Erkki-Sven Tüür (1959) is one of the most versatile composers in Estonia. From 1976 to 1980 he studied
the flute at the Tallinn Georg Ots Music School, continuing with the studies of composition at the Tallinn
State Conservatory (now the Estonian Academy of Music) with Jaan Rääts. Graduating from the Conservatory
in 1984, he took private classes from Lepo Sumera and pursued further studies at the Zentrum für Kunst
und Medien in Karslruhe in 1991. The beginning of Erkki-Sven Tüür's career as a composer dates back
to the emergence of the rock band In Spe in 1979; the band would perform his evolving compositions enriched
with stylistic elements of Medieval music and electronic sounds.
The works of Tüür include large-scale oratorical pieces, symphonic pieces for orchestra, chamber and
stage music. An important place among his oratorical works belongs to the oratorio "Ante finem saeculi"
(1985), to "Lumen et cantus" and to the Requiem in the memory of Peeter Lilje (1994), which won the
second prize of the general vote at the UNESCO Rostrum in Paris in 1995. Among his orchestral pieces
one should mention his four symphonies (1984, 1987, 1997, and 2000), as well as "Exodus" (1999),
dedicated to Paavo Järvi who conducted the first performance of the piece in Birmingham in October 1999.
The fourth symphony, with the full title "Magma / Symphony No. 4" (2002) has been composed on the
commission of the percussion virtuoso Evelyn Glennie. From the list of Tüür's works one can find instrumental
concertos too: in 1999 he completed the Cello Concerto for David Geringas and in 1997 the Violin Concerto
which was first performed at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt by the Dutch violin player Isabelle van Keulen. In
2001 Tüür's opera "Wallenberg" premièred in Dortmund.
Erkki-Sven Tüür has written lots of chamber music as well, a great part of which has been united into
a programmatic cycle "Architectonics I-VII": the first part of the series was completed in 1984 and the last
one, "Architectonics VII", in 1992.
"Lamentatio" (1995) was commissioned by the Stockholm saxophone Quartet who first performed it
in Tallinn on January 31 of the same year. The first phase of the piece sounds as a static absorption into
the rich timbre spectrum of the saxophone. Gradually the text would grow thinner and there would appear
clear polyphonic lines, which are in turn taken over by sequences of chords. Rhythmic activity begins to
prevail only in the middle of the piece, and from that point on every player of the sax quartet would act also
as a soloist. "Lamentatio" as a whole is framed by the static of the timbres, reappearing at the end of the
piece.
Lepo Sumera's (1950-2000) work is one of the most significant milestones of the Estonian music,
comprising six symphonies (written in 1981, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1995, and 2000), the oratorio "Armastuse
ja tulega" ("With Love and Fire", 1997), the Piano Concerto (1989), the Cello Concerto (1998), the ballet
"Anselmi lugu" ("Anselm's Story", 1978, after the fairy tales of E.T. A. Hoffmann), the chamber opera
"Olivia meistriklass" ("Olivia's Master Class", 1997, after the novel by Ervin Õunapuu), the multimedia
performance "Südameasjad" ("Heart Matters", 1999), Three Shakespeare's Sonnets for soprano, narrator,
boys' choir and orchestra (1996), Concerto grosso (2000), numerous chamber works, and music for more
than 70 films and plays.
Lepo Sumera studied composition with Veljo Tormis at the Tallinn Music High School and proceeded
with the studies at the Tallinn State Conservatory during the years 1968-1973, being the last student of
Heino Eller. After Eller's death in 1970, Sumera continued his studies with Heino Jürisalu. Already Sumera's
first orchestral piece "In memoriam" (1972, written in the memory of Heino Eller) reveals the composer's
fine ear in using different tonal hues of the orchestra. This piece marks also the breakthrough of the composer,
being performed in the 1970s in several countries. Within thirty years, Sumera's handwriting has been
constantly changing: if in the 1970s it was characterised by free atonality, in the eighties his style was
prevailed by diatonic modes and in the nineties by the use of electronic means.
Besides a prolific creative life, Lepo Sumera had enough energy for amazing social activities: he has been
the Minister of Culture of Estonia (1988-1992), and from 1993 to 2000 he worked both as a professor
at the Estonian Academy of Music and as the Chairman of the Estonian Composers' Union. Lepo Sumera
was also the first director of the studio of electronic music at the Estonian Academy of Music (1995-1999).
