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KAPP Artur • Eugen • Villem ORCHESTRAL WORKS includes premiere recording BBC Philharmonic Neeme Järvi CHAN 10441 CCHANHAN 1104410441 BBookletooklet CCover.inddover.indd 1 114/9/074/9/07 112:53:222:53:22 Kapp Family Orchestral Works Artur Kapp (1878 –1952) 1 Don Carlos (1899) 11: 0 6 Dramatic Overture after Friedrich Schiller Lento – Allegro – Tranquillo – Andante – Allegro – Tempo I – Andante – Allegro Eugen Kapp (1908 –1996) ‘Kalevipoeg’ Ballet Suite (1947) 21:48 2 Kalevipoeg’s Dance with the Maiden of the Lake 5:28 3 Karelian-Finnish Dance 2:54 4 Forging of the Swords 3:04 5 Dance of the Shepherds and Shepherdesses 3:32 6 Dance of the Wind 3:03 7 Folk Dance 3:28 Villem, Eugen and Artur Kapp 3 CCHANHAN 1104410441 BBooklet.inddooklet.indd 22-3-3 220/9/070/9/07 111:58:011:58:01 Kapp Family Orchestral Works The three composers of the Kapp family were to Estonia in 1920, following the country’s instrumental in establishing and nurturing independence from now Soviet Russia, classical music in Estonia. In 1998 an annual becoming professor of composition at Tallinn premiere recording music festival was established at Suure-Jaani Conservatory from 1924 to 1943, and in the southern central region of the country, producing fi ve symphonies, fi ve concertos, Villem Kapp (1913 –1964) dedicated to the heritage of the Kapps and four orchestral suites, a stirring 75-minute Symphony No. 2 in C minor (1955) 30:21 to Estonian music in general. The programme oratorio Hiob (the Biblical story of Job), and Dedicated to Roman Matsov on this CD was performed on 16 June more than 100 songs. 2007 by the Estonian State Philharmonic His dramatic overture on the subject of 8 I Grave – Allegro risoluto – Espressivo cantabile – Orchestra, at the opening concert of the Schiller’s Don Carlos was composed in Andante – Allegro risoluto 10:41 tenth festival. 1899 as an examination piece and was 9 II Adagio espressivo 7:00 From the early 1700s until 1917, Estonia successfully performed two years later at 10 III Allegro 4:09 was part of the Russian tsarist empire, having the summer season of concerts in Pavlovsk, previously been subject to Swedish, and before near St Petersburg. It was his fi rst work for 11 IV Allegro – Largo – Allegro molto – Allegro risoluto 8:16 that German and Danish, rule. In the 1860s symphony orchestra and one of the fi rst such TT 63:34 a strong nationalist movement emerged, composed in Estonia. becoming politicised in the 1890s in response Schiller’s drama of father-son rivalry and BBC Philharmonic to a policy of intensifi ed Russifi cation. It was power politics in sixteenth-century Spain, Yuri Torchinsky leader against this background that Artur Kapp, the made famous in Verdi’s opera, lends itself fi fth of eight children born to a sacristan and naturally to concert overture treatment in Neeme Järvi self-taught organist and choral conductor, the tradition of Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. went to study at St Petersburg Conservatory, Kapp supplies a tense, brooding introduction, graduating as organist in 1898 and as followed by a loose sonata structure that composer in 1900. encapsulates confl ict and romantic longing Kapp then settled in Astrakhan, on the in restless chromatic harmony and frequent Volga in southwestern Russia close to the changes of tempo. In the coda, where themes Caspian Sea, where he directed the Music from the introduction are whipped up to a School from 1903 to 1920. He returned frenzy, the young composer’s indebtedness 4 5 CCHANHAN 1104410441 BBooklet.inddooklet.indd 44-5-5 220/9/070/9/07 111:58:041:58:04 to Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Chairman of the Estonian Composers’ Union, Awarded a Stalin Prize for 1948, Eugen Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov in the 1880s, Overture comes out into the open. a responsibility he held from 1948 to 1965, Kapp’s ballet has been frequently staged with all the textbook structural landmarks Among Artur Kapp’s numerous pupils was during which time he is widely credited with in Estonia, and the equally popular six- unmistakably signposted, so that side-tracks his son Eugen, who graduated from Tallinn having mitigated the worst effects of Soviet movement suite was recorded in 1962 at and departures are clearly and effectively Conservatory in 1931 and joined the staff in policies, in particular assisting with the Estonian Radio under the baton of Neeme registered – such as the fi rst movement’s 1935, eventually serving as Rector from 1952 rehabilitation of musicians in the post-Stalin Järvi’s elder brother Vallo. The music speaks impressive struggles (from about 7 minutes to 1964. Those were crucial years in Estonian era. a language closely related to Sibelius, Grieg in) to regain lyrical composure, and the history. The country had been annexed by In 1947 Eugen Kapp composed his ballet and Tchaikovsky, with occasional borrowings fi nale’s redemptive transformation of ideas the USSR in 1940, as a consequence of Kalevipoeg, on the subject matter of Estonia’s from Prokofi ev in the ‘Karelian-Finnish Dance’, from the fi rst two movements. the notorious Molotov-Ribbentrop non- national epic poem. This was written in the Copland in the ‘Forging of the Swords’ and © 2007 David Fanning aggression pact, whose secret protocols 1850s by Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald in Stravinsky in the ‘Dance of the Wind’. Its carved up Eastern Europe between the Nazi old Estonian alliterative verse, supposedly attractive surface qualities rather downplay and Soviet dictatorships. After occupation enshrining oral traditions. The defi nitive the more violent aspects of the original epic, Universally recognised as one of Britain’s fi nest by the Nazis from 1941 to 1944, the Soviet version was published in 1862 in 19,023 where, for instance, the Maiden of the Lake orchestras, the BBC Philharmonic is based Union reconquered (or, as its leaders would verses, organised in 20 cantos (of which depicted in the fi rst number is seduced by in Manchester where it performs regularly claim, liberated) the country, which then only about 12% is reckoned to derive from Kalevipoeg and drowns. in the magnifi cent Bridgewater Hall, while became part of the USSR until it regained authentic folk sources). Kalevipoeg (i.e. ‘son Villem Kapp was Artur’s nephew and also touring all over the world and recording independence in 1991 following the ‘Singing of Kalev’, kalev meaning ‘strong’) is a giant also his pupil. He graduated from Heino programmes for BBC Radio 3. It has built Revolution’. (Since 2004 Estonia has been hero, and his various adventures – replete with Eller’s composition class in 1944, thereafter an international reputation for outstanding part of NATO and the European Union and sorcerers, magic swords, demons and immortal remaining at Tallinn Conservatory as teacher quality and committed performances over an has reaffi rmed historic cultural affi nities with maidens – are a close equivalent to the Finnish of composition until his death. The fi rst of his immensely wide-ranging repertoire. Gianandrea its Nordic neighbours.) Kalevala that so inspired Sibelius, not least in two symphonies, in A minor, was composed Noseda became Principal Conductor in In the post-war period, coinciding with their shared signifi cance as national symbol. in 1947, the same year as his cousin Eugen’s September 2002 when Yan Pascal Tortelier, the increasingly repressive last years of Other works are devoted to the topic, including Kalevipoeg. Symphony No. 2 in C minor dates who had been Principal Conductor from Joseph Stalin, Estonia had to submit to the Symphonic Epilogue by Rudolf Tobias, from 1954 and was revised (in particular the 1991, became Conductor Laureate. Vassily integration into the Soviet system, including co-founder with Artur Kapp of the Estonian fi nale) the following year, receiving its premiere Sinaisky is the orchestra’s Principal Guest collectivisation of agriculture, mass orchestral tradition. And various monuments in 1956 under its dedicatee Roman Matsov, Conductor, and Sir Edward Downes (Principal deportation for those who resisted, and to Kalevipoeg have been erected, only to be during the ten-day festival (dekada in Russian) Conductor 1980 – 91) is Conductor Emeritus. strong pressure to conform to cultural norms removed or destroyed by occupying powers; devoted to Estonian Art and Literature in The BBC Philharmonic has worked with many laid down in Moscow (Artur Kapp was forced as of 2007 there is a controversial proposal Moscow. distinguished conductors and its policy of to leave the Conservatory at this time). for a new 18-metre statue for the capital city This is a symphony cast in the romantic- introducing new and adventurous repertoire In this environment Eugen Kapp became of Tallinn. heroic-academic tradition as instituted by into its programmes has meant that many 6 7 CCHANHAN 1104410441 BBooklet.inddooklet.indd 66-7-7 220/9/070/9/07 111:58:041:58:04 of the world’s greatest composers have including the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted the orchestra. In 1991 Sir Peter Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Philharmonia Maxwell Davies became the BBC Philharmonic’s Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Chicago fi rst ever Composer/Conductor and was Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, succeeded in 2000 by James MacMillan. Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, The Metropolitan Opera, Since 2004 Neeme Järvi has been Principal San Francisco Opera, Opéra national de Paris- Conductor of the New Jersey Symphony Bastille and the major orchestras of Scandinavia. Orchestra. He is also Music Director of He also directs a conductors’ master-class in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Principal Pärnu, Estonia, for two weeks each July. Neeme Conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Järvi has amassed a distinguished discography Orchestra since 1982, First Principal Guest of more than 350 discs, and many accolades and Conductor of the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra awards have been bestowed on him worldwide.