"The great late Estonian composer Veljo Tormis, who passed away in 2017, would have turned 93 today. An important figure in the classical music of the 20th and early 21st century, Tormis was a composer deeply in tune with his country’s vital tradition of choral singing and ancient folk culture, famously suggesting: “I do not use folk song, it is folk song that uses me.” Tormis’s music also draws on the folklore of kindred and more distant peoples such as the Ingrians, Setus, Estonians, Latvians, Livonians, Finns, Russians and Bulgarians. In the 1970s and 80s he wrote a cycle of choral works entitled “Forgotten Peoples” (Unustatud rahvad), which was the composer’s debut recording on ECM, featuring the Eesti Filharmoonia Kammerkoor / Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir conducted by Tõnu Kaljuste. A brand new recording with works by Tormis titled Reminiscentiae and again recorded with the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir conducted by Tõnu Kaljuste alongside the Tallinna Kammerorkester /Tallinn Chamber Orchestra will be released in September."
Source: ECM Records

Release date: 08.09.2023.

The author of the cover photo is Mari Kaljuste.