Erkki-sven Tüür
Having begun his musical life as frontman of the rock group In Spe, Erkki-sven Tüür is today acclaimed as the multi-faceted composer of nine symphonies, ten concertos, an opera and much besides. The Estonian’s 60th birthday is celebrated in concerts this autumn by the Estonian National Symphony and Tallinn Chamber orchestras.
I came from a prog rock background. But the transition to composition was very smooth. I wrote music for my band in a style we called ‘chamber rock’. It was mainly notated music, with some free improvisation. My hunger for more colours and instruments grew, so I ended up moving away. It was more of an evolutionary movement from one genre to another than a radical jump. Being in the group allowed me to experiment, and we played really ambitious music.
During the 1980s and ’90s I tried to build a language of quasi-minimalism. Since the beginning of the new millennium, though, I have developed a new approach which I call ‘vectorial’, because of its focus on the angles, curves and directions of the voices. It’s allowed me to be harmonically much richer.
I have been influenced by other Estonian composers. These include Arvo Pärt and
Lepo Sumera. I love the ways Sumera used all the colours in the orchestra but kept the material
quite minimalist. However, my musical language isn’t directly linked to the rich Estonian tradition of folk music, and I have more of a Nordic approach. You can detect some similarities with my Nordic colleagues like Sebastian Fagerlund and Marcus Lindberg, who explore the changing seasons and how we are linked to nature.
My favourite instrument is the whole orchestra. There are so many opportunities for colours there, and they are operating within a huge apparatus. However, it’s also important for me sometimes to work with smaller scores because that’s how I polish my technique.
I work in a studio on a farm by my country home. The walk to the studio is an opportunity for me to take in the forces of nature around me, and its huge glass windows open up to a beautiful landscape. I have a strong visual imagination, which acts as a trigger for my composition. I draw graphs and abstract architectures like sculptures in my mind.