Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür’s Seventh Symphony (2009), dedicated to the Dalai Lama, is a choral symphony like no other. It is a powerful vector-based work in Tüür’s new compositional mode, in which the orchestra only intermittently frames and supports the voices. The texts that the NDR Choir sings include words of the Buddha from the Dhammapada but also utterances of more contemporary visionaries, from Gandhi to Mother Theresa. The Piano Concerto, like the symphony, was composed for the Hessischer Rundfunk and given its premiere at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, where this album was recorded. As Paul Griffiths notes, “The concerto is also music on two planes, now orchestra and piano, though this time both are continuous and continually in the process of meeting.” Finnish pianist Laura Mikkola gives an exceptional performance, responding to the surging waves of the orchestra and the inspired direction of Paavo Järvi.
Erkki-Sven Tüür: Seventh Symphony, Piano Concerto
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Laura Mikkola, Paavo Järvi
Die siebte Symphonie (aus dem Jahr 2009) des estnischen Komponisten Erkki-Sven Tüür, dem Dalai Lama gewidmet, ist mit keiner anderen Chor-Symphonie vergleichbar. Es ist ein kraftvolles Werk in Tüürs neuem Kompositionsstil, in dem das Orchester die Stimmen periodisch einrahmt und unterstützt. Die Texte, die der NDR-Chor singt, schließen neben Buddha-Worten aus dem „Dhammapada“ auch Äußerungen eher zeitgenössischer Visionäre, von Gandhi bis Mutter Teresa, ein. Das Klavierkonzert wurde wie auch die Symphonie im Auftrag des Hessischen Rundfunks komponiert und erlebte seine Uraufführung in der Alten Oper in Frankfurt. Die finnische Pianistin Laura Mikkola, die mit großem Feingefühl sowohl auf die wogenden Orchesterklänge wie auf das inspirierte Dirigat von Paavo Järvi reagiert, gibt hier eine eindrucksvolle Vorstellung.
- Piano Concerto
- 1I08:34
- 2II07:24
- 3III05:49
- Symphony No. 7 "Pietas"
- 4I07:07
- 5II08:22
- 6III05:15
- 7IV19:59
“For me, composing is like making the design of a building, a cathedral or a theatre. And then I create a drama inside the space, with different characters and many forces. A lot of different actions. It’s about creating a certain form of living energy.”
- Erkki-Sven Tüür
The sixth ECM New Series album by Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür presents two major works, commissioned by the Hessische Rundfunk and given their premieres by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony orchestra. Both works are powered by what Tüür calls his “vectorial writing method”, a means of developing pieces from “a source code – a gene which, as it mutates and grows, connects the dots in the fabric of the whole composition.” The process, already reflected in works including “Oxymoron”, “Strata” and “Noesis”, has led to a body of work quite distinct from Tüür’s earlier, discursive ‘metalinguistic’ music in which diverse idioms – from serialism to minimalism – were contrasted, interwoven, reconciled. Tüür’s 21st century music foregoes “unnecessary eclecticism”, and manifests instead an organic coherence. These are pieces of determined, individual temperament. As Paul Griffiths observes in the liner notes, Erkki Sven Tüür’s 7th Symphony, written in 2009 and dedicated to the Dalai Lama “and his lifelong endeavours”, is a unique choral symphony, “a work where the orchestra has its own purposes, among which that of framing and supporting the voices is by no means paramount.” The texts that the NDR Choir sings include words of the Buddha from the Dhammapada as well as utterances of more contemporary visionaries and sages, from Gandhi to Mother Theresa. Once a text is used, says Tüür, if only minimally, “it starts to create meanings for an otherwise abstract musical material.” The physical power of the symphony then appears to be influenced and mediated by words addressing the power of compassion.
In the Piano Concerto, Finnish pianist Laura Mikkola gives an exceptional performance, responding to the surging waves of the orchestra and the inspired direction of Paavo Järvi. The concerto is a work of explosive energies, orchestra and piano moving on inter-related and intersecting planes, “continuous and continually in the process of meeting.”
- Erkki-Sven Tüür
The sixth ECM New Series album by Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür presents two major works, commissioned by the Hessische Rundfunk and given their premieres by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony orchestra. Both works are powered by what Tüür calls his “vectorial writing method”, a means of developing pieces from “a source code – a gene which, as it mutates and grows, connects the dots in the fabric of the whole composition.” The process, already reflected in works including “Oxymoron”, “Strata” and “Noesis”, has led to a body of work quite distinct from Tüür’s earlier, discursive ‘metalinguistic’ music in which diverse idioms – from serialism to minimalism – were contrasted, interwoven, reconciled. Tüür’s 21st century music foregoes “unnecessary eclecticism”, and manifests instead an organic coherence. These are pieces of determined, individual temperament. As Paul Griffiths observes in the liner notes, Erkki Sven Tüür’s 7th Symphony, written in 2009 and dedicated to the Dalai Lama “and his lifelong endeavours”, is a unique choral symphony, “a work where the orchestra has its own purposes, among which that of framing and supporting the voices is by no means paramount.” The texts that the NDR Choir sings include words of the Buddha from the Dhammapada as well as utterances of more contemporary visionaries and sages, from Gandhi to Mother Theresa. Once a text is used, says Tüür, if only minimally, “it starts to create meanings for an otherwise abstract musical material.” The physical power of the symphony then appears to be influenced and mediated by words addressing the power of compassion.
In the Piano Concerto, Finnish pianist Laura Mikkola gives an exceptional performance, responding to the surging waves of the orchestra and the inspired direction of Paavo Järvi. The concerto is a work of explosive energies, orchestra and piano moving on inter-related and intersecting planes, “continuous and continually in the process of meeting.”
