMbER CHOIR USA NOVEMBER 2013 Soprano Tenor Kaia Urb Martin Lume Karoliina Kriis Kaido Janke Kristine Muldma Toomas Tohert Hele-Mall Leego Raul Mikson Annika Lõhmus Martinš Zvigulis Hele-Mai Poobus Madis Enson Kadri-Liis Kukk Bass Alto Aarne Talvik Marianne Pärna Tõnu Tormis Karin Salumäe Rainer Vilu Helis Naeris Henry Tiisma Merili Kristal Andreas Väljamäe Annika Kuuda Olari Viikholm Anna Dõtõna Ott Kask Chorus-master Heli Jürgenson For Opus 3 Artists David V. Foster, President & CEO Robert Berretta, Vice President, Senior Director, Artists & Atractions Booking, Manager, Artists & Attractions Leonard Stein, Senior Vice President, Director, Touring Division Adelaide Docx, Associate Manager, Artists & Atractions John C. Gilliland III, Associate, Touring Division Lauren Tesoriero, Associate, Attractions Nadia Mokhoff, Tour Manager Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir Toompuiestee 20 10149 Tallinn, ESTONIA Tel +372 6609604, 56 262 555 Fax: +372 6609601 E-mail: [email protected] www.epcc.ee AbOuT EsTOnIAn PHIlHARMOnIC CHAMBER CHOIR Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir (EPCC) is one of the best-known Estonian music groups in the world. The EPCC was founded by Tõnu Kaljuste in 1981, who was the artistic director and chief conductor for twenty years. In 2001–2007, the English musician Paul Hillier took over, in the seasons 2008/2009-2012/2013 the artistic director and chief conductor was Daniel Reuss. The repertoire of the choir extends from Gregorian chant and baroque to the music of the 21th century, ever special focus on the work of Estonian composers (Arvo Pärt, Veljo Tormis, Erkki-Sven Tüür, Galina Grigoryeva, Toivo Tulev, Tõnu Kõrvits, Helena Tulve) and introducing it to the world. Each season the choir gives about 60–70 concerts in Estonia and abroad. The EPCC has cooperated with a number of outstanding conductors and orchestras – Claudio Abbado, Helmuth Rilling, Eric Ericson, Ward Swingle, Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Nikolai Alekseyev, Olari Elts, Andrew Lawrence- King, Roland Böer, Frieder Bernius, Stephen Layton, Marc Minkowski, Christoph Poppen, Sir Colin Davis, Louis Langree; with Norwegian, Australian, Lithuanian, Prague and Stuttgardt Chamber Orchestras, Lon- don Symphony Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Berlin Rundfunk Orchestra, Concerto Copenhagen, Concerto Palatino, Salzburg Camerata, Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble, London Symphony Orchestra and with Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra. The EPCC has been a welcome guest at numerous music festivals and outstanding venues all over the world, for instance at BBC Proms, Mozart- woche, Abu Gosh Music Festival, Hong Kong Arts Festival, Moscow Easter Festival, Musikfest Bremen, Salzburg Festspiele, Edinburgh International Festival, Festival Aix-en-Provence, International Cervantino Festival, Vale of Glamorgan, Bergen International Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Sydney Opera House, Wiener Konzerthaus, Amsterdam Concert- gebouw etc. Another important aspect in the choir’s life is recording music (for ECM, Virgin Classics, Carus, Harmonia Mundi, Ondine), resulting in award- winning CDs, including the album Arvo Pärt. Da Pacem (Harmonia Mundi 2006) which won the Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance. All in all, the choir has 15 Grammy nominations with the works by Arvo Pärt, Erkki-Sven Tüür and the music of Nordic countries. The EPCC recordings have won also the award Diapason d’or, Preis der Deutschen Schallplatten- kritik, Danish Music Award etc. bIOS Daniel Reuss Artistic Director & Chief Conductor Daniel Reuss (born 1961) studied with Barend Schuurman at the Rotter- dam Conservatory. In 1990, he became director of Cappella Amsterdam, which he turned into a full-time professional ensemble that is now one of the most sought after in the Netherlands. From 2003 until 2006 he was chief conductor of the RIAS Kammerchor in Berlin, with whom he recorded a number of successful CDs, like Le Vin Herbé (Martin), Solomon (Händel) and Les Noces (Stravinsky). Their CD’s won several awards, like Preis der Deutsche Schallplattenkritik, Echo Award, Midem Classical Award, Diapason d’Or, Choc du Monde de la Mu- sique, Gramophone’s Editor’s Choice. During the season 2008/2009-2012/2013 Reuss was the artistic director and chief conductor of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir (EPCC). Reuss and the choir have had success in important European cultural cen- tres and at festivals, including Wiener Konzerthaus, Paisley Choral Festival in Scotland, Schwetzingen Festival in Germany, L’été musical in France etc. He has also commissioned new pieces from Estonian composers (Grigo- ryeva, Krigul, Kõrvits) and cooperated with other Estonian music groups (the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and Corelli Baroque