Biography

PREMIERE

4/09/2013, à Helsinki Music Center. Christoffer Sundqvist, clarinette, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, cond. Hannu Lintu.

NOTE

The title of the clarinet concerto Peregrinus Ecstaticus (‘Ecstatic Pilgrim’ in Latin) offers us a hint for the interpretation of the soloist’s character.

Imagine a pilgrim’s quest, full of obstacles and hazards, towards his desired goal; his perseverance and vigour alternating with exhaustion and fatigue; conquering actual physical obstacles combined with spiritual struggles...

The composition commences with an actively progressing theme in the lower register of the clarinet, supported by percussion instruments and the pizzicato of strings. Orchestral wind instruments are introduced as the clarinet moves into higher registers. It is as if the soloist sets the orchestra in motion, gradually invigorating it. The relationship between the soloist and the orchestra becomes increasingly interactive and as the piece progresses, it becomes unclear who is influencing whom.

The clarinet concerto consists of three movements that are performed attacca. The first movement also comprises three sections, as it reflects the structure of the entire piece. In the middle, cadenza-like section, time seems to stop and through this the soloist finds a new perspective and strength to continue the journey. The third and much more intense section ends with a big chord. Then, a wonderful world of microcosmos is opened up by “zooming into” the chord. This comprises the second movement that conveys introspection and illuminative colour solutions. Towards the end of the second movement, short passages with material from the third movement start cropping up and thus gradually form the transition to the third movement.
The relationship between the clarinet and the orchestra is in constant fluctuation, as impatient struggles and rapid ascents and descents are followed by focusing on moments that may transform into extensive enlightening visions in a different temporal dimension; these are, in turn, followed by ecstatic bursts of joy, etc.

However, this composition is not an attempt to describe such a journey. On the most abstract level, this is the very journey. I came up with this story and the title of the piece after I had already finished the score. Thus, this is not programme music. As I have also said earlier, I would be delighted if this piece inspired listeners to create their own “stories”, in the hope that the music touches the creative core of the audience.
Erkki-Sven Tüür

 

From 1976 to 1980, Erkki-Sven Tüür, studied percussion and flute at the music school in Tallinn, and later composition with Jaan Raats (1980-1984) at the Estonian Academy of Music before taking private lessons with Lepo Sumera.

In 1979, he founded a rock band "In SPE", became one of the most popular in Estonia. Tüür then worked as a composer, flutist, "keyboard player" and singer in this set.

From 1989 to 1992 he taught composition at the Estonian Academy of Music.

With the beginning of "perestroika" his music became known outside Estonia. The success of his work in Finland "Insula deserta" in 1989 was a the beginning of a series of commissions. Thus he composed "La recherche de racines. Hommage à Sibelius (1990) for the Helsinki Philharmonic and Architecture et VI (1991) commissioned by the Helsinki Festival.

Other commissions are passed: the American Waterways Wind Symphony Orchestra, Stockholm Saxophone Quartet, The Hilliard Ensemble, Piano Circus, The Grieg Trio, Choeur de la Radio de Cologne and Rascher Saxophone Quartet, Estonian State Symphony Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Flanders Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Dortmund Opera (opera Wallenberg), Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra Philharmonia ...

The music of Erkki-Sven Tüür is heard more and more frequently throughout Europe, but also in North America, Australia and Japan. In March 2003, Paavo Järvi, artistic director of Cincinnati Symphony, toured with the L'Exode Tüür United States, at Carnegie Hall in New York. "Concerto pour violin" was performed with Isabelle van Keulen, and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Paavo Järvi at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, London, in August 2003.

His works are planned for various festivals such as Bang on a Can (New York), Border Crossings (Toronto), Musica (Strasbourg), Stockholm New Music, Vale of Glamorgan Festival, Festwoche Berlin, Salzburg Festival, Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival, Lucerne Festival, Klangspuren, Wien Modern, Gstaad Festival, Emerging Light (London), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Musica Nova Helsinki.

Erkki-Sven Tüür received numerous awards, including the cultural prize of the Republic of Estonia in 1991 and 1996 and The Art of Baltic Assemble Prize in 1998.

He lives and writes between Tallinn and Island Hiiumaa.

