Eesti Filharmoonia Kammerkoor
Litany To Thunder
Ultimate recording. Deep concern for the fate of my tiny homeland, my people and our culture have keyed my creative work. I hope this CD succeeds in expressing those feelings. (Veljo Tormis)
Conductor
Tõnu Kaljuste
Label
ECM Records (ECM 1687)
Recorded August 1998 Estonia Concert Hall, Tallinn
Tonmeister: Teije van Geest
Sarjas ECM New Series
2 bukletti (48 lk ja 6 lk)
Photos: Tõnu Tormis
Design: Sascha Kleis
Produced by Manfred Eicher
1. How Can I Recognize My Home
4:25for two sopranos and piano
Eve Härma, Kadri Ratt (sopranid), Marrit Gerretz-Traksmann (klaver)
2. Singing Aboard Ship
5:30for contralto and mixed choir
Karin Salumäe (kontraalt)
3. Curse Upon Iron
9:57for tenor, bass, mixed choir and shaman drum
Mati Turi (tenor), Allan Vurma (bass), Toivo Kivi (shamaani trumm)
4. The Singer's Childhood
2:53for soprano and female choir
Raili Jaanson (sopran)
5. Songs of the Ancient Sea
8:426. The Bishop and the Pagan
10:03for countertenor, two tenors and male choir
Kaia Urb (sopran), Mikk Üleoja, Tiit Kogerman (tenor)
7. Litany to Thunder
5:05for tenor, bass, male choir and bass drum
Mati Turi (tenor), Allan Vurma (bass), Madis Metsamart (basstrumm)
8. The Lost Geese
16:21for two sopranos and piano
Eve Härma, Kadri Ratt (sopranid), Marrit Gerretz-Traksmann (klaver)
Listen, watch, read more
Discogs | Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir - Litany To Thunder
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DiscogsLitany to thunder
Litany to thunder on Spotify
SpotifyMusicBrainz | Litany to Thunder
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MusicBrainzClassical Net | Litany to Thunder
What a fascinating CD this is /---/ The music on this CD is strikingly beautiful, and fresh and challenging like a stiff Baltic breeze. The Estonian choir performs with incredible virtuosity, and the soloists, mostly taken from the choir, sing with discipline while retaining a natural, non-operatic quality. (Raymond Tuttle, 2000)
Classical NetClassics Today | Litany To Thunder
The stylistic range of the other pieces varies from plainchant-style melodies and tangy, quartal harmonies straight out of Machaut to the arresting, 10-minute Curse Upon Iron in which the text is whispered, spoken, and intoned to the driving drum accompaniment of a shamanistic, pre-Christian ritual. Throughout, the music has an urgency to communicate that’s sometimes lacking in Pärt, and an emotional honesty the Bulgarian Women’s Choir misses in its more self-consciously exotic moments. (David Patrick Stearns 2000-01-02)
Classics TodayClassical Music | Litany to Thunder
Estonian composer Veljo Tormis’s second ECM disc is a remarkable achievement, a varied selection of choral works from the Sixties to the present day whose very simplicity forces the listener to consider what’s going on ‘behind’ the music. The menacing Curse Upon Iron and the dramatic Litany to Thunder both invoke magic, the former a shamanistic spell communicating knowledge to the metal in order to gain power over it... (David Kettle)
Classical MusicRateYourMusic | Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir - Litany To Thunder
CD info
RateYourMusic.Singers.com | Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir – Litany To Thunder
There is nothing else in contemporary choral music that can be compared with "Curse Upon Iron", where the fierce declamations of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir are underpinned by the pounding pulse of a shaman's drum.
Singers.comArkivMusic | Tormis. Litany To Thunder
CD info
ArkivMusicAllMusic | Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir - Litany To Thunder
CD info
AllMusicE-kataloog ESTER | EFK - Litany To Thunder
Albumi kirjeldus Eesti raamatukogude ühiskataloogis
ester.eeECM Records | Litany To Thunder (Background)
Under Tõnu Kaljuste’s brilliant direction, the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir explore the elemental character of the music: it often seems as much a force of nature as the storms, shipwrecks, and skies full of geese that crowd the song-texts. (ECM promotional materials, 1999)
ECM Records HomepageECMreviews | Litany To Thunder (ECM New Series 1687)
Tormis’s vitality and aesthetic properties connect the peoples of this music as the shore connects land and sea, establishing a fluid relationship between fields of geography and tradition. Images transcend linguistic barriers. In so being heard, they live anew. (Tyran Grillo, 2012-11-13)
ECM ReviewsClassical Net | Litany to Thunder
What a fascinating CD this is /---/ The music on this CD is strikingly beautiful, and fresh and challenging like a stiff Baltic breeze. The Estonian choir performs with incredible virtuosity, and the soloists, mostly taken from the choir, sing with discipline while retaining a natural, non-operatic quality. (Raymond Tuttle, 2000)
Classical NetClassics Today | Litany To Thunder
The stylistic range of the other pieces varies from plainchant-style melodies and tangy, quartal harmonies straight out of Machaut to the arresting, 10-minute Curse Upon Iron in which the text is whispered, spoken, and intoned to the driving drum accompaniment of a shamanistic, pre-Christian ritual. Throughout, the music has an urgency to communicate that’s sometimes lacking in Pärt, and an emotional honesty the Bulgarian Women’s Choir misses in its more self-consciously exotic moments. (David Patrick Stearns 2000-01-02)
Classics TodayClassical Music | Litany to Thunder
Estonian composer Veljo Tormis’s second ECM disc is a remarkable achievement, a varied selection of choral works from the Sixties to the present day whose very simplicity forces the listener to consider what’s going on ‘behind’ the music. The menacing Curse Upon Iron and the dramatic Litany to Thunder both invoke magic, the former a shamanistic spell communicating knowledge to the metal in order to gain power over it... (David Kettle)
Classical MusicSingers.com | Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir – Litany To Thunder
There is nothing else in contemporary choral music that can be compared with "Curse Upon Iron", where the fierce declamations of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir are underpinned by the pounding pulse of a shaman's drum.
Singers.comECMreviews | Litany To Thunder (ECM New Series 1687)
Tormis’s vitality and aesthetic properties connect the peoples of this music as the shore connects land and sea, establishing a fluid relationship between fields of geography and tradition. Images transcend linguistic barriers. In so being heard, they live anew. (Tyran Grillo, 2012-11-13)
ECM ReviewsDiscogs | Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir - Litany To Thunder
CD info
DiscogsMusicBrainz | Litany to Thunder
CD info
MusicBrainzRateYourMusic | Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir - Litany To Thunder
CD info
RateYourMusic.ArkivMusic | Tormis. Litany To Thunder
CD info
ArkivMusicAllMusic | Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir - Litany To Thunder
CD info
AllMusicE-kataloog ESTER | EFK - Litany To Thunder
Albumi kirjeldus Eesti raamatukogude ühiskataloogis
ester.ee