Tüür Magma
Music hewn from granite: the most rewarding Tüür collection to date?
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Erkki-Sven Tüür
Genre:
Orchestral
Label: Virgin Classics
Magazine Review Date: 10/2007
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 67
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: 385 785-2
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Igavik 'Eternity' |
Erkki-Sven Tüür, Composer
Erkki-Sven Tüür, Composer Estonian National Male Choir Estonian National Symphony Orchestra Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir Paavo Järvi, Conductor |
Symphony No 4 'Magma' |
Erkki-Sven Tüür, Composer
Erkki-Sven Tüür, Composer Estonian National Symphony Orchestra Evelyn Glennie, Percussion Paavo Järvi, Conductor |
Inquiétude du fini |
Erkki-Sven Tüür, Composer
Erkki-Sven Tüür, Composer Estonian National Symphony Orchestra Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir Paavo Järvi, Conductor |
(The) Path and the Traces |
Erkki-Sven Tüür, Composer
Erkki-Sven Tüür, Composer Estonian National Symphony Orchestra Paavo Järvi, Conductor |
Author: David Fanning
Estonia’s best-known internationally orientated modernist has composed six symphonies (the latest having had its premiere earlier this year in Tallinn), among which the 30‑minute single-movement Fourth, dating from 2002 and subtitled Magma, is outstanding. Tüür’s style is essentially mobile-sculptural: which is to say that shifting sound-masses count for more than expressivity. Sibelius is a distant yet clear affinity, and Lutoslawski and the sonorism of the Polish school of the 1960s and ’70s supply something of the technical means. At its gentlest – as in the tinkling early stages of Magma – the effect resembles Oliver Knussen; at its toughest, Elliott Carter. Impersonal yet irresistible forces seem to guide the structure, while the orchestra builds up a succession of analogies to unpopulated landscapes and natural forces. Behind the sonic richness and the dazzling surfaces there is an ascetic instinct at work: a refusal to take easy, opportunistic paths and an immensely impressive traversal of craggier ones.
Though written for Evelyn Glennie, who takes the solo percussion part with superb aplomb, this really is a symphony rather than a flashy, beefed-up concerto. It stays just on that side of the divide everywhere except in the brief cadenza at approximately the half-way mark.
The other three works on this disc feel similarly substantial and born of inner necessity. The Path and the Traces is simply the finest recently composed piece I have heard for string orchestra, and each of the choral items is memorable, without sacrificing complexity. Tüür is currently well represented on CD, but this new disc strikes me as probably the most rewarding devoted to his music, no doubt partly because performances and recordings are first-class. If the prospect of challenging, granite-hewn musical invention has any appeal, then this is a must.
Though written for Evelyn Glennie, who takes the solo percussion part with superb aplomb, this really is a symphony rather than a flashy, beefed-up concerto. It stays just on that side of the divide everywhere except in the brief cadenza at approximately the half-way mark.
The other three works on this disc feel similarly substantial and born of inner necessity. The Path and the Traces is simply the finest recently composed piece I have heard for string orchestra, and each of the choral items is memorable, without sacrificing complexity. Tüür is currently well represented on CD, but this new disc strikes me as probably the most rewarding devoted to his music, no doubt partly because performances and recordings are first-class. If the prospect of challenging, granite-hewn musical invention has any appeal, then this is a must.
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