Tonu Korvits - Mirror (2016)

Tracklist

01. Peegeldused Tasasest Maast (The Reflections from a Plainland)
02. Laburindid (Labyrinths) - labyrinth I
03. Laburindid (Labyrinths) - labyrinth II
04. Laburindid (Labyrinths) - labyrinth III
05. Laburindid (Labyrinths) - labyrinth IV
06. Laburindid (Labyrinths) - labyrinth V
07. Laburindid (Labyrinths) - labyrinth VI
08. Laburindid (Labyrinths) - labyrinth VII
09. Tasase Maa Laul (The Song of The Plainland)
10. Seitsme Linnu Seitse Und (Seven Dreams Of Seven Birds) - Dream I
11. Seitsme Linnu Seitse Und (Seven Dreams Of Seven Birds) - Dream II
12. Seitsme Linnu Seitse Und (Seven Dreams Of Seven Birds) - Dream III
13. Seitsme Linnu Seitse Und (Seven Dreams Of Seven Birds) - Dream IV
14. Seitsme Linnu Seitse Und (Seven Dreams Of Seven Birds) - Dream V
15. Seitsme Linnu Seitse Und (Seven Dreams Of Seven Birds) - Dream VI
16. Seitsme Linnu Seitse Und (Seven Dreams Of Seven Birds) - Dream VII
17. Viimane Laev (The Last Ship)
18. Laul (Song)

Performers:
Anja Lechner - violoncello
Kadri Voorand - voice
Tonu Korvits - kannel, composer
Tallinn Chamber Orchestra
Estonian Philarmonic Chamber Choir
Tonu Kaljuste - Conductor

‘Mirror’ is the first ECM New Series album from Estonian composer Tonu Korvitz (born 1969), who emphasizes his links to his homeland’s music at several levels.

The album begins with a fantasy on a song by Veljo Tormis. Like the older composer, Korvitz has been influenced by folk song and archaic musical tradition, which find their echo in the refined and texturally-rich spectrum of his own, labyrinthine pieces. His music is well served here by the Tallin Chamber Orchestra and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir under Tonu Kaljuste’s assured direction and by soloist Anja Lechner.

Lechner’s cello is foregrounded in ‘Peegeldused Tasaset Maast’ (2013), ‘Laul’ (2012, revised 2013) and the album’s largest work ‘Seitsme Linnu Seitse Und’ (2009, revised 2012), a collaboration with the poet Maarja Kangro, which is both choral suite and cello concerto. In these “seven dreams of seven birds” the choir sings in Estonian and English and the cello conjures both birdsong and swooping flight. ‘Tasase Maa’ (Song of the Plainland), a fresh arrangement of a Tormis melody has Kadri Voorand as vocal soloist, supported by strings and by Tonu Korvitz on kannel, the Estonian psaltery.