Most of the recordings of his music are found with ECM.

NOTICE

"Illuminato" for viola and orchestra could be seen as a pilgrimage to the Eternelle Light. So the music unfolds like a seed becoming a plant. The elementary parts of the cell of the viola are based on a second major united by glissando and the harmonical phenomenas that result from it.

The musical developement, very organic and logical,assimilated to the movement of waves, each one becoming more powerful than the last.

As we get closer to the end, the orchestra becomes more agitated untill (submerging ) the soloist at the climax of the work.

The relationship between the soloist and the orchesta are constantly changing. They nourrish each other with music material constantly renewing, to build new sound fields consisting of rhythmic layers of different intensities.

I was sensitive to the sugestion of Lars Anders Tomter and Martin Müller to write a work for viola and orchestra.

Erkki-SvenTuur

(Kärdla, Hiiumaa Island in Estonia, 1959)

From 1976 to 1980, Erkki-Sven Tüür, studied percussion and flute in the school of Music in Tallinn, and composition with Jaan Raats (1980-1984) at the Estonian Academy of Music before taking private lessons with Lepo Sumera.

In 1979, he founded a rock band "In SPE", became one of the most popular in Estonia. Tüür then worked as a composer, flutist, "keyboard player" and singer in this set.

From 1989 to 1992 he taught composition at the Estonian Academy of Music.

With the beginning of "perestroika" his music became known outside Estonia. The success of his work in Finland "Insula deserta" in 1989 will be the beginning of a series of commissions. Thus he composed "La recherche des racines. Hommage à Sibelius" (1990) for the Helsinki Philharmonic and "Architecture and VI" (1991) commissioned by the Helsinki Festival.

Other commands its past: the American Waterways Wind Symphony Orchestra, Stockholm Saxophone Quartet, The Hilliard Ensemble, Piano Circus, The Grieg Trio, Choir Cologne Radio and Rascher Saxophone Quartet, Estonian State Symphony Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Flanders Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Dortmund Opera (opera Wallenberg), Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonia Orchestra...

The music by Erkki-Sven Tüür is heard more and more frequently throughout Europe, but also in North America, Australia and Japan. In March 2003, Paavo Järvi, artistic director of Cincinnati Symphony, toured with the Exodus Tüür United States, at Carnegie Hall in New York. "Violin Concerto" was performed with Isabelle van Keulen, and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Paavo Järvi at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, London, in August 2003.

His works are planned in various festivals such as Bang on a Can (New York), Border Crossings (Toronto), Musica (Strasbourg), Stockholm New Music, Vale of Glamorgan Festival, Festwoche Berlin, Salzburg Festival, Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival, Lucerne Festival, Klangspuren, Wien Modern, Gstaad Festival, Emerging Light (London), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Musica Nova Helsinki.

Erkki-Sven Tüür received numerous awards, including the cultural prize of the Republic of Estonia in 1991 and 1996 and The Art of Baltic Assemble Prize in 1998.

He lives and writes between Tallinn and Island Hiiumaa.

Most of the recordings of his music is found in ECM.

NOTICE

The term "stratum" (plural "strata") is borrowed from geology and means a homogeneous layer by its characteristics and thus distinct from the surrounding layers. Each stratum from a specific sediment (river sand, lignite swamps, lava, etc.). And is normally between several layers. The strata are usually visible as soil layers of different colors and structures at the cliffs, trenches roads, in quarries and along the rivers. The conductor Anu Tali sees in Strata the reflection of different cultural layers of his country over the centuries different ethnic groups are mixed there, have left their mark and have created over time a communal cultural tradition. Tüür's work also involves the encounter of different layers, which thicken, return to their transparency, are dislocated to merge with other elements. The symphony grows from an original cell: the columns of agreements, followed by an ascending chain of whirls, forming a melody at the base the starting point for further musical development. Slow and fast tempos of stacked musical layers are one of the salient features of this work, as the trend towards a gradual metric acceleration, without interruption of the slow movement slides into fast motion. Near the end of the symphony's the different musical stratas result in an Estonian folk melody. As often in the works of Tüür the true shape of the theme is made audible as a result of a process that is both long and complex.
Source: Editions Peters