The musical material of the first part (Moderato con espressione. Quasi parlando) of the saxophone
quartet "Con Anima" (1997) is based on short melodic phrases and predominantly diatonic modes. The
frequent repetitions on a single note would form an image on its own. It is as if the saxophones were exchanging
with each other short motifs, creating thus a "musical conversation" at a moderate pace. The second movement,
"Con anima", will instead proceed in a rather hasty tempo; here as well the repetitions have an important
role, though now they serve to support the rhythmic activity. This is why the second movement seems to pass
in a single breath.
"Lupus in fabula" (1998) is a cycle in seven parts, in which each component of the cycle will acquire
an attractively characteristic profile. While the characteristic feature of the first part is the tonal colour, in
the second part it will be the rhythm, in the third a play on the overtones, and in the fourth a somewhat
grotesque dance. And so on - every part has got its witty device. For example, in the last part the device is
the intertwining of Philip Glass' Minimalist style and Baroque elements.
Esko Oja (1973) graduated from the Estonian Academy of Music in 1995, having studied composition
with Eino Tamberg. From the 1990s on his style seems to be clearly influenced by jazz. He is so far the only
Estonian composer who has composed a trombone concerto (1997).
The arrangement of the first part of Esko Oja's Saxophone Quartet displays instantly the composers
predilection for jazz, or better still, one can discern the rhythms of fusion as well. The second part continues
in a more mainstream-like atmosphere: this impression is created both by the refined harmony and the
melodic pattern of the soloists. On the other hand, in the performance of that part the listener can perceive
a free improvisational play. But the finale with its irregular metres would steer the music into a different
track; the repetitive figures of the latter can be associated rather with (Post)-Minimalism than fusion. As a
conclusion one could say that this piece may be easy to listen to, but it is by no means an easy task for the
musicians to perform it in the rigt mood.
Eino Tamberg (1930) is equally prolific in symphonic, stage and chamber music; the list of his works
contains operas ("Raudne kodu" / "An Iron Home", 1965; "Cyrano de Bergerac", 1974; "Lend" / "Flight",
1983), ballets (A Ballet-Symphony, 1959; "Poiss ja liblik" / "The Boy and the Butterfly", 1963; "Joanna
tentata", 1970), four symphonies (written in 1978, 1986, 1989, and 1998), instrumental concertos
(Trumpet Concerto No. 1, 1972; Trumpet Concerto No. 2, 1997; Violin Concerto, 1981; Carinet Concerto,
1996), the oratorio "Amores" (1981), and numerous chamber pieces. His international breakthrough came
with the Concerto grosso (1956), which is considered a significant mark in the Estonian modernism.
Eino Tamberg is highly valued as a teacher and works as a professor at the Estonian Academy of Music.
Composers such as Raimo Kangro, Peeter Vähi, Mari Vihmand, Toivo Tulev, Alo Mattiisen, and others have
graduated from his composition class.
It is difficult to give Tamberg's music a strict stylistic definition. While in his works of the 1950s or the
1960s one could detect a Neoclassicist clarity of forms, his pieces of the 1970s and the 1980s disclose a
Neoromantic melodic richness and euphony. Tamberg's compositions of the 1990s can in turn be described
as Expressionistically tense.
It may be suggested that saxophone belongs to Tamberg's favourite instruments; in fact, he has written
a Saxophone Concerto op.79 in 1987. In the "Play for Five in Four Acts for Sax Quartet and Percussion"
op.91 (1994, first performance in 1995), the sounds of the saxophone quartet have been enriched by the
percussion. The texture of the first part, Entrances. Con moto, begins to grow denser gradually, and the first
expressionistically tense would appear quite so unnoticeably, finding however their way to the next movement.
So the first two episodes of the work would form a kind of couple on the basis of the related motifs. But the
third part, beginning with a chime, exposes a new, lyric-epic character. The finale Collision. Death of Alto.
Tender Farewell. Furioso. Lento has the most complex structure: in its energetic staccatos the motorics would
proceed like a toccata, until the contrasting summary where the dominant force consists in the slowly flowing
melodic arches.
Tõnu Kõrvits (1969) graduated from the Tallinn Music High School in music theory in 1994 and completed
his studies of composition with Raimo Kangro at the Estonian Academy of Music in 1994, continuing the
postgraduate studies with Professor Jaan Rääts in 1994-1999. Tõnu Kõrvits was chosen among the ten best
young arrangers in Europe who were invited to take part in the master classes with the Metropole Orchestra
and the conductor Vince Mendoza in Hilversum (Holland). In 1994 his Concerto for Guitar and Chamber
Orchestra was selected to represent Estonia at the International Rostrum of Composers' in Paris. In addition
to the Estonian festivals of contemporary music (NYYD Festival, the Days of Estonian Music, the David
Oistrach festival in Pärnu), his works have been performed at international festivals in Copenhagen (Artgenda
1996), Katowice (1998), and Lockenhaus (1999), where his "For You, the Messenger of Night", a piece
commissioned by the festival, was performed by the Kremerata Baltica sextet.
