Erkki-Sven Tüür: Flux [Import]

Erkki-Sven Tuur (Composer), Dennis Russell Davies (Conductor) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Conductor: Dennis Russell Davies
• Composer: Erkki-Sven Tuur
• Audio CD (February 1, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Ecm Import
• ASIN: B0000244W6
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #253,155 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tuur is one of today's brightest lights, creating works that combine drama, mystery, and emotional directness within complex structures. His music is listener-friendly; its rhythmic life, deep textures, and compelling sound world reward repeated listenings. The Symphony No. 3 is in two movements, the first building from barely audible cymbal splashes to jazz-like plucked basses to scurrying strings and chaotic winds, rising to a shattering brass-led climax that gives way to delicate coloristic effects. Those first four minutes are typical of Tuur's music, pulsating with energy and unexpected blocks of sound. The Cello Concerto is just as fetching; Gergingas's lyrical soliloquizing blends nicely with the imaginative orchestration. Lighthouse, for strings, is a contemporary take on the baroque and makes a fine filler. Highly recommended. --Dan Davis

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Animated and liberated, April 12, 2000

By 

Dirk Hugo (Cape Town, South Africa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Erkki-Sven Tüür: Flux (Audio CD)

Imagine a mad genius bent over a sequencer, cranking away wildly at the tempo and pitch controls - except in this case it isn't a sequencer, it's a string section! Erkki Sven Tuur sheds new light on the relevance of arpeggios and looped motifs in contemporary music and the effect is as invigorating as it can be unsettling. His music has both linear and harmonic density - a soup with a whole new flavour and texture....

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fresh Orchestral Sounds, August 8, 2009

By 

Karl W. Nehring (Ostrander, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Erkki-Sven Tüür: Flux (Audio CD)

Tüür follows up on the promise of his debut disk for ECM New Series by bringing listeners three fascinating new works: Symphony No. 3, Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, and Lighthouse, a piece for string orchestra. Those familiar with Tüür's music from that earlier disk will recognize his style here: the sometimes nervously-buzzing strings, the sudden showers of percussion, the sense of exploration and wonder. The music is modern, and challenging, but it is fun to listen to, not confrontational. Those who do not thing they could like music of a contemporary composer really ought to give this disk a listen.

Symphony No. 3 opens with the sound of a jazz trap set, but soon develops a sound all its own, mysterious and invigorating. Tüür's Cello Concerto is unlike any other cello concerto I have ever heard, with the cello seeming to search with the orchestra for something deep within on a kind of spiritual quest. The music sounds restless but does not impart restlessness to the listener. The final piece, Lighthouse, seems to dance at times, whirling away in lively counterpoint, at times carefree, at other times nearly obsessive, but always engaging and enjoyable.

Tüür's music has a distinctive sound, and it looks indeed as though he is going to develop into a major composer. This is a fascinating disk that those looking for fresh orchestral sounds would do well to audition.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Challenging & Rewarding, November 13, 2010

By 

Sentinel (Essex) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Erkki-Sven Tüür: Flux (Audio CD)

Estonian Tuur's work varies in accessibility: some is relatively free-form, or relies on dissonant elements to keep the listener in a state of uncertainty, while other pieces follow a more clearly defined structure, and offer a greater melodic warmth. This collection of Symphony, Cello Concerto and String Fantasy, presents all these aspects of Tuur's writing, in a programme which is both challenging, rewarding, and certainly exciting.
His 3rd Symphony is in only two equal parts, and in the first movement a predictably rhythmic structure is increasingly threatened by a clamorous, unpredictable wildness: the tension between the two fuel the intensity of the concluding climax. The second movement inhabits a sound-world of many colours and approaches, with something of Lutoslowski's spiky rhythms, and some jangling upper registers. Really, the whole concept of 'Flux' would be hard to better, given the quality of performance and recording, but it is a challenging and exciting journey.
The remaining two pieces, the Cello Concerto and the string piece Lighthouse, occupy a more accessible exploration, through modernism to a more romantic sensibility. Both have a greater warmth and immediacy of appeal, and the Cello Concerto has a wonderfully dark mysterious quality, while the 'Lighthouse' contains an elusive spirit-like appeal. If you enjoy the challenge of modern music in a collection which also offers equal rewards to the attentive listener, you needn't hesitate. ('Gramophone' also rates this highly)