1. Lepo Sumera: Symphôné for strings & percussion 8:22
2. Peteris Vasks:I Moderato 6:22
3. Peteris Vasks: II Allegro energico 5:17
4. Peteris Vasks: III Adagio 8:25
5. Peteris Vasks: IV Moderato 8:27
6. Onuté Narbutaite: Sinfonia col triangolo, for string orchestra 23:09
7. Erkki-Sven Tüür: Lighthouse, for string orchestra 14:15
Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra
Juha Kangas - Conductor
Wiki/AMG:
"Lepo Sumera (8 May 1950 – 2 June 2000) was an Estonian composer and teacher. Considered one of Estonia's most renowned composers along with Heino Eller, Eduard Tubin and Arvo Pärt, he was also his country's Minister of Culture from 1988 to 1992 during the days of the Singing Revolution.
He was born in Tallinn and studied with Veljo Tormis in his teens, and from 1968, with Heino Eller at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (then Tallinn State Conservatory). After Heino Eller's death in 1970, he studied with Heino Jürisalu, graduating in 1973. He then did postgraduate study at the Moscow Conservatory (1979–1982) with the Russian composer Roman Ledenev. Sumera first came to notice in 1972 with In Memoriam, an orchestral tribute to Eller. He went on to compose six symphonies and numerous chamber and vocal works which have been played by orchestras throughout North America and Europe as well as in Australia and Cuba.
In the late 1980s, Sumera became increasingly interested in electro-acoustic music. He founded the Electronic Music Studio at the Estonian Academy of Music in 1995 and served as its Director until 1999. One of his best known works in this genre is the multi-media Heart Affairs (1999) which used human heart sounds that were electronically transformed during performance accompanied by echocardiograph images, some from his own heart.
Lepo Sumera died of heart failure in Tallinn, aged 50. He was survived by his wife, the pianist Kersti Einasto whom he married in 1972, and three children.
The music of Latvian composer Peteris Vasks is often associated with his country's struggle for independence. Indeed, one of his best-known works, the symphony Voices composed in 1990-1991, symbolically and historically reflects Latvia's final steps to freedom. Deeply rooted in the rich folk tradition of Latvia, Vasks' haunting composition invites the listener on a cyclical journey from the timeless beauty of nature's voices emerging from silence to the heartrending cacophony of despair and back to the tranquility of silence. Critics who discuss Vasks in the context of his Latvian inspiration and artistic debt to Witold Lutoslawski nevertheless acknowledge his originality, his characteristic soulfulness, and melodic subtlety, as well as a universality of expression that identifies Vasks as a major European composer. Born in 1946, Vasks, who studied the double bass at the Lithuanian State Conservatory from 1964 to 1970, worked as an orchestra musician in the 1960s and 1970s. Vasks studied composition with Valentinus Utkins, at the Latvian State Conservatory in Riga, graduating in 1978. Working as a composer since the late '70s, Vasks has forged an original musical style, which commentators have described as spiritual, powerfully evocative, and richly expressive. Vasks' entire oeuvre is informed by the tragic dichotomy between humanistic ideals, symbolized by the vastness of nature and the historical realities of violence and despair. Vasks teaches composition at the Emil Darzins Music School in Riga. His works include Cantabile (1979), Musica Dolorosa for string orchestra (1983), and Lauda (1986), for orchestra.
Onuté Narbutaité has been among the leading Lithuanian composers since the 1980s, but only rose to international prominence around the turn of the 21st century. Her String Quartet No. 2, 'Open the Gates of Oblivion' (1980), and June Music, for violin and cello (1981), first gained her notice in Lithuania, but it was her 1997 oratorio Centones meae urbi (Patchwork for My City) that not only elevated her to the front ranks among composers at home, but launched her toward global renown. Often somber in character, Narbutaité's music is stylistically individual: many will discern mystical or religious aspects in it, and while it is far from avant-garde, it may come across as a bit challenging for less adventurous listeners, even some of her lighter chamber music. Narbutaité's works are available from several major labels, including Naxos, Finlandia, and Guild.
Onuté Narbutaité was born in Vilnius, Lithuania, on June 12, 1956. She studied music at the Lithuanian State Conservatory, where her most important teacher was Julius Juzeliunas. Narbutaité graduated in 1979, and from that year until 1982, she taught music theory at the State Conservatory in Klaipeda. Thereafter, based in Vilnius, she freelanced as a composer.
Narbutaité had some early success, typically in the chamber genre. Her 1991 chamber piece Mozartsommer, for flute, violin, viola and piano, was a light work that gained a measure of popularity. She would go on to turn out successful chamber works inspired by other well-known composers, like Winterserenade: Paraphrase of Schubert's Gute Nacht (1997), for flute, violin, and viola; and Autumn Ritornello - Homage a Fryderyk Chopin (1999), for piano quartet.
From about the mid-'90s Narbutaité began to focus her compositional interests on larger-scale works, like the 1996 Sinfonia col triangolo for string orchestra.
In 1997 Narbutaité was given the highest artistic honor when she was named recipient of the Lithuanian National Prize for the aforementioned Centones meae urbi. Further awards were bestowed upon her: in 2004 the Lithuanian Composers Union presented her with the prize for the year's best symphonic work for the 2002-2003 choral symphony Tres Dei Matris Symphoniae (Three Symphonies of the Mother of God). She received the same distinction in 2005 for La Barca. Among the more popular and acclaimed recordings of Narbutaité's works is the 2011 Naxos CD of Tres Dei Matris Symphoniae, played by the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra under Robertas Servenikas.
In his early career, Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür straddled the line between conservatory-based classical music studies and pop music. Tüür studied flute, music composition, and percussion instruments while attending Tallinn Conservatory, and from 1979 he led a rock group called In Spe, which incorporated elements of Renaissance and Baroque music. Along the way, Tüür also composed music for theatrical productions and took some electronic music courses in Darmstadt. In Spe disbanded in 1983 (although it reunited in 2009 for a final concert), and Tüür earned his diploma from Tallinn in 1984. Tüür composed music for chamber ensembles throughout the 1980s and only accepted a post at the Tallinn Conservatory in 1989. Starting in 1984, Tüür undertook a series of works entitled Architectonics, ultimately running to seven pieces, that are scored for a variety of chamber combinations and were commissioned by ensembles ranging from Estonia to Los Angeles. Tüür's String Quartet (1985) begins to demonstrate some elements of his mature approach, which is informed by the rhythmic propulsiveness of minimalism, yet incorporates harmonic gestures and effects from the avant-garde and other styles not readily associated with minimalist music.
With Tüür's Requiem (1994) his reputation was made, and soon he became one of the most frequently performed composers in Estonia. Tüür was able to quit teaching and go into music composition on a full-time basis. From this time, increasingly more diatonic elements begin to appear in the works of Tüür, and in addition to this there is a shift of focus from chamber music to orchestral and large choral works. In 2002 he developed a method of composition he called 'vectoral writing,' a technique that yields harmonic variety through voice leading and the use of a numerical code. Tüür has written a Mass, an oratorio Ante Finum Saeculi, symphonies, concerti, several pieces for orchestra, and a wide variety of chamber works. Tüür's music has been performed by Isabelle van Keulen, Anu Tali, Tönu Kaljuste, David Geringas, Evelyn Glennie, Paavo Järvi, and the California EAR Unit; and has been recorded to a significant extent, particularly on the ECM label."
Lighthouse
or
Lighthouse