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Estonian vocal music Renaissance works from Conductor: Margo Kõlar
A concert hosted by Klosterkonzerte Maulbronn 1 CD Audio, 60 minutes, DDD, KuK 21, EUR 22,- |
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Margo Kõlar, Conductor |
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The Heinavanker (English: haywain) ensemble started making music together in Tallinn, in 1988. The group named themselves after the famous winged altar piece of their favourite epoch‘s artist, Hieronymus Bosch (1453-1516). The allegorical scenes on this altar seem startlingly up to date. On this curious painting a giant haywain is depicted rolling to ruin over the from greed eroded land. However, atop the hayload there sounds beautiful music that both the praying angel and the hidden demon wish to take possession of. Does the ghastly, seething scene below not reach them? The center of their artistic interest lies with the historical musical liturgy and the search to illuminate their own spiritual inheritance. Gregorian chants, early polyphony and Estonian sacred folk songs form the basis of their concerts. Since 1988, the Hainavanker ensemble has undertaken many concert tours: including Finland, France, Germany, Poland, Scandinavia, America and Switzerland. The Hainvanker ensemble has also participated in many festivals, such as the Moscow Early Music Festival, the Aarhus Festival (Denmark), the Summer of Music in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Germany), the EXPO 2000 (Hanover, Germany), the European Middle Ages Festival in Horsens and the Vendsyssel Festival (Denmark), the Falsterbonäset Sacred Music Festival and the Lysekil Sacred Music Festival (Sweden), the Haapavesi Folk Festival (Finland) among many others.
Eve Kopli - Soprano · Kadri Hunt - Altus |
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2. Salve Regina 3. Ave Maria 4. Mu süda Ärka Üles 5. Credo Sine Nomine 6. Rahva Önnistegija 7. Sanctus Cuiusvis Toni 8. Oh Jeesus, Sinu Valu 9. Agnus Dei Cuiusvis Toni 10. Kas Sureb Nij Mu Koige Armsam Elu 11. Loomiselaul 12. Veni Creator Spiritus 13. Oh Jumal Looja Püha Vaim 14. Mu Mano Tulge Latse |
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Publishing culture in its authentic form entails for us capturing and recording for posterity outstanding performances and concerts. The performers, audience, opus and room enter into an intimate dialogue that in its form and expression, its atmosphere, is unique and unrepeatable. It is our aim, the philosophy of our house, to enable the listener to acutely experience every facet of this symbiosis, the intensity of the performance. The results are unparalleled interpretations of musical and literary works, simply - audiophile snapshots of permanent value. The concerts in Maulbronn monastery, which we document with this edition, supply, in many ways, the ideal conditions for our aspirations. It is, above all, the atmosphere of the romantic, candle-lit arches, the magic of the monastery in its unadulterated sublime presence and tranquillity that impresses itself upon the performers and audience of these concerts. Renowned soloists and ensembles from the international arena repeatedly welcome the opportunity to appear here - enjoying the unparalleled acoustic and architectural beauty of this World Heritage Site (monastery church, cloister gardens, lay refectory, etc.), providing exquisite performances of secular and sacred music. Under the patronage of the Evangelical Seminar, the Maulbronn Monastery Cloister Concerts were instigated in 1968 with an abundance of musical enthusiasm and voluntary leadership. Within the hallowed walls of the classical grammar and boarding school, existent for more than 450 years, some of society's great thinkers, poets and humanists, such as Kepler, Hölderlin, Herwegh and Hesse received their first impressions. The youthful elan, the constructive participation of the pupils, continuing the tradition of their great predecessors, constructs an enlightened climate in which artistic ambitions can especially thrive. Twenty-five concerts take place between May and September. Their success can be largely attributed to the many voluntary helpers from near and far. Flourishing culture in a living monument, created for the delight of the live audience and, last but not least, you the listener, are the ideals we document with this series. Andreas Otto Grimminger & Josef-Stefan Kindler |
Throughout the history of cultural development, two strains of thought have confronted each other - one staunchly defending tradition while the other strives for innovation. This is especially true of sacred music. It has been continuously reflected upon how it should be and how it could be. The leading figure in Estonian classic music, Rudolf Tobias, has, in his writings, suggested the following synthesis: „explore the inner motivations of traditional music" and, further, „turn our attention to the inner essence of our era" in order to „attain, finally, contemporary sacred music that satisfies our actual needs." 
But how much common ground can the actual needs have when one considers the context of different eras, geographic locations and social situations? What is the relationship between the solemn contrapuntal masterpieces of the Renaissance, reflecting that era‘s courtly, religious and scientific spirit, the meditative monophonic monastic music of the middle ages and, unique to the small Estonian population, the characteristic sacred choral pieces with their strong folk influence and their vitality, reflecting the people‘s earlier religious awakening? And further, is it possible, considering the continually changing and from many sides influenced landscape of contemporary sacred music, to find someone who can fulfill the „actual needs" of this kind of music?
The Estonian religious folk songs or popular chorals originated as a product of the religious renewal of the rural population. Most of the texts are from the Lutheran Hymnal. However, the melodies are developed till nearly unrecognisable and are often ingeniously adorned. The half improvised arrangements of these songs resonate as an accomplishment of the whole ensemble. The corner stone of Johannes Ockeghem‘s (1417-1497) inspiring and difficult to define music is an extraordinary balance between hidden mathematical constructions and the apparently spontaneous melody lines which they help construct, but which nevertheless remain unexpected. Ockeghem is a composer who brings to completion the musical thoughts of an epoch, leading to a counterbalancing by the following generation who preferred more transparent paths. For singers of today‘s discernment, Ockeghem‘s works make such unusual demands that their performance is considered a test of courage. „The maestro himself ultimately worked with the same singers for forty years" the experts sigh, as they lay the scores back in the drawer. 
Towards the end of the concert, we hear one of the oldest and most distinctive examples of the Estonian culture, a pre-Christian runic song - „The Creation". It is about a bird that makes a nesting place in a paddock, lays eggs and hatches offspring. One of the baby birds becomes the sun, the second the moon, the third a star, and the fourth a rainbow. This vocal tradition possibly dates back many thousands of years. In the „Loomiselaul" from Kadrina one recognises the main features of a runic song. The opening rhyme, the eight footed trochaic poetry meter, the exchange between the precentor and the choir, and the accord of both created through the singular „leegajus": before the beginning of the following verse, the precentor and the choir sing the last syllable of the previous verse together.
