{"id":9609,"date":"2017-01-23T13:18:46","date_gmt":"2017-01-23T10:18:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/efk.epcc.ee\/en\/2017\/01\/estonian-philharmonic-chamber-choir-sings-arvo-part\/"},"modified":"2017-01-23T13:18:46","modified_gmt":"2017-01-23T10:18:46","slug":"estonian-philharmonic-chamber-choir-sings-arvo-part","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/efk.epcc.ee\/en\/2017\/01\/estonian-philharmonic-chamber-choir-sings-arvo-part\/","title":{"rendered":"Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir Sings Arvo Part"},"content":{"rendered":"

Choir brings to life Estonia’s ever-evolving tradition<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Baltic states have a strong tradition of singing and a spiritual culture\u00a0that extend back through antiquity\u2014two characteristics independent of each other, but often intertwined. Songs of every topic imaginable exist in their folklore, and singing was ever-present, most notably at\u00a0significant events or rituals.<\/p>\n

The writings of first-century Roman historian Tacitus are considered some of the first records of the Baltic people, and even in his time,\u00a0they were noted for their spiritual culture. In subsequent records, as early as the 1000s, there are accounts of their singing. For millennia, they have sung for peace, which, in 1991, even played a significant part in Estonia gaining independence from the Soviet Union\u2014with a bloodless revolution through song.<\/p>\n

Singing is still very much a part of the culture of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania,\u00a0and, not surprisingly, very fine singers and professional choirs have risen from this tradition.<\/p>\n

The Estonian composer Arvo Part<\/a> is today one of the most performed living composers, and, according to BachTrack, the top-performed classical composer for the last six years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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A leader in performing Part\u2019s music,\u00a0the Estonian\u00a0Philharmonic Chamber Choir (EPCC) has won two Grammys for recordings of his music and been invited to perform all over the world. Part lives in Tallinn, Estonia, and works with EPCC on a regular basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Renaissance approach to music was supposed to reveal the divine nature of harmony,\u201d similar to mathematicians\u2019, scientists\u2019, and visual artists\u2019 approach to their craft, said Kaspars Putnins, conductor of EPCC. \u201cArvo Part is in the same realm. His music, his message, is a humane experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

On\u00a0Feb. 1<\/a>, EPCC will perform a program of all Arvo Part works\u00a0at the\u00a0Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, as a part of the music series Sacred Music in a Sacred Space.<\/p>\n

A Search for Authenticity<\/h2>\n

The entire EPCC program\u00a0is selections of Part\u2019s work, all\u00a0sacred texts set to music with the\u00a0exception of \u201cSolfeggio,\u201d which is the C major scale repeated ten times, but to beautiful effect. It\u2019s very characteristic of Part, Putnins said. \u201cHe uses often very simple mathematical formulas, which reveal the beauty and harmony of the world as is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the most gentle soul you can imagine. At the same time, he is extremely well educated,\u201d and knowledgeable about all things music-related, Putnins said.<\/p>\n

Putnins cites Part\u2019s journey as a musician as\u00a0one reason the music is so widely performed and\u00a0enjoyed.<\/p>\n

Part began composing in the mid-1900s in Estonia when it was still under Soviet rule. The trend at the time was avant garde, which Part studied and wrote. His music was considered outstanding but controversial, with\u00a0many criticizing him for being openly religious in his art in the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n

Then came a period of crisis, when Part stopped making music entirely. He had to reinvent himself and question what music was and how it related to humans and the world.<\/p>\n

In Part\u2019s official biography, he recounted having given up all musical genres, before intensely studying early music\u2014from the Gregorian chant to Renaissance polyphony. Eventually he reemerged in 1976 with a new style.<\/p>\n

Putnins believes Part went through a process of finding authenticity, evident in the\u00a0self-revelations found in his later music, that is\u00a0\u201cso important for so many people today.\u201d These revelations, Putnins believes, inspire others.<\/p>\n

