Other Releases

Kallosh, A. Nemtin, S. Gubaidulina, A. Schnitke and E. Denisov, whose important roles in the development of Russian electronic music are chronicled in the preface to the accompanying booklet , are absent on the record, as are younger Russian composers with different creative faces. Two short pieces by Sven Grunberg, "Ritual 1985" and "AOM," are recorded at the beginning of the CD. They are good, but not representative of the creative work of the composer of the first Estonian electronic composition. The piece by Lepo Sumera, "From 29 to 49," also fails to give an idea of his creativity. Erkki-Sven Tuur's "Ritual" is a very original piece; its form is exact, its images inimitable. But "Ritual" is taken from a larger cycle that was written for the early-music ensemble Hortus Musicus and synthesizers-in myopinion , its perception separate from the whole does not match the artist's intention . Only "Nine Mantras" by Peeter Viihi is representative of its author's work: this is a fine Eastern cycle-collage. Two short pieces by the living classic of Russian electronic music, Eduard Artemyev-"The Road to Nowhere" and "The Well of Eternity"-are neither typical nor the best of his work. The three compositions by Mikhail Chekalin are light and have spectacular titles ("Erotic Fish Marouani," "Genetic Code," "Origin of Species"). True, they are original. Pianist and composer Anton Batagov is a pure minimalist. The basic device of form building in his "Promenade 3" and "Promenade 8" is ostinato. The piece by Igor Chernyavsky, ''Voyage through the Black Hole," is very beautiful. "Song of Morning," by Vladimir Martynov, takes a typical crescendo form that refers to E. Grieg's "Dawn." But the piece is expressive and the use of the synthesizer is original. RELAXATION II Erdenklang Musikverlag, Hastenbeker Weg 17, 2000 Hamburg, 54/West Germany , 1992. Compact disc 20552. Reviewed by Mark Rais, K£ntmanni 10-16, TallinnEE0001, Estonia. Estonian electronic and computer-music composers are currently writing a great deal of psychotherapeutic music in collaboration with physicians. The compositions appearing in this field are sometimes true masterpieces. Relaxatio, by Peeter Viihi, first written as an applied 92 Reviews composition, is one of these masterpieces . The music follows an accompanying text exactly, and this combination generates an original synthetic form. Asian intonation elements form a basis for Relaxatio, which borrows from a recording of Tibetan canticles. The second half of the cassette tape is an echo-effect of the first, except that the music here is without text. Viihi made two versions of this composition , one with Estonian and one with English text, and he later created an "absolute" version without text. This version has been recorded on the German Erdenklang label, along with other meditative compositions by European composers, under the title Relaxation II. This compilation brings together elements of both European and Asian music . The improvisational elements of form-building are absent from this recording , and the force of expression is less powerful that in Viihi's earlier work. We hear new artistic compositions that echo Viihi's themes, but have much different content. The images are wonderfully changed as a result: the European crescendo-form peeps through the meditations, culminating in the end. OM by Sven Grunberg. Tallinna Helikassetitehas (Tallinn Cassette Works), 1990. Cassette. Reviewed by Mark Rais, K£ntmanni 10-16, Tallinn EE0001, Estonia. Sven Grunberg, born in 1956, was the first Estonian composer to use the synthesizer , and from 1978 to the present he has composed electronic music exclusively . I think that he is the most interesting Estonian composer in this genre and that future historians will be able to analyse the feelings of Estonians under a totalitarian regime on the basis of Grunberg's music. The sources of his creative work are various and sometimes very simple-from street song to Chinese , Indian and Tibetan music-but its result is always social. Grunberg doesn't stylize and doesn't arrange; he doesn't even suffer. He simply wants to take himself away into a great world, discover a new age in life and in music, and pass his own wishes on to his listeners. Grunberg's best compositions between 1981 and 1987 are recorded...