Holst Singers :: Tormis

Hyperion CDA67601
Released April 2008

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Veljo Tormis is - along with Arvo Pärt - one of Estonia’s most famous living composers, holding an almost mystic status in his home country. He is also the passionate and practical torch-bearer for folk-singing revival, and the integration of an ancient cultural inheritance into thoroughly modern, post-Soviet lives. Interestingly, he trained at the Moscow conservatoire and was steeped in Soviet instruction during his early musical life.

His music is almost all written for choirs; few composers have ever been so committed to one genre. Tormis’s choral specialism marks him out from Bartók, Kodály, Vaughan Williams and Grainger, whose pioneering interest in folksong was ultimately less purist given their use of the tunes alone in instrumental or orchestral works: for Tormis, the words and the music are inseparable.

The Holst Singers have recently been invited to Estonia to perform Tormis’s music—a great honour, and a mark of their mastery of the repertoire.

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Tracks on this album

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Kaks laulu Ernst Enno sõnadele
'Two songs to words by Ernst Enno'

Kolm eesti mängulaulu
'Three Estonian game songs'

Kolm laulu eeposest Kalevipoeg
'Three songs from the epic Kalev's Son'

Liivlaste pärandus
'Livonian heritage'

Sügismaastikud
'Autumn landscapes'

Neli eesti hällilaulu
'Four Estonian lullabies'

Kaks laulu Ernst Enno sõnadele
'Two songs to words by Ernst Enno'

Kolm eesti mängulaulu
'Three Estonian game songs'

Kolm laulu eeposest Kalevipoeg
'Three songs from the epic Kalev's Son'

Liivlaste pärandus
'Livonian heritage'

Sügismaastikud
'Autumn landscapes'

Neli eesti hällilaulu
'Four Estonian lullabies'

Soloists:

Katy Cooper (soprano)
Sarah Billiald (alto)
Fiona Challacombe (alto)
Nicola Wookey (soprano)
Simon Wookey (tenor)

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Reviews of this recording:


	Special credit must be given to the solo soprano singers Nicola Wookey* and Katy Cooper... This is a fine, fine disc of somewhat neglected choral treasures.* MusicalCriticism.com, March 2008

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	Exciting moments abound: the Livonian songs are wittily profound, the final chord of Heather is a golden climax, while Childhood Memory proves that the choir harbours top soloists as well. The Times, April 2008

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	"These performances by the Holst Singers under Stephen Layton capture the mystical simplicity of Tormis's choral style, a touching blend of naturally-flowing tonality tinged with splashes of judiciously applied dissonance." The Scotsman, April 2008

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	"performances of characteristic spirit, atmosphere and incisiveness" The Telegraph, April 2008

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Tormis - Choral Music