Track Listing

1. Symphony No.3: Contextus I
2. Symphony No.3: Contextus II
3. Concerto for cello & orchestra
4. Lighthouse, for string orchestra

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #161279 in Music
• Released on: 2000-02-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import

Amazon.com
Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tuur is one of today's brightest lights, creating works that combine drama, mystery, and emotional directness within complex structures. His music is listener-friendly; its rhythmic life, deep textures, and compelling sound world reward repeated listenings. The Symphony No. 3 is in two movements, the first building from barely audible cymbal splashes to jazz-like plucked basses to scurrying strings and chaotic winds, rising to a shattering brass-led climax that gives way to delicate coloristic effects. Those first four minutes are typical of Tuur's music, pulsating with energy and unexpected blocks of sound. The Cello Concerto is just as fetching; Gergingas's lyrical soliloquizing blends nicely with the imaginative orchestration. Lighthouse, for strings, is a contemporary take on the baroque and makes a fine filler. Highly recommended. --Dan Davis

Customer Reviews

Animated and liberated
Imagine a mad genius bent over a sequencer, cranking away wildly at the tempo and pitch controls - except in this case it isn't a sequencer, it's a string section! Erkki Sven Tuur sheds new light on the relevance of arpeggios and looped motifs in contemporary music and the effect is as invigorating as it can be unsettling. His music has both linear and harmonic density - a soup with a whole new flavour and texture....

Fresh Orchestral Sounds
Tüür follows up on the promise of his debut disk for ECM New Series by bringing listeners three fascinating new works: Symphony No. 3, Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, and Lighthouse, a piece for string orchestra. Those familiar with Tüür's music from that earlier disk will recognize his style here: the sometimes nervously-buzzing strings, the sudden showers of percussion, the sense of exploration and wonder. The music is modern, and challenging, but it is fun to listen to, not confrontational. Those who do not thing they could like music of a contemporary composer really ought to give this disk a listen.

Symphony No. 3 opens with the sound of a jazz trap set, but soon develops a sound all its own, mysterious and invigorating. Tüür's Cello Concerto is unlike any other cello concerto I have ever heard, with the cello seeming to search with the orchestra for something deep within on a kind of spiritual quest. The music sounds restless but does not impart restlessness to the listener. The final piece, Lighthouse, seems to dance at times, whirling away in lively counterpoint, at times carefree, at other times nearly obsessive, but always engaging and enjoyable.

Tüür's music has a distinctive sound, and it looks indeed as though he is going to develop into a major composer. This is a fascinating disk that those looking for fresh orchestral sounds would do well to audition.