As If A River Were Singing… (Orchestral Works)

The album ‘as if a river were singing …’ brings together the most recent orchestral compositions of three younger generation Estonian composers, borrowing its title from the album’s opening piece, Alisson Kruusmaa’s eponymous work. The artists who collaborated on this album regard it as a kind of musical riverbed, with many different streams flowing into it each with its own journey, its own song. The connecting bridge is the Parnu City Orchestra and their chief conductor Kaspar Mand, who commissioned all the recorded works. The pieces were premiered at the Parnu Concert Hall, the home hall of the orchestra, between 2020 and 2021, and are heard here in their world-premiere recordings.

The musicians involved in this recording, including pianist Johan Randvere and violinist Linda-Anette Verte, are united by years of collaboration, as well as generational ties the composers, soloists and conductor were born in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The same may be said of the Parnu City Orchestra, which was founded in 1994.

Composers Alisson Kruusmaa, Maria Korvits and Rasmus Puur are already experienced and recognised artists in Estonia and beyond, and their music shows a maturity that belies their years. These are individual and authentic voices ready to be heard by a wider audience.

Alisson Kruusmaa describes ‘as if a river were singing ‘ for piano and orchestra as being “based on the mysterious facets and shades of water and focuses on fluidity, space, contrasts and endless flow.” Maria Korvits’s ‘concrete’ is inspired by the relationship between architecture and music and is an homage to the work of Prnu city architect Olev Siinmaa on the 140th anniversary of his birth. The Violin Concerto is Rasmus Puur’s first full-length instrumental concerto and was written at the request of violinist Linda-Anette Verte, who also performed it with the Parnu City Orchestra at the concerto’s premiere. The work is characterised by dramatic expression and complex sound structures, refined lyricism, and abstract, philosophical themes.

This album is a unique and fascinating collaboration that shines a spotlight on Estonia’s rich contemporary music scene.