Veljo Tormis

• DIGIPACK EDITION

The elemental power of ancient folk music is the lifeforce that drives the compositions of Veljo Tormis (1930-2017). As the great Estonian composer famously said, “I do not use folk song. It is folk song that uses me.” This sentiment is echoed in definitive performances by the Estonian Philharmonic Choir and the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Tõnu Kaljuste, for decades one of Tormis’s closest musical associates.

Four orchestral cycles celebrate the changing seasons: Autumn Landscapes, Winter Patterns, Spring Sketches, Summer Motifs. And three pieces – Worry Breaks The Spirit, Hamlet’s Songs and Herding Calls – feature new arrangements by Tõnu Kaljuste, continuing and commemorating Tormis’s work. The album opens with The Tower Bell In My Village which Kaljuste commissioned 45 years ago. It sets words by Fernando Pessoa that seem entirely pertinent in the context of this tribute. “Oh death, it’s a bend in the road/You can’t be seen when you’ve passed by/But still your steps continue…”

PERSONNEL:

• Annika Lõhmus - (soprano)
• Iris Oja - (Mezzo soprano)
• Indrek Vau - (trumpet)
• Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir

Recorded October & November 2020, Methodist Church, Tallinn

TRACKS:

• 01. The Tower Bell in My Village
• 02. Worry Breaks the Spirit
• Melancholy Songs
• 03. I. The Singer's Childhood
• 04. Maidens' Sorrow
• 05. III. Orphan's Lament
• Reminiscentia - Autumn Landscapes
• 06. I. It is Late Summer
• 07. II. Clouds Racing Across the Sky
• 08. III. Pale Light
• 09. IV. Painfully Red Leaves
• 10. V. Wind Along the Heath
• 11. VI. Cold Autumn Night
• 12. VII. Sad Purple Heather
• Reminiscentia - Winter Patterns
• 13. I. Winter Morning
• 14. II. Cold
• 15. III. Blizzard
• 16. IV. Northern Lights
• Reminiscentia - Spring Sketches
• 17. I. Spring Wind
• 18. II. Buds Leafing Out
• 19. III. Evening Sky
• 20. IV. Under the Bird Cherry Tree
• 21. V. Yellow Flame
• 22. VI. In Late Spring
• Reminiscentia - Summer Motifs
• 23. I. Dry Weather
• 24. II. Thunderstorm
• 25. III. Summer Night
• Reminiscentia
• 26. Three I Had These Words of Beauty
• 27. Hamlet's Songs I
• 28. Herding Calls - Childhood Memories