Notes and Editorial Reviews
It's hard to imagine a composer "retiring" (as good an idea as it might be for some we can think of), but that's just what the Estonian Veljo Tormis did in 2000 at age 70. And the more of his music we hear--and thankfully, that's getting easier to do these days--the more sorry we are that he's not continuing to write new works. For choral fans this disc is a treasure, and I'd be surprised if it doesn't become an oft-played favorite. The reason: the music is invariably tuneful, harmonically inventive, and tonal, the rhythms primordial and born of both text and culture, all accomplished with an assured command of choral writing, of how to make music of the most compelling kind with nothing
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but voices.
Tormis' well-known "evangelism" for his homeland's folksongs is vividly on display in many of the works featured here (the program also contains several "original", pre-folksong-period pieces); but as we have heard before (type Q4756 and Q8046 in Search Reviews), the composer is far from an "arranger" of these tunes. He creates entirely new entities out of them while still preserving the original song, the inflection and meaning of its language, and what I can only describe as its cultural ambience. You hear the music and you can tell where you are--and in some cases, what the song is about--without knowing the language itself.
Evocative is another apt description of Tormis' choral music, especially in his settings of Estonian "game songs", or "The Wave Rolls", the several lullabies, and in the striking sounds of the "Herding calls". Many of these works demonstrate Tormis' very clever use of ostinatos and other repetitive devices--for instance the hypnotic effect in the lullaby "Wee winkie mouse" or the scurrying then rolling rush of clouds in "Clouds are racing" and the lilting, dancing "Daughters of the Meadow Matron" as they "go swaying merrily and playing...on blades of bent grass." Tormis also uses harmony to create special moods, as in the jazz-influenced "Pale light" and "The finger-binding game".
There's so much here to enjoy--and play over again--and it's remarkable how Stephen Layton and his Holst Singers have so convincingly captured the flavor and character of the music and language--we usually only hear native choirs in this repertoire. The sound, from London's All Hallows Church, Gospel Oak, is just perfect--and Meurig Bowen's excellent notes complete an all-around first-rate release. This immediately joins my "best discs of the year" list!
--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com
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Works on This Recording
1.
Singing Aboard Ship by Veljo Tormis
Conductor:
Stephen Layton
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Holst Singers
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1983; Estonia
Length: 4 Minutes 59 Secs.
2.
Songs (2) after Ernst Enno: Early Summer's Fairy Tale by Veljo Tormis
Conductor:
Stephen Layton
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Holst Singers
Period: 20th Century
Length: 2 Minutes 35 Secs.
3.
Songs (2) after Ernst Enno: Soundless somewhere, murmurings homeward by Veljo Tormis
Conductor:
Stephen Layton
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Holst Singers
Period: 20th Century
Length: 5 Minutes 21 Secs.
4.
Estonian Game Songs (3): no 1, The grindstone game by Veljo Tormis
Conductor:
Stephen Layton
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Holst Singers
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1972/1992; Estonia
Length: 2 Minutes 14 Secs.
5.
Estonian Game Songs (3): no 2, The finger-binding game by Veljo Tormis
Conductor:
Stephen Layton
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Holst Singers
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1972/1992; Estonia
Length: 2 Minutes 17 Secs.
6.
Estonian Game Songs (3): no 3, The ship game by Veljo Tormis
Conductor:
Stephen Layton
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Holst Singers
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1972/1992; Estonia
Length: 2 Minutes 44 Secs.
7.
Songs (3) from Epic "Kalevipoeg": O my gentle, tender mother by Veljo Tormis
Conductor:
Stephen Layton
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Holst Singers
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1960; Estonia
Length: 2 Minutes 39 Secs.
8.
Songs (3) from Epic "Kalevipoeg": Daughters of the Meadow Matron by Veljo Tormis
Conductor:
Stephen Layton
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Holst Singers
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1960; Estonia
Length: 2 Minutes 53 Secs.
9.
Songs (3) from Epic "Kalevipoeg": The wave rolls by Veljo Tormis
Conductor:
Stephen Layton
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Holst Singers
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1960; Estonia
Length: 5 Minutes 9 Secs.
10.
Forgotten Peoples: Livonian Heritage - Walking the birds by Veljo Tormis
Conductor:
Stephen Layton
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Holst Singers
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1970-1989
Length: 5 Minutes 53 Secs.
11.
Forgotten Peoples: Livonian Heritage - At Pasture by Veljo Tormis
Conductor:
Stephen Layton
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Holst Singers
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1970-1989
Length: 3 Minutes 28 Secs.
12.
Forgotten Peoples: Livonian Heritage - Shrovetide by Veljo Tormis
Conductor:
Stephen Layton
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Holst Singers
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1970-1989
Length: 1 Minutes 47 Secs.
13.
Forgotten Peoples: Livonian Heritage - Wee winkie mouse "Lullaby" by Veljo Tormis
Conductor:
Stephen Layton
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Holst Singers
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1970-1989
Length: 2 Minutes 42 Secs.
14.
Forgotten Peoples: Livonian Heritage - Sang the father, sang the son by Veljo Tormis
Conductor:
Stephen Layton
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Holst Singers
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1970-1989
Length: 2 Minutes 56 Secs.
15.
Autumn Landscapes: no 1, It is late summer by Veljo Tormis
Conductor:
Stephen Layton
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Holst Singers
Period: 20th Century
Length: 1 Minutes 28 Secs.
16.
Autumn Landscapes: no 2, Clouds are racing by Veljo Tormis
Conductor:
Stephen Layton
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Holst Singers
Period: 20th Century
Length: 1 Minutes 23 Secs.
17.
Autumn Landscapes: no 3, Pale light by Veljo Tormis
Conductor:
Stephen Layton
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Holst Singers
Period: 20th Century
Length: 1 Minutes 22 Secs.
18.
Autumn Landscapes: no 4, Painfully red are the leaves by Veljo Tormis
Conductor:
Stephen Layton
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Holst Singers
Period: 20th Century
Length: 0 Minutes 45 Secs.
19.
Autumn Landscapes: no 5, Wind over the barrens by Veljo Tormis
Conductor:
Stephen Layton
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Holst Singers
Period: 20th Century
Length: 1 Minutes 7 Secs.
20.
Autumn Landscapes: no 6, Cold autumn night by Veljo Tormis
Conductor:
Stephen Layton
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Holst Singers
Period: 20th Century
Length: 1 Minutes 23 Secs.
21.
Autumn Landscapes: no 7, Heather by Veljo Tormis
Conductor:
Stephen Layton
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Holst Singers
Period: 20th Century
Length: 1 Minutes 31 Secs.
22.
Estonian Lullabies (4): no 1, I sing for my child by Veljo Tormis
Conductor:
Stephen Layton
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Holst Singers
Period: 20th Century
Length: 1 Minutes 19 Secs.
23.
Estonian Lullabies (4): no 2, It's time for the little berry to sleep by Veljo Tormis
Conductor:
Stephen Layton
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Holst Singers
Period: 20th Century
Length: 1 Minutes 50 Secs.
24.
Estonian Lullabies (4): no 3, Let the cradle swing by Veljo Tormis
Conductor:
Stephen Layton
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Holst Singers
Period: 20th Century
Length: 1 Minutes 35 Secs.
25.
Estonian Lullabies (4): no 4, Lulling by Veljo Tormis
Conductor:
Stephen Layton
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Holst Singers
Period: 20th Century
Length: 2 Minutes 13 Secs.
26.
Herding Calls by Veljo Tormis
Conductor:
Stephen Layton
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Holst Singers
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1982; Estonia
Length: 8 Minutes 2 Secs.
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