Toccata Classics TOCC 0073 Notes
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8) credits block, add ater Publishers: >> and Fennica Gehrman (www.fennicagehrmann.i); Music Finland Oy; printed by permission of Fennica Gehrman Oy, Helsinki, 2007; www.fennicagehrmann.i); ): YL (c/o www.sulasol.i); P ): YL (c/o www.sulasol.i); can VELJO TORMIS: A BRIEF INTRODUCTION by Folke Bohlin The Estonian composer Veljo Tormis (born in 1930) has gradually become internationally recognised as one of the most outstanding composers of choral music in our time. Before Estonia became a free state again in 1991 Tormis was ranked among the leading composers of the Soviet Union – but as a nonconformist who often ran into trouble with the Soviet authorities because of the texts he used in his songs. The fact that Tormis has written for all sorts of choral ensembles has its background in the highly developed standard of Estonian choruses. Many of his songs for male- voice choir were written for Gustav Ernesaks’ famous State Academic Choir, through which they became widely spread on concert tours throughout the Soviet Union. But these days Tormis is sung also in the west, which has inspired choirs in a number of countries to commission works from him. In the selection on this CD there are a few settings of texts by twentieth-century Estonian poets but all the others use folk texts from different periods. Tormis has always been fascinated by folksongs. They have inspired him not only his highly characteristic choral arrangements but also his very special way of building his own music on folk-music elements. Tormis has repeatedly used texts from the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala, a collection of folk-texts from pre-Christian and medieval times which are closely related to old Estonian songs. Raua needmine (‘Curse upon Iron’), which has become his most famous composition, was written for mixed choir and drum but the Svanholm Singers perform it here for the first time in the new version for men’s chorus – with the composer himself as drummer. Folke Bohlin, born in 1931, is a musicologist and conductor. From 1957 to 1968 he was répétiteur to and then assistant conductor of Orphei Drängar, one of the leading Swedish choirs. He founded the Uppsala Academic Chamber Choir in 1957, and was conductor of the Lund Student Choral Union from 1972 to 1985. Now professor emeritus in musicology at Lund University, he is married to Eva Svanholm Bohlin, the founder of the Svanholm Singers. 2 SVANHOLM SINGERS SING TORMIS Remarks by the Composer What connects Estonians with Sweden is an historical feeling of safety: ‘those good old Swedish days’ from the sixteenth century, when the kings of Sweden provided protection against the despotism of the Russian tsars; a nearby haven for thousands of displaced refugees from Estonia in the Second World War, among them colleagues of mine, Eduard Tubin and Harry Olt; finally, the interest shown towards Estonian music by the coryphaei of Swedish choral music, Eric Ericson, Robert Sund, Folke Bohlin. The logical outcome was the desire of the Svanholm Singers to organise a concert in my honour at the 2006 International Choral Festival in Lund. I was extraordinarily pleased at this initiative. I entrusted them with the world premiere of the male-voice version of my Curse upon Iron. I even took my shaman drum along with me. And as I listened to the first lines of the song ‘Just One Song I would like to Sing’ (from the Double Dedication) during our very first meeting in the rehearsal hall, the last feeling of trepidation melted from my heart! The trumpeting voices of these twenty singers combine in a shining and powerful male choir under the energetic direction of their charming young conductor, Sofia Söderberg Eberhard. This CD presents the results of this happy endeavour. I would like to make just a few remarks in order to give some background to the songs. Pärimaalase lauluke (‘An Aboriginal Song’; 1981) This ‘little bit of a song’ contains a little bit of Estonian irony aimed at the Soviet regime. The words ‘taboo-taboo’ come from the Polynesians but the motifs in the tune are ones a little bit reworked from Estonian Martinmas mumming songs, and the shaman drum is an ancient ritual instrument found among many aboriginal peoples. The Estonians, for whom only a little bit was permitted, are in fact the aboriginals of the title. 