Tallinn chamber music festival builds bridges through attentive listening

ERR published a review of the 22nd Tallinn Chamber Music Festival, which brought an international group of performers and chamber music from several eras and cultures to audiences over eight days. The festival’s artistic standard was exceptionally high, with ensemble partnership standing out most clearly: the ability to listen, respond and merge individual expression into a shared musical purpose.

The festival ran in Tallinn from August 22 to 29 under the artistic direction of Anna Liisa Bezrodny. Composