Unlike the selection
of choral songs released by Carus Verlag
(CV 83.400, review)
that includes a couple of ‘original’
choral works, the present selection
entirely consists of folk-song arrangements.
The texts of Bridge of Song
and Bride’s Farewell are
taken from the Finnish national epic,
The Kalevala. The expressive
and technical range of the music is
quite varied. Some settings, such as
the delightful Seventeen Estonian
Wedding Songs (all of which
are extremely short) and the beautifully
moving Four Estonian Lullabies,
are fairly straightforward whereas others
– such as the beautiful Bridge
of Song – are more complex,
formally speaking, and rather more polyphonic
in layout. All however retain the freshness
and directness of expression displayed
in the Tormis choral works. His settings
also display a rich sound palette characterising
each song according to ideas expressed
in the texts. Singing Aboard Ship
is a striking example of Tormis’s resourceful
handling of material: the undulating
accompaniment, sung by the main chorus,
aptly suggests the flow of water and
lazy waves gently splashing on the river’s
bank and does so in simple but very
effective fashion. Other examples abound.
As the author of the insert notes rightly
suggests, Tormis literally ‘orchestrates’
his choral settings, thus providing
considerable variety of tone. A good
example of this is the eleventh section
of Seventeen Estonian Wedding
Songs in which the chorus at
times evokes the playing of the rural
bagpipes.
Structurally, these
songs build on repetition, directly
inspired by the traditional runo
singing. This is often alluded to in
many works by Estonians whose minimalism
is totally unrelated to that of, say,
Reich or Adams. It took me some time
to accept the view that the minimalist
writing found in Pärt and other
Baltic composers was really influenced
by Baltic folk music. Two years ago,
however, I was able to attend some folk
singing in Lithuania that completely
convinced me: that sort of minimalism
is really an important aspect of Baltic
folk music, and is often of a type more
subtle than that of the American minimalists.
The music is also characterised
by some unexpected harmonic twists and
some surprising modulations enhancing
the expressive strength of these settings.
Tormis’s settings are hugely varied,
in turn rumbustious and dreamy, ironic
and tender. Ultimately they prove Constant
Lambert entirely wrong. Yes, you may
repeat a folk tune, but you can do so
with considerable subtlety. This is
what Tormis brilliantly does in his
folk settings.
These performances
by the Estonian Radio Choir recorded
under the composer’s supervision are
superlatively sung throughout, with
obvious enjoyment and conviction.
If ECM’s magnificent
double-CD set (Forgotten Peoples
on ECM New Series 1459/60) remains my
first choice, simply because it demonstrates
Tormis’s mastery to the full, the present
release – now re-issued at bargain price
– is warmly recommended as the best
possible introduction to Tormis’s folk
settings.
Hubert Culot
Estonian Radio Choir/Toomas Kapten 
