Both Camille Saint-Saens and Francis Poulenc were engaged in the composition of wind sonatas towards the end of their lives. Poulenc's wonderful clarinet sonata is one of the composer's last completed compositions. Selvadore Rahni (clarinet) and Tuuli Rahni (piano) have recorded here some of the most beautiful contributions of the French repertoire for clarinet and piano. Clarinetist and composer Selvadore Rähni is one of the most well-known Estonian clarinetists in the world. Active as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player, he is also well-known in Japan, where he served as the principal clarinetist of the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra from 1997 until 2005 and recorded as principal clarinet with KSO for the National TV and Radio of Japan as well as record company Arte Nova. Pianist Tuuli Rähni was born in Tallinn, Estonia. She began her musical studies at the age of three. From 1975 to 1986, she studied piano at Tallinn Music High School under Ülle Sisa, and graduated with honors under the guidance of Ivo Sillamaa. From 1986 to 1991, she studied at the Tallinn State Conservatory (subsequently renamed the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre) under the guidance of Prof. Peep Lassmann, and graduated cum laude.
When published in 1716, Antonio Vivaldi’s Sonatas, op. 5 were declared as the second part of his op. 2. + The entity contains four solo sonatas and two trio sonatas, which was rather unusual at that time. + The Baltic Baroque, under the direction of Grigori Maltizov, present, most surprisingly, the first recordings of these works to be undertaken and the first on period instruments. + There is a multitude of reasons for their non-representation on record, all of which falling into areas of origin, authorship and relations in music.
In the 1960s, Jaan Rääts (b. 1932) brought into Estonian music a markedly anti-Romantic, neo-classicist orientation. Unlike many others, Rääts found his musical language relatively quickly and has broadly stayed true to it until today. His prolific work for piano includes the 24-piece Marginalia, dedicated to Kalle Randalu and the Electronic Sonata, the first work of its kind released on LP in Estonia, heard here on synthesizer, later arranged for two pianos.
Sigrid Kuulmann started her violin studies at the age of seven. She studied at the Estonian Academy of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, and at Robert Schumann Hochschule in Dusseldorf. Her teachers include Tiiu Peñske, Yfrah Neaman and Rosa Fain, a former pupil of David Oistrakh. Sigrid Kuulmann is a laureate of Heino Eller International Violin Competition in Tallinn and is gaining further accolades for her performances of Estonian music, especially in Eduard Tubin's works. She has performed as a soloist with conductors Neeme Jeñrvi, Andres Mustonen etc, and given recitals in England, Germany, Scandinavia and Estonia.
The vocal music on Rene Eespere's CD de spe is based on the Latin texts by Seneca, Ovidius, Martialis, Codex Vossianus and Codex Bernensis and on the dramatic-symbolic poem Invocatio by Anne Lill inspired by Franz Kafka's parable Before the Law. This CD is filled with Epigrams, musically expressed in a nuance-rich language of impressionistic, operatic and sacred music elements. The original versions of Epigrams were written for the Opera in the Town Hall concert series and have been premiering within the ancient walls of the Tallinn Town Hall since 2001. Epigrams are dedicated to Francois Soulet, Elena Voznessenskaya and Sauli Tiilikainen whose interpretation of them is recorded on this album.
Rene Eespere gained recognition in his native Estonia in the 1970s and 80s for his vocal symphonic opuses, works for the stage and his music for children. The most significant among his instrumental works are seven concerti and chamber music. This CD presents chamber works written from 2002 to 2009. It is entitled Februa, alluding to the Roman festival of purification, in which sadness and a state of mourning take the listener on a journey to a sun-filled place of beauty and peace.
