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T\u00f5nu K\u00f5rvits:\u00a0You Are Light and Morning Ample vocal and instrumental forces are called upon for\u00a0You Are Light and Morning<\/em>\u00a0(Sei la luce et il mattino<\/em>), the hour-long work for choir and orchestra T\u00f5nu K\u00f5rvits (b. 1969) composed in 2019. Yet while that might be the case, the work itself is anything but bombastic; instead, atmosphere, understatement, and nuance distinguish the Estonian composer’s artful creation. The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir along with the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra led by conductor Risto Joost show themselves to be exceptionally attuned to the character of K\u00f5rvits’ material.<\/p>\n As it should, the tone of the work derives from the texts from which it’s drawn, specifically the poetry of Cesare Pavese (1908-1950). As many of the themes that preoccupy K\u00f5rvits also captivated the Italian writer decades earlier, it’s only natural that the composer would have gravitated to his writing. In the composer’s view, Pavese’s poems reflect a deep reverence for nature; they brim with life yet also express yearning, sorrow, and nostalgia and an awareness of the fleeting nature of living things. In keeping with that, each part in\u00a0You Are Light and Morning<\/em>\u00a0ends by fading away. Yet in spite of the transience of all things, our indefatigable thirst for life never wavers. (Pavese’s own, however, ended in suicide when he overdosed on sleeping pills at a Turin hotel, despite having received in the last year of his life a prestigious Italian literature prize.)<\/p>\n With the orchestra playing a darkly hued minor chord, the work fades in as if mysteriously materializing from air, after which the choir emerges for the work’s first part \u201cTu sei come una terra,\u201d its title alluding to the connection between human life and the natural world. Strings and voices move fluidly through haunting passages where male and female singers in places intone collectively and in others in counterpoint. With \u201cTo C. From C.\u201d having presented the poet’s open declaration of love to American actress Constance Dowling, \u201cPaesaggio VIII\u201d introduces water-related content, the move vividly reflected in both the text (\u201cFrom the silence or the darkness the sound of water \/ rises to join the distant laughter and voices\u201d) and the lilting motion of the choral and orchestral elements.<\/p>\n In the fourth part, \u201cLa casa,\u201d pizzicato playing in the strings, the gesture perhaps suggesting the march of time, and hushed phrasings by the female choir add to the fragile quality of\u00a0You Are Light and Morning<\/em>. Male tenors and basses introduce \u201cAnche tu sei l’amore\u201d before eloquent cello playing by Leho Karin emerges to reset the balance between vocal and instrumental parts. A hint of Shostakovich surfaces in the deep bass utterances that begin \u201cVerr\u00e0 la morte e avr\u00e0 i tuoi occhi,\u201d the text now addressing death and its remorseless grip directly (\u201cDeath has a look for everyone\u201d). Though its text still concerns death, the seventh part, \u201cLast Blues, to Be Read Some Day\u201d, distances itself from the others in coupling pizzicato strings with a strong solo turn by altoist Marianne P\u00e4rna.<\/p>\n
\n<\/em><\/strong>Ondine<\/p>\n