A Singing Culture<\/h2>\n

Putnins, from Latvia, says he has been in the choral music world his entire life. He went to a specialized school starting from age 6, where in between classes like math and physics, students would take subjects like solf\u00e8ge (learning pitch and sight singing)\u00a0and harmony. His mother\u00a0was a choral conductor, and at 14 he started taking conducting lessons as well. Straight out of school, he continued it professionally.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been thrilled by this special art form,\u201d Putnins said. \u201cWith voice, you can basically do anything. It\u2019s the closest [instrument] to our soul.\u201d<\/p>\n

For centuries, there have been ancient accounts from travelers to the Baltic states who wrote of the musical culture. And for nearly as long<\/a>, there has been a history of protest through song. In the 13th century, Estonians sang in\u00a0protest to German invaders, and in the 18th century they sang as an act of resistance to Russian czar Peter the Great\u2019s invasion.<\/p>\n

In 1987, hundreds of thousands of people from Tallin, Estonia, to Riga, Latvia, would link together and sing patriotic songs and religious hymns forbidden by the\u00a0communist state, beginning a\u00a0\u201cSinging Revolution\u201d until Estonia declared independence in 1991.<\/p>\n

Today, every five years, the Baltic states hold a singing festival, Laulupidu, where around 25,000 people show up to venues designed specifically for these big sing-ins.<\/p>\n

In Latvia, Putnins said, where there is a population of about 2 million, there are about 2 million folkloric texts for songs, on any subject you could think of, about any human relationship you could think of. The Baltic states were also quick to adopt the reformation of churches, and with that, adopted the tradition of choral singing in parishes. Since then, even the tiniest schools in the most rural areas have taught choral singing.<\/p>\n

With such a mass of amateur singing, we also find some very talented groups and individuals, Putnins said.<\/p>\n

Shaping Sound<\/h2>\n

Putnins joined EPCC as artistic director three years ago, but had\u00a0worked with the choir many times previously. They often collaborate with the Latvian Radio Choir<\/a>, which he has been with since 1992.<\/p>\n

Of course, a conductor has\u00a0a clear vision of what the sound should\u00a0be, but \u201crevealing the individual impulse of my musicians is important to me,\u201d Putnins said. It\u2019s not just communicating text, or communicating to the audience. It\u2019s highly valuable teamwork that comes from enabling a group of musicians to communicate with each other, he said.<\/p>\n

Each individual singer gives a bit of themselves, and \u201cthen it\u2019s like a dance,\u201d he said. \u201c[And] then the audience is involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Musical Exploration<\/h2>\n

Like Part, EPCC has had the opportunity to\u00a0explore wide-ranging musical styles. As\u00a0a full-time professional choir, the group has so much time to play, explore, and perfect, according to Putnins.<\/p>\n

EPCC also commissions at least half a dozen pieces from Estonian composers every year, Putnins said, from small to large, and it has been a very interesting way of furthering\u00a0a musical tradition. \u201cThese\u00a0relationships [with composers]\u00a0represent different generations of the culture,\u201d he said. They may sing something set to an electric guitar but with traditional folkloric text, and then come back to the bread and butter of their repertoire and \u201csee Johannes Brahms in a different light,\u201d Putnins said.<\/p>\n

Exploring beyond your core repertoire gives you more to reflect on with each musical piece, he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not that you ever lose anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you expand your musical universe, you find novelties in your daily bread,\u201d Putnins said.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/n3\/2211165-estonian-philharmonic-chamber-choir-sings-arvo-part\/<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Choir brings to life Estonia’s ever-evolving tradition The Baltic states have a strong tradition of singing and a spiritual culture\u00a0that extend back through antiquity\u2014two characteristics independent of each other, but often intertwined. Songs of every topic imaginable exist in their folklore, and singing was ever-present, most notably at\u00a0significant events or rituals. The writings of first-century […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/efk.epcc.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/efk.epcc.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/efk.epcc.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efk.epcc.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efk.epcc.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/efk.epcc.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9609\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/efk.epcc.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efk.epcc.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efk.epcc.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}