Estonian-Finnish Symphony Orchestra/Anu Tali: Swan Flight Finlandia Records 8573-89876-2
Recorded at the Estonia Concert Hall in Tallinn, Estonia on June 3-4, 2001 (Tormis) and July 12-13, 2000 (Sibelius, Debussy). Released in 2002. Recording Engineers and editing:Maido Maadik (Tormis), Mati Brauer (Sibelius, Debussy); Orchestra manager & co-ordination:Kadri Tali; Recording Producer:Anu Tali; Executive Producer:Jari Tiessalo.

Compositions by Veljo Tormis (1930-)

Tracks 1.-8. Ocean (Ookean - suite from the music for a play by A. Stein) (1961/2000) (20:42) Tracks 12.-17. Swan Flight (Suite from the opera Luigelend) (1965/1971) (16:41) Estonian-Finnish Symphony Orchestra / Anu Tali Ellerhein Girls Choir (chorus master: Tiia-Ester Loitme) on Tracks 12, 15-17 only.

Other composer's works on this disc

Tracks 9.-11. Claude Debussy: La Mer (1903/1905) (23:40) Track 18. Jean Sibelius: Swan of Tuonela Op. 22/2 (from Lemminkäinen Legends) (1893) (9:01) Estonian-Finnish Symphony Orchestra / Anu Tali

Commissions, Dedications, Premieres and Awards

These are the world premiere recordings of Ocean and Swan Flight. The original premiere of Ocean in its theatrical form was on October 26, 1961 at the Vanemuine Theatre in Tartu, Estonia and was by the Orchestra of the Vanemuine Opera conducted by Erich Kõlar, who was also the dedicatee. A Ocean Suite was also prepared to be performed separately as an orchestral work. After the score and parts were missing for many years they were located in the spring of 2000 and the modern premiere was on June 2, 2001 (one day prior to this recording) at the Estonia Concert Hall, Tallinn, Estonia as performed by the Estonian-Finnish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Anu Tali. The opera Swan Flight (Estonian: Luigelend) was premiered on April 20, 1966 at the Vanemuine Theatre in Tartu, Estonia by the Vanemuine Opera and Orchestra conducted by Erich Kõlar. The music of Swan Flight was prepared in suite form in 1971.

Music Publishers

The publishing source for the scores of Ocean and Swan Flight is Fennica Gehrman Ab Oy, Helsinki, Finland (previously Warner/Chappell Music Finland).

Other Points of Interest and Links

1. The booklet notes for this CD are written by Kaja Irjas with the English translation by Jonathan Sommerfeld. English is the only text that appears in the booklet. The notes provide a career overview of composer Veljo Tormis and the history of his two orchestral works recorded here. Shorter notes are also provided on composers Claude Debussy and Jean Sibelius and career overviews are provided on conductor Anu Tali, the Estonian-Finnish Symphony Orchestra, the Ellerhein Girls Choir and their chief conductor Tiia-Ester Loitme. There are no texts provided for the vocal portions of Swan Flight as the Ellerhein Girls Choir are singing a wordless vocalise which is meant to evoke the calling of swans. 2. You can also obtain further information through the record label website at http://www.warnerclassics.com/finlandia. or also at http://www.finlandiarecords.com/. (NOTE: Shortly after this page was loaded, Finlandia Records undertook a maintenance of its site and all links may not be current.) There is also a featured artist profile on conductor Anu Tali at the Finlandia Records page here. Note that the featured artist link may not be permanent, but was current as of February 2003 at this writing.

Back to the Veljo Tormis Discography

Back to the Veljo Tormis Information Archive and Homepage Index