Artur Kapp - Mihkel Lüdig - Artur Lemba: Orchestral Works

In his latest recording for Chandos with his Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Järvi explores pieces by three of Estonia’s earliest 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 independent Nation State. As was the norm at the end of the 19thcentury, these composers studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire, and Estonian symphonic music certainly has its roots in the Russian Nationalist style. Like so many other European Musics of this era, ethnic identity is emphasized by the inclusion of native folk tunes and the ‘Nordic’ style of Greig and others is certainly an influence. Kapp’s 4thSymphony, however, was written after WWII, when Estonia and the other Baltic States were occupied by the Soviet Union. Dedicated to the 30thAnniversary of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (although probably not by choice) Kapp also subtitled it ‘Classical Symphony’ and its compact form and light textures deliver a more concentrated distillation of the Estonian style.