Tõnu Kõrvits' earlier works are rather simple, tonal and under the sway of Post-Romanticism. By now
his style has undergone detectable changes: he makes use of contemporary techniques, being yet sensitive
and creative in finding rich, intriguing tonal colours. Kõrvits' style has been claimed to have a particular
deepness of soul, it has been referred to as a musical water colour; his good sense of drama and vivid
orchestration are also often pointed out.
"The Detached Bridge" (1998) is the only piece on the disc in which the saxophone quartet is accompanied
by the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra. In the introductory phase the ensemble of saxophones has a lively sound,
however, the general impression is expectedly chamber-like. But the orchestra would add to the general mood
a new dimension: a deepness of sound and a complicated texture. Though the next musical picture is again
coloured by saxophones, the saxophone quartet and the orchestra would finally melt together in the last episode
of the work. Instead of striking contrasts, one would hear in the "Detached Bridge" a homogeneity of sounds
and poetic tonal colours.
Igor Garshnek
Tallinn Saxophone Quartet
was founded by Olavi Kasemaa in 1983;
the present musicians play together since 1985.
All the members of the quartet have graduated
from Tallinn State Conservatory.
The Ensemble has participated in different
kinds of music festivals and toured in Latvia, Russia,
Canada, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland,
Norway, France, Germany and Spain.
The Quartet took part of the eleventh
Saxophone World Congress in Valencia
in 1997, the twelfth Congress in Montreal
in 2000 and «EUROCASS in Finland 2001»
in Helsinki.
of works with symphony orchestra, male choir,
percussion instruments, vocal soloists, transcriptions
of renaissance music, jazz and even one chamber
opera. More than twenty Estonian composers
including
Eino Tamberg and Lepo Sumera have composed and
dedicated about forty pieces to Tallinn Saxophone
Quartet.
This unique ensemble has collaborated with orchestras
like Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
(conducted by Eri Klas) and Tallinn Chamber
Orchestra (conducted by Tõnu Kaljuste) as well as
with vocalists (Tiiu Levald and Pille Lill).
Olavi Kasemaa (soprano saxophone) graduated from Tallinn State Conservatory as saxophone
player and conductor in 1972. Since 1973 O. Kasemaa has been working at Estonian Academy
of Music as a teacher of a saxophone and woodwind ensemble and a lecturer of history of woodwind
music. In 1980 O. Kasemaa organized a saxophone class, being the founder of teaching classical
saxophone playing discipline in Estonia. Many of his students are laureates of different contests.
Olavi Kasemaa has been a member of Estonian Radio Concert Orchestra and as a guest soloist of
Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of National Theatre «Estonia» and
Chamber Orchestra of Tallinn Philharmonics. He has performed as a chamber musician and as a
soloist and acknowledged performer of the premieres of music by many Estonian composers.
Villu Veski (alto saxophone) graduated from Tallinn State Conservatory as a student of professor
Olavi Kasemaa in 1985. V. Veski has improved his skills in France under maestro C. Delangle
in1989.
Villu Veski is the winner of the International Woodwind Players' Contest (Shiauliai 1983) and a
prizewinner of the all-Soviet Union competition (Hmelnitsk 1987). He is the leader of the jazzgroup
«Sax Appeal Band». V. Veski has performed as a soloist, a member of different ensembles
and as a guest soloist of Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and Tallinn Philharmonic
Chamber Orchestra. At present he is a teacher at Culture Collage of Viljandi and Estonian Academy
of Music.
Valdur Neumann (tenor saxophone) graduated from Olavi Kasemaa's saxophone class at Tallinn
State Conservatory in 1986. He has won the International Woodwind Players' Competition (Kisineau
1983). V. Neumann works as a soloist of the Orchestra of Estonian Defence Forces and as a
saxophone teacher at Tallinn Music School. Valdur Neumann has performed with different ensembles
and as a guest soloist in Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Tallinn Philharmonic Chamber
Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra of National Theatre «Estonia».
Hendrik Nagla (baritone saxophone) graduated from Tallinn Sate Conservatory as a clarinetplayer
in 1971. He has performed as a clarinet and saxophone soloist of Concert Orchestra of Estonian
Radio, a member of chamber ensembles, a guest musician in Estonian National Symphony Orchestra,
Tallinn Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra of National Theatre
«Estonia». He has been a saxophone teacher at Tallinn Music High School and at present works
as soloist in the Estonian Police Orchestra and as teacher at Tallinn Pedagogical University.