[ ECM New Series / CD ]
Release Date: Wednesday 20 August 2014
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Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür's Seventh Symphony (2009), dedicated to the Dalai Lama, is a choral symphony like no other. It is a powerful vector-based work in Tüür's new compositional mode, in which the orchestra only intermittently frames and supports the voices. The texts that the NDR Choir sings include words of the Buddha from the Dhammapada but also utterances of more contemporary visionaries, from Gandhi to Mother Theresa. The Piano Concerto, like the symphony, was composed for the Hessischer Rundfunk and given its premiere at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, one of this album's recording locations. As Paul Griffiths notes, "The concerto is also music on two planes, now orchestra and piano, though this time both are continuous and continually in the process of meeting." Finnish pianist Laura Mikkola gives an exceptional performance, responding to the surging waves of the orchestra and the inspired direction of Paavo Järvi.
"the combination of logic and boldness is engrossing from first to last." GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE AWARD NOMINATION 2014
"Tüür is at his most subversive in the works on this new recording...As usual, ECM's recording of these performances, which are surely the most committed one could imagine, is outstanding." (International Record Review)
"Dense, complex, mysterious, passionate, spellbinding, sometimes strage and always original, Tüür's Piano Concerto and choral Symphony receive stunning performances enhanced by superb sound quality." (BBC Music)
Piano Concerto (2006)
Symphony No. 7 'Pietas' (2009)