3 Kaksikpühendus – Diptühhon (‘Double Dedication – Diptych’; 1983) A commemorative diptych written on the occasion of the 100th birthday of two famous Estonian poets who, after fleeing the Soviet occupation, ended up living in exile in Sweden, it consists of the same musical themes but opposing moods – here we have the youthful Gustav Suits in the throws of protest and the tremulous resignation of Marie Under’s farewell.1 Tõmbtuul (‘Crosswind’; 1993) Henrik Visnapuu (1889–1951), yet another poet forced to flee in the crosswinds of the war, writes about his homeland that forever remains buffeted by the winds in question. Meie varjud (Kord me tuleme tagasi) (’Our Shadows (Once We Will Reappear)’; 1969) In the words of Our Shadows, written by Jaan Kaplinski (born in 1941), we can discern a philosophy found among the aboriginal peoples of North America: we are all part of nature. The final lines prophesy that ‘One day we will reappear here again’. Sampo cuditur (‘Forging the Sampo’; 1997) This piece was commissioned by the Mädchenchor Hannover for performance during their concert at Expo 2000. The motto of this world exhibition was ‘Mensch-Natur- Technik’ (People-Nature-Technology). The cantos from the Kalevala reflect the primeval aspects of nature and people as well as the ancient voices of wood- and iron-working technologies. The musical motifs come from Karelia. Luckily we have a superb Kalevala Latina translated by Tuomo Pekkanen, and the Latin text is surely acceptable to all Europeans. This version for male choir was completed only recently, in 2003. And doesn’t it seem much more appropriate for men to sing this piece? 1 Gustav Suits (1883–1953) was the most important Estonian poet in the irst half of the twentieth century, the literary circle Noor-Eesti (‘Young Estonia’) to which he was a mentor making a deliberate efort to link Estonian literary activities with those in the rest of Europe. The poetry of Marie Under (1883–1980), a member of Noor-Eesti, was much inluenced by European models, bringing a unique introspective intensity to Estonian poetry. They were just two of the 25,000 Estonians who led to Sweden to escape Soviet rule. –translator’s note 4 Piispa ja pakana (‘The Bishop and the Pagan’; 1992) The story of the Bishop and the Pagan, drawn from musical documents and folklore, tells of the death of the British warrior and Christian missionary Bishop Henry at the hands of the Finnish peasant farmer Lalli near the town of Turku (Åbo) in the winter of 1158. By a fortunate and unusual historical circumstance, the viewpoints of both sides have been preserved: a Latin Gregorian chant, ‘The Sequence of Saint Henry’, documents the British side, and numerous folksongs represent the event as seen by the Finnish pagan. Incantatio maris aestuosi (‘Incantation for a Stormy Sea’; 1996) The sea is a constant theme in my work. Occasionally it is merely hinted at in certain details, and yet at other times more extensive pictures of the sea are found (for example, in the symphonic suite Ocean, and in such choral pieces as The Wave Rolls, Songs of the Ancient Sea, The Sword from the Sea, Singing aboard Ship, etc.) Is it my very name, Tormis, which can be translated as ‘Stormy’, that causes the sea to churn? This piece was jointly commissioned by the Ylioppilaskunnan Laulajat (Finland) and Orphei Drängar (Sweden), choirs from two Nordic universities, for a collective performance; the text is again from the Kalevala and once again in Latin to avoid giving an unfair advantage for the Finnish choir. But isn’t Latin, after all, a symbol of academic equality? Meestelaulud (‘Men’s Songs’; 1964–65) No. 1, Meeste laul (‘Men’s Song’) No. 2, Ehalkäimise-laul (‘Bundling Song’) No. 3, Kosjalaul (‘Betrothal Visiting Song’) No. 5, Türgi sõja laul (‘Song of the Turkish War’) No. 7, Teomehe-laul (‘Serf´s Song’) No. 8, Tantsulaul (‘Dancing Song’) These are so-called transitional folksongs, which in the nineteenth century slowly but 5 surely began to replace the ancient runic singing traditions. For the most part they consist of motifs brought back by sailors from their trips abroad and which were assimilated into contemporary cultural layers. Often they are risqué songs that were sung in the company of other men; this, indeed, is where the name of the work comes from. ‘The Song of the Turkish War’ contains a mix of Russian military jargon from the Tsarist army. Raua needmine Veljo Tormis playing the shaman drum in the recording of Curse upon Iron (‘Curse upon Iron’; 1972) This choral scene is based on one of the many spells and incantations found in the Kalevala. Here iron is cursed as a weapon and a tool of destruction. Iron becomes a symbol of the evil that surrounds us, and evil must be vanquished. In order to gain ascendancy over anything, you must know its origins and birth, as is amply demonstrated in the Kalevala. Paul-Eerik Rummo and Jaan Kaplinski have added synonyms for modern weapons of mass destruction to the original texts found in the Kalevala. We need to know how to coexist with iron on this one and only earth. We need to control the iron that we ourselves have brought into being.