Orchestra). Daniel Reuss has been invited to conduct chamber ensembles and orches- tras throughout Europe. Among these may be mentioned the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, MusikFabrik, Scharoun Ensemble and the Radio Cham- ber Philharmonic. In summer 2006, at the invitation of Pierre Boulez, Daniel Reuss teached and conducted at the Lucerne Festival Academy. In February 2007 Reuss made his debut at the English National Opera, with Händel’s Agrippina. In 2008 he directed at De Munt/La Monnaie in Bruxelles, with the Dido & Aeneas-production of stage director Sasha Waltz. The Diapason d’Or of the year 2009 was awarded to the CD of Cappella Amsterdam (Lux Aeterna) with works of Ligeti and Heppener. bIOS In 2010, he was nominated together with Cappella Amsterdam, the EPCC and the Estonian Philharmonic Orchestra for a Grammy for best choral performance for the recording of Martin›s Golgotha. For more information, please visit: www.danielreuss.com Heli Jürgenson Chorus-master Heli Jürgenson (1969) has studied choir conducting at Georg Ots Tallinn Music School and Tallinn Conservatoire. Since 1992 she is a tutor of the choir conducting speciality at Georg Ots Music School. Heli Jürgenson is the con- ductor of the Estonian Society Mixed Choir since it was founded in 1993. She has conducted also Charles Church Concert Choir and many other choirs. In 2001–2012 she was engaged as a chorus master at the Estonian National Opera. She has prepared many oratorial works as Kreek’s Requiem, Mozart’s C flat Mass, Verdi’s Requiem, Brahms’ German Requiem etc. Heli Jürgenson has made cooperation with Estonian concert organisations as Eesti Kont- sert, Crescendo, Promfest and others. Heli Jürgenson is known also as a conductor at the Estonian Song Celebra- tions. She has been the artistic director of the Finnish-Estonian Song Festi- val and Sacred Music Festivals. Since 2012 Heli Jürgenson is the chorus master of the Estonian Philharmon- ic Chamber Choir. PROGRAM NOTES MART SAAR (1882–1963) Noore veljo, veeritage / Young Brethren, Sing! Seitse sammeldanud sängi / Seven Moss-Grown Beds Mart Saar (1882–1963) is the founder of the Estonian national music style and one of its most powerful representatives. He was a composer, organ virtuoso, pianist, music critic, pedagogue, traveller and a great friend of na- ture. He graduated the organ class at St Petersburg Conservatoire in 1908, studied composition with Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov and furthered his studies with Anatoli Lyadov. He worked in Tartu and Tallinn, but his heart belonged to his birthplace farm in the forests of Hüpassaare in Estonia, where the best part of his work was written. In Saar’s creation, modernistic trends are imbued with Estonian folk tunes and the colours of Nordic land- scapes. The list of his works includes almost 400 choral and about 180 solo songs, plus 120 piano pieces and some works for orchestra. Yet at his most powerful was Saar in choral music, which is always finely polished, reveal- ing the composer’s refined sense of colour, the richness of his fantasy and his vivid artistic perception. The best of Mart Saar’s songs is of specially high quality and vocally highly demanding, something for only the best of choirs. CYRILLUS KREEK (1889–1962) Sirisege, sirbikesed / Sing, Sickles! Lauliku omaksed / Singer’s Kinsfolk (Male choir) Talvine õhtu / Winter Evening Cyrillus Kreek (1889–1962) is one of the greatest masters of Estonian choral music. He studied at the St Petersburg Conservatory, then worked as music teacher in Haapsalu (in western Estonia) and later in the Tallinn Conservatory. For decades he committed himself to collecting Estonian folk tunes, both religious and secular. He was the first Estonian collector to use the phonograph recorder. His folk music files contain about 6,000 tunes and more than 500 various arrangements of them. The religious folk song is a unique phenomenon in Estonian culture, relating the Estonians or- ganically to European cultural traditions. Kreek has added crisp Northern colouring to these old melodies known in all Lutheran countries. Kreek’s magnum opus was his Requiem, but the essence of his music is perfectly expressed in his choral miniatures. PROGRAM NOTES VELJO TORMIS (1930) Jaanilaulud / St John’s Day Songs Veljo Tormis (1930), one of the greatest masters in Estonian music, has composed almost exclusively for the voice – songs, cycles, and large-scale compositions for different choruses, some stage-works and cycles of solo songs, and single instrumental pieces – more than 60 cycles and 100 choral works. The most essential part of his work is choral music, which is con- nected with the ancient folk song of Estonians and other Finnic peoples. The best-known compositions in this field are the „Curse Upon Iron” („Raua needmine”) and the cycles „Estonian Calendar Songs” („Eesti kalen- drilaulud”) and „Forgotten Peoples” („Unustatud rahvad”) on the motifs of Livonian, Votic, Izhorian, Ingrian Finnish, Vepsian and Karelian folklore. Veljo Tormis had explained that for him all music starts from words, he needs a text for composing. He has emphasized that he cannot (or does not want to) write music for pleasure or entertainment, his music has always something to say about the world, nature, men, and peoples. Veljo Tor- mis studied composition at the Moscow Conservatoire, and organ, choral conducting and composition in Tallinn Conservatoire. He has taught at the Tallinn Music School and worked in the Estonian Composers’ Union. St John’s Day Songs is the fifth part in the cycle Estonian Calendar Songs (1967) and it is written for female and male chorus. The songs of this cycle are dedicated to “Midsummer” (24 June), which was the most important feast in Estonia, celebrating the end of springtime work in the fields and the beginning of haymaking. Tormis itself considers this cycle as a turing point in his artistic life, because he had discovered for himself the Estonian ancient runo songs as a synchretic phenomen, which besides the melody and words, comprises a specific form and manner of performance, and the social function of the song – an integral part of a nation’s life. PROGRAM NOTES CYRILLUS KREEK (1889–1962) Three Psalms of David Psalm 22 Psalm 104 Õnnis on inimene / Blessed is the Man Cyrillus Kreek wrote a number of sacred songs on texts of psalms – the Psalms of David –, which attract the listener by their melody develop- ments, created by special consideration of the lyrics and crisp harmony. Psalm 22, My God! My God! Why hast Thou Forsaken Me? is written in 1914, Psalm 104 Bless the Lord, My Soul and “Õnnis on inimene” (Blessed Is the Man) are composed in 1923. The common feature of these psalms is their emotional balance, which, however, does not become uninspired or one- levelled. ARVO PÄRT (1935) Da Pacem Domine Dopo la Vittoria Two Slavonic Psalms Magnificat Estonian-born Arvo Pärt (1935) is one of these composers whose creative output has significantly changed the way we understand the nature of mu- sic. Today he is foremost recognised for his unique tintinnabuli style, and his earlier modernistic works are less known, still all his ouvre broadens our understanding of music. He was born in in Paide, Estonia. After studies in Tallinn State Conserva- tory, he worked as a sound engineer for Estonian Radio. Since late 1960s Pärt has been free-lance composer. He emigrated with his family to Vienna in 1980, and a year later travelled to Berlin, where he lived for 30 years. In 2011 Pärt returned to Estonia where he resides today. In 2010 the fam- ily founded The International Arvo Pärt Centre, which holds composer’s personal archive. Pärt’s intensive study of Gregorian chant and renaissance polyphony led him to his new outlook on music. But the very essence of tintinnabuli is based on the original concept of two musical lines – so-called melodic and triadic voice – which are connected by strict rules and join to form an PROGRAM NOTES inseparable dualistic whole. Thus the nucleus of tintinnabuli establishes a new kind of musical paradigm: radically different approach to both vertical and horizontal aspects of music, as well as to tonal, atonal or modal music in the broadest sense. The inner structure of tintinnabuli compositions is highly organised, often based on algorithms and other mathematical formulas. The musical material of Pärt’s works is extremely concentrated, reduced to the essential; expression – pure and intense. He is among these very few composers who give silence the significant role in their music and truly ask the listener to pay homage to the silence as music’s genuine home. His ’musical Credo’ is rooted in Christianity and since the Word (Logos) plays a vital and even structural role in Pärt’s compositional process, his works are mostly based on liturgical texts. Pärt’s ouvre includes large-scale compositions like Passio (1982), Te Deum (1985/92), Miserere (1989/92), Magnificat (1989), Berliner Messe (1990/2002), Litany (1994/96), Kanon Pokajanen (1997), Como cierva sedienta (1998/2002), In principio (2003) as well as numerous choral pieces and chamber music. 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 (2006) for mixed choir a cappella is an eloquent exam- ple of Pärt at his most characteristic – a simple texture (four parts through- out), 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. Dopo la Vittoria (1998) – a piccolo cantata for mixed choir a is commis- sioned by the City of Milan on occasion of the 1600th anniversary of the death of St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan. The text of Dopo la Vittoria comes from the encyclopaedia “A Historical Survey of Ecclesiastical Singers and Songs” (author of the encyclopaedia: Archbishop Philaret, published in St.