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.

Handbell music tradition in Estonia began in 1993 with the foundation of Arsis Handbell Ensemble. The youth groups presented on this release have grown out of Arsis Handbell School, all the players being selected alumni. The older staff of the Youth Ensemble has been performing since 2003, and has toured Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and the USA. The younger one, formed in 2006, has given a number of concerts in Estonia and Finland. The conductor of the ensembles is the artistic director and the founder of Arsis Handbell School maestro Aivar Me�e.

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 Pe�ske, 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 Je�rvi, Andres Mustonen etc, and given recitals in England, Germany, Scandinavia and Estonia.

• The Maria Magdalena oratorio is based on the Coptic Codex. • Composer Peeter Vähi is considered one of the most original contemporary composers in Estonia, employing a musical language comprising Oriental and Western, avant-garde and archaic, acoustic and electronic music without falling prey to eclecticism. • The Latvian National Symphony is lead by conductor Risto Joost.

Maarika Je�rvi has performed with many well-known orchestras of the world. She has participated in several recordings among her CD "Meditations" released on Chandos. Maarika has also performed and recorded all the most important Estonian concert compositions for flute, several of those premiered by her. Accompanied by the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of her brother Kristjan Je�rvi, Maarika presents a fine selection of modern Estonian flute music.

Chamber choir Voces Musicales was founded in 1999 by Risto Joost mainly from the students of the Estonian Academy of Music. The repertoire of the choir includes music from renaissance polyphonies to contemporary compositions. Voces Musicales has been a guest performer at festivals in France, Israel and Finland. The choir has premiered the compositions of several contemporary Estonian composers and has cooperated with conductors Neeme Je�rvi, Olari Elts, Arvo Volmer, Andres Mustonen, and Juri Alperten. In autumn 2009, the choir celebrated their 10th anniversary with a jubilee concert and now presents this live recording.

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.

The European Union Baroque Orchestra is a training initiative of the European Union which allows young performers of baroque music from all over the EU to gain orchestral experience as part of their career development from conservatoire study into a professional career.

Vertigo

The conductor Neeme Jarvi and the pianist Kalle Randalu, together with the composer Arvo Part and the conducting sons of Neeme Jarvi, Paavo and Kristjan, are among Estonia's most famous musical figures. Although they have worked abroad frequently and for a long time, they have always remained loyal to their Estonian homeland. The two ESTONIAN-RECORD productions with live recordings from 2015 to 2018 document two joint appearances of the exceptional musicians in their home country. In addition to the well-known and no less popular piano concertos KV 482 & 488 by Mozart, there are also delightful symphonic rarities by Richard Strauss (Le-Bourgeois-Gentilhomme-Suite Op.60) and Arnold Schonberg (orchestral arrangement of Brahms' Piano Quartet No.1) to be discovered, in which the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra can distinguish itself as an outstanding ensemble of world renown.