Saturday, March 4 2006 at 8.15 pm
Spivey Hall, Clayton State College, Morrow

Cyrillus Kreek – Estonian Religious Folk Songs & Psalms of David:
Psalm 104 "Kiida, mu hing, Issandat" ("Bless the Lord, My Soul")
"Mu süda, ärka üles" ("Wake up, My Heart")
"Jeesus kõige ülem hää" ("Jesus is the Best of All Good")
"Ma tulen taevast ülevelt" ("I Come from Heaven on High")
"Õnnis on inimene" ("Happy is the Man")
Benjamin Britten - Hymn to St Cecilia
Arvo Pärt - Magnificat
Arvo Pärt - Nunc dimittis
Benjamin Britten - Hymn to the Virgin 
Francis Poulenc - Mass      

Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Conductor PAUL HILLIER


CYRILLUS KREEK (1889–1962) is one of the greatest masters of Estonian choral music. For decades he committed himself to collecting Estonian folk tunes, both religious and secular. He was the first Estonian collector to use the phonograph recorder. His folk music files contain about 6,000 tunes and more than 500 various arrangements of them. The religious folk song is a unique phenomenon in Estonian culture, relating the Estonians organically to European cultural traditions. It is also perhaps one of the most accessible aspects of Estonian culture. Kreek has added crisp Northern colouring to these old melodies known in all Lutheran countries. Kreek's magnum opus was his Requiem, but the essence of his music is perfectly expressed in his choral miniatures.


Kreek wrote a number of sacred songs on texts of psalms – the Psalms of David –, which attract the listener by their melody developments, created by special consideration of the lyrics and crisp harmony. "Õnnis on inimene" ("Happy is the Man") and Psalm 104 "Kiida, mu hing, Issandat" ("Bless the Lord, My Soul") are composed in 1923. The common feature of these psalms is their emotional balance, which, however, does not become uninspired or one-levelled. One characteristic feature of Kreek's compositional handwriting – polyphonic treatment of folk songs – becomes first evident in the Religious Folk Songs, treatments of 18 melodies for mixed choir elaborated between April 1916 and January 1920. Religious folk songs aroused interest and recognition in 1920-ies but became totally forgotten in the so-called Soviet time, as they could not be performed at public concerts because of their clerical text. However, when social circumstances changed, the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir conducted by Tõnu Kaljuste performed them at the opening concert of the 1987/1988 season. "Mu süda, ärka üles" ("Wake up, My Heart") is composed in 1916, "Ma tulen taevast ülevelt" ("I Come from Heaven on High") in 1917, and "Jeesus kõige ülem hää" ("Jesus is the Best of All Good") in 1918.