TULEV: SONGS

Joshua Rosenblum
Opera News (2009-01-00)

TULEV: SONGS

Blaze; Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, TallinnChamber Orchestra, Hillier.

Texts and translations. Harmonia Mundi HMU807452

        

For most of the Western world, Estonian music starts and ends with Arvo Pärt (b. 1935), the avatar of "sacred minimalism," whose recordings sell quite well, at least by the standards of classical music. But the startling, inspiring music of Toivo Tulev (b. 1958), who represents the middle generation of Estonian composers, offers a contrasting view of his country's contemporary-music scene. Tulev's music has the soothing, chant-like quality and mystical dimension of other medieval-influenced contemporary music (such as Pärt's), but because Tulev freely avails himself of the full spectrum of modernist musical language, he creates an impact that is stimulating rather than merely trance-like. Many passages are unearthly in a slightly unsettling, cataclysmic manner, reminiscent of Ligeti, Messiaen or Kaija Saariaho. With Pärt, there are times when you think you might be listening to actual medieval music; by contrast, there's never any doubt that Tulev is a contemporary composer.

 

The eight-movement cycle Songs, for chorus and orchestra, draws its texts from the Biblical Song of Songs, as well as from two poems by St. John of the Cross, both in their original Spanish and in English translation. Imaginatively scored for an orchestra that includes two duduks (an oboe-like Armenian instrument), two synthesizers and organ, along with multiple woodwinds and strings, the piece begins with a soothing, sustained instrumental melody ascending in the bass. Twenty seconds in, however, there is a startling cascade of sound — synthesizer, percussion, and woodwinds — effectively serving notice that we should be ready for anything. I was hooked from that point on.

 

True to form, Tulev seemed to feel no particular constraints of any sort — whether of tradition, tonality, accessibility or form — in composing Rejoice, Rejoice, Rejoice! for Queen Elizabeth II, in honor of her visit to Estonia in 2006. It is both worshipful and uncompromising, with plenty of dense cluster chords. This piece and Jusquez au Printemps are difficult a cappella works, and these successful performances are a triumph for the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir under the leadership of veteran conductor Paul Hillier, whose expertise in both early and contemporary music makes him especially well-suited to this repertoire.

 

Leave, Alas, this Tormenting is a mostly instrumental work for percussion trio, which features a live soprano soloist (the agile and pure-voiced Kädy Plaas) plus a prerecorded, distant-sounding vocal quartet. The piece is spare and ruminative but ethereal and haunting when the voices come in about halfway through.

 

Der Herr ist Mein Getreuer Hirt, two versions of which are included here, shows that Tulev can write something simple, tonal and direct but distinctive nonetheless. The fine British countertenor Robin Blaze is excellent in this Baroque-style setting, but he seems equally comfortable with the more difficult melodic material of the Songs. It's good to hear music that has a strong spiritual content but challenges the ear and pushes the stylistic envelope. Tulev is a composer with something important to say, and I look forward to hearing more of it.

 

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