Multiple Grammy-nominated Estonian bassoonist Martin Kuuskmann showcases the expressive power and versatility of his instrument in this compel]ing album featuring three concertos written for him by close collaborators: Tõnu Kõrvits, Eino Tamberg, and Erkki-Sven Tüür. With the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra under Mihhail Gerts, this recording offers a vivid journey through contemporary Estonian soundscapes-from Tamberg's Stravinskyan dynamism and Kõrvits's folk-infused impressionism to Tüür's rhythmically charged reinvention. The album is a bold testament to the bassoon's modern voice from one of the instrument's foremost exponents.

Recorded by the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and various soloists and ensembles in churches in Tallinn as well as the Estonian Concert Hall, the five compositions heard on Arboles lloran por lluvia (Trees cry for rain) give deeper insight into the unique sound-world of Estonian composer Helena Tulve, into music that is nourished by both contemporary and ancient currents. Tulve draws upon a wide-range of inspirational sources. She explores the raw fabric of sound and the nature of timbre in both analytical and instinctive ways, in compositions that are unmistakably her own, yet her work is inclusive - here incorporating aspects of Gregorian chant, melody from Yemenite Jewish tradition, and texts from Sufi, Sephardic and Christian mystic poetry. Reyah hadas 'ala (The Perfume of the Myrtle Rises) unites the ensemble of the Gregorian chant and the early music instruments. This is the only work in which Tulve has used a pre-existing melody, a song of the Yemenite Jews. Extinction des choses vues (The Extinction of the Things Seen) is an orchestral piece in which the musical ideas are derived from a text by the Jesuit thinker Michel de Certeau called Extase blanche (White Ecstasy).

Wilhelm Furtwängler was born in Schöneberg (now a district of Berlin) in 1886, but spent most of his childhood in Munich, where his father, an archaeologist, taught at the university. He received a musical education from an early age, and soon became obsessed with the works of Beethoven – a lifelong fascination. Furtwängler considered himself to be a composer, and learned to conduct principally to be able to promote his own works. Everyone else saw him as an incredibly talented conductor, but as a composer? – not so much. It is, however, his own individual approach that underscores his entire career – his reputation as a conductor was built on the re-interpretation of each score he conducted, a principle far removed from the then more usual rigid adherence to performance tradition. His whole career was built on his belief in the sanctity of the German artistic tradition – not only of music but of literature and philosophy.

Lepo Sumera (1950–2000) was one of the most important figures in Estonian music after WW2. Sumera can also be considered among the most important European symphonists of his era: between 1981 and 2000 the composer wrote an impressive series of six symphonies. These dramatic and emotionally-packed works of great beauty and contrasts were greatly admired by, among others, John Adams. This new album by the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and conductor Olari Elts is the first instalment in a new fascinating symphony cycle.

Aeris is the ninth ECM New Series album to feature the vibrant and highly expressive music of Erkki-Sven Tüür. Olari Elts, a long-time champion of Tüür’s compositions, conducts the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra in compelling, intensely-focused performances of Phantasma, De Profundis and Tüür’s tenth symphony ÆRIS, a vast drama of shifting energies and interactions, which is scored for horn quartet and orchestra. The symphony is in four movements that transition seamlessly. Tüür: “Each movement expresses a different development between the ensemble of soloists and the orchestra. Sometimes their motifs spread into the orchestra like memes that start changing and gradually take on lives of their own…” The album was recorded at Tallinn’s Estonian Concert Hall.

Lepo Sumera (1950-2000) was one of the most important figures in Estonian music after WW2. Sumera can also be considered among the most important European symphonists of his era: between 1981 and 2000 the composer wrote an impressive series of 6 Symphonies. These dramatic and emotionally-packed works of great beauty and contrasts were greatly admired, among others, by John Adams. This new album by the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and conductor Olari Elts is first instalment in a new fascinating symphony cycle.

Born in Tallinn in 1962, Paavo Järvi is renowned for his dynamic interpretations and innovative programming. He has held prominent positions with leading orchestras, including the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, or the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich more recently. Paavo Järvi's approach combines technical precision with expressive depth, making him a favourite among musicians and audiences alike.

