An Estonian pioneer’s musical legacy is revealed
Paul Riley finds solace in the music of Cyrillus Kreek with a fine new recording by Vox Clamantis
Kreek
The Suspended Harp of Babel – The sun shall not smite thee; Whilst Great Is Our Poverty; Jacob’s Dream/orthodox Vespers – Proemial Psalm; From Heaven Above to Earth I Come; Bless the Lord, my soul; Awake, My Heart; Orthodox Vespers – Praise the Name of the Lord; Do the Birds Worry?; Lord, I Cry unto Thee; He, Who Lets God Prevail; By the Rivers of Babylon; plus works by Machaut, Marco Ambrosini and Anna-liisa Eller Vox Clamantis/jaan-eile Tulve ECM 481 9041 67:01 mins Gregorian chant affords a common meeting place for the musicians of Vox Clamantis, but their reach has spanned medieval polyphony to contemporary music – including that of compatriots such as Arvo Pärt, Helena Tulve and Erkki-sven Tüür. This latest disc honours a major figure of Estonian choral music from an earlier generation: Cyrillus Kreek (1889-1962), pioneering folksong collector and composer of folkinflected sacred music.
Included are four psalm settings written between the two world wars; a treasury of ancient runic and folk hymnic works; the instrumental gilding of nyckelharpa and kannel (a sort of Estonian zither); and, by way of extended finale, the free-wheeling
‘Oh Jeesus, sinu valu’, in which folk music, Machaut and an iconic Lutheran choral are hauntingly enmeshed. A caressing velvety choral reassurance underpins Jaan-eile Tulve’s tender direction of Psalm 121. Nothing is forced. The singing breathes with a collective, gentle inevitability, (consummated in the evenness and control of ‘Kui suur on meie vaesus’ poised plenitude). ‘By the Rivers of Babylon’ divides the choir into eight ear-filling parts and takes the basses to a rumbling low B flat; though in a setting ranging from ‘triple quiet’ to ‘double loud’ Tulve somewhat softens the dynamic distinctions.
The final impression is abiding solace, nonetheless, for these distracted times.
PERFORMANCE ★★★★
RECORDING ★★★★★
Hear extracts from this recording and the rest of this month’s choices on the BBC Music Magazine website at www.classical-music.com
Beethoven
Songs and Folksongs
Ian Bostridge (tenor), Vilde Frang (violin), Nicolas Altstaedt (cello), Antonio Pappano (piano)
Warner 9029527643 56:03 mins Although both are included,
Ian Bostridge is keen to remind us that there’s more to Beethoven than the evergreen ‘Adelaide’, or
An die ferne Geliebte, the first great song cycle (one that set the bar high for Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin some seven years later). Goethe is a looming presence here, and the inclusion of all four settings of ‘Sehnsucht’ offers some interesting comparisons. Other Goethe Lieder include a ‘Maigesang’ delivered with glowing gemütlichkeit, and ‘The Song of the Flea’ from Faust in which Antonio Pappano invests the fidgety piano part with piquant playfulness whilst allowing Bostridge to flex his comedic muscles to the full.
The young Beethoven’s incarnation of a ‘love-drunk man’ in ‘Adelaide’ suits Bostridge’s Peter Pan-ish tenor ideally. Even An die ferne Geliebte, written when Beethoven was in his mid-40s, sounds like a young man’s cycle. Bostridge’s warm lyricism casts an enveloping spell – though some of his expressive traits can be a touch predictable, their range circumscribed if affecting. Violinist Vilde Frang and cellist Nicolas Altstaedt join for a feast of British folksong arrangements, though Bostridge sometimes overeggs things: in ‘The Pulse of the Irishman’, he skitters bewilderingly between the ‘full Oirish’ and evensong at King’s. Paul Riley
PERFORMANCE ★★★★
RECORDING ★★★★★
Beethoven • Schubert
Beethoven: An die ferne Geliebte; Schubert: Schwanengesang Roderick Williams (baritone),
Iain Burnside (piano)
Chandos CHAN 20126 65:14 mins Beethoven’s
An die ferne Geliebte is the ultimate song cycle, six songs connected with short piano passages. Schubert’s Schwanengesang is perhaps the
The singing breathes with a collective, gentle inevitability