Heino Eller: Violin Concerto; Fantasy; Symphonic Legend; Symphony No. 2

Estonian composer Heino Eller was a wonderful orchestrator, as revealed in these beautiful, if slightly forgettable, works. Skride, Elts and co, however, give the strongest advocacy for them... — BBC Music Magazine, February 2019, More…

Release Date: 9th Nov 2018
Catalogue No: ODE13212
Label: Ondine
Length: 67 minutes

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Eller: Violin Concerto in B minor

23:26

Album only

Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
Olari Elts
Baiba Skride (violin)
Recorded: November 2017
Recording Venue: Estonia Concert Hall, Tallinn, Estonia

Eller: Symphonic Legend

24:03

Album only

Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
Olari Elts
Recorded: April 2018
Recording Venue: Estonia Concert Hall, Tallinn, Estonia

Eller: Fantasy for violin and orchestra

6:26

$1.05

$1.25

$1.85

Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
Olari Elts
Baiba Skride (violin)
Recorded: November 2017
Recording Venue: Estonia Concert Hall, Tallinn, Estonia

Eller: Symphony No. 2

13:44

$3.15

$3.80

$5.50

Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
Olari Elts
Recorded: 2014
Recording Venue: Estonia Concert Hall, Tallinn, Estonia

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Heino Eller (1887-1970) can be considered as one of the founders of Estonian professional music culture. Eller’s legacy is twofold – in his prolific instrumental compositions he forged an elaborate style that successfully combined both modern and national elements, and as a prominent professor of composition during half a century he influenced generations of Estonian composers. This new recording by the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Olari Elts and featuring violinist Baiba Skride includes some of the highlights from the composer’s catalogue of orchestral works and is a fitting tribute to the centenary of Estonia’s independence. Heino Eller’s Violin Concerto in B minor was the first in its genre in Estonian music. First written in the 1930s the one-movement work was scheduled to be performed in Tallinn on June 1940. For reasons unknown, the work was withdrawn until March 1965 when Neeme Järvi conducted the premiere. Another work for violin and orchestra, Fantasy, was first written in 1916 and orchestrated in 1964. Fantasy is one of the earliest compositions that bears the hallmarks Eller´s individual style, and its sensitive lyricism and charming simplicity give the work an enduring appeal. The Symphonic Legend is Eller’s largest score prior to the First Symphony (1936). It was premiered on June 1923 in Tartu, and Eller revised the score for performance in 1938. A work with a wealth of musical material and masterly orchestration, Symphonic Legend was next performed only in 2014 by Olari Elts with the Estonian NSO, and the current recording is the first. Heino Eller wrote three Symphonies between the 1930s and 1960s. Unlike his other two Symphonies, the 2nd Symphony has only one movement. The severe and at times tragic nature of the music was incompatible with the demands of the official Soviet cultural ideology.

Reviews

February 2019

Estonian composer Heino Eller was a wonderful orchestrator, as revealed in these beautiful, if slightly forgettable, works. Skride, Elts and co, however, give the strongest advocacy for them with terrific playing.

January 2019

Skride find[s] levels of grit, determination and bravura we don’t normally associate with her and her sweet-toned Stradivarius. That is precisely what this changeable, expressionist, heart-on-sleeve concerto demands…Eller was some composer and this is a perfect introduction to him for those keen to look beyond the famous mood pieces.

Offer, Heino Eller: Violin Concerto; Fantasy; Symphonic Legend; Symphony No. 2

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