The nineteenth-century French opera overture was for many years looked down on by certain music critics (and musicians) – largely as the genre turned its back on the historical adherence to strict musical form (fugue, sonata form, etc.). Percy Scholes, in the 1955 Oxford Companion to Music, had the following to say: ‘a cheap but not always ineffective type of opera overture is that of the pot-pourri or medley – little more than a string of tunes from the work to follow.’ These overtures were incredibly popular in their time, and the revival of this repertoire is long overdue. Daniel Auber composed more than fifty operas, some for the Paris Opéra and some for the Opéra Comique. His Grand Opera La Muette de Portici famously sparked the Belgian revolution in 1830, which led to the country’s independence in 1839. Les Cloches de Corneville was by far the most successful of Planquette’s twenty-four operas, receiving some 400 consecutive performances. Alexandre Lecocq’s La Fille de Madame Angot was premièred in Brussels in 1872 and is set in post-revolutionary Paris. The Overture is followed here by numbers put together by Gordon Jacob, in his re-orchestration of material taken mainly from the opera, for Léonide Massine’s ballet Mam’zelle Angot, which closely follows the action of the opera.

Lalo considered himself to be first and foremost an opera composer, even though Le Roi d’Ys was his only opera to be performed in his lifetime. He is now best known for his symphonic and chamber music, largely because of the highly political musical establishment in France in his time. The Overture to the opera (which opens this album) is now the best-known music from the piece, which proved a considerable success in France.

For newcomers to the work of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, this generous two-disc collection of performances from EMI's archive would be a good place to start exploring. The authoritative Pärt performances would probably be the premiere releases on ECM, produced by Manfred Eicher, but these performances are all of a very high quality and there is a handful of works that ECM has never recorded. Pärt's most famous works are here; there are three versions each of the ever-popular Fratres (for violin and piano, string orchestra and harp, and string quartet) and Summa (for mixed voices, string orchestra, and string quartet), as well as the version of Spiegel in Spiegel for violin and piano, Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten for string orchestra and bell, and the concerto for two violins and prepared piano, Tabula rasa.

Though he was born on the Swedish island of Gotland, Englund settled in Helsinki, where he studied and later, after a spell of study in Tanglewood with Copland, taught. On returning home after his service on the front in 1945, he burned all his wartime manuscripts and sketches, and wrote this symphony, his first orchestral piece—and a remarkably accomplished piece it is! It became known in his native country as the War Symphony, though the composer characterized it as an expression of ''a euphoric joy at having—by a sheer miracle—come through four years of hell during the Second World War alive''. The musical language has more in common with Shostakovich than any other modern composer, but it is far from derivative. The idiom is accessible and there are memorable melodic ideas.

The breadth of Anton Rubinstein’s contribution to the development of Russian culture in the 19th century cannot be overstated. His multifaceted genius can be divided into three areas: Rubinstein the composer, the pianist, and the educator. This third release in the series of recordings of his works for piano and orchestra focuses on Rubinstein’s role as a pianist. Hailed by The New York Times as a pianist of a fiery sensibility and warm touch, Anna Shelest is an international award-winning pianist who has thrilled audiences throughout the world. Champion of esoteric repertoire, Anna’s collaboration with the legendary conductor Neeme Järvi on a project of recording the complete works for piano and orchestra by Anton Rubinstein has been praised by Gramophone Magazine for “…power and agility… effortless effect… nuanced and incisive all around.”

Poulenc's Stabat Mater, which the composer described as, "a requiem without despair," was written in 1950 following the death of Christian Berard, a leading figure of 1940s Paris who designed the sets for Cocteau's films and plays. This masterly work, dedicated to the Virgin of Rocamadour, gives pride of place to the chorus and clearly shows its line of descent from the French motets of the age of Louis XIV. It is paired with the Sept Repons de Tenebres, Poulenc's last choral work. Although sacred in nature, it was written for a non-religious celebration, the opening of New York's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. This recording's superb cast features soprano Carolyn Sampson and the Estonian Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra led by Daniel Reuss.

For their latest album, Neeme Järvi and his Estonian National Symphony Orchestra present a delightful programme of lesser-known stage music from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Overtures by Thomas, Auber and Boieldieu were all composed for works staged at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, and are wonderful examples of the period.

In his latest recording for Chandos with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Järvi explores pieces by three of Estonia’s first composers. The bulk of the works in the programme were composed in the first decade of the twentieth century, and are all excellent representations of the birth of Estonian Music, as Estonia transitioned from a territory in the Russian Empire to an independent nation state. As was the norm at the end of the nineteenth century, these composers studied at the St Petersburg Conservatory, and Estonian symphonic music certainly has its roots in the Russian nationalist style. Like so much of European music of this era, ethnic identity is emphasised by the inclusion of native folk tunes, and the ‘Nordic’ style of Grieg and others is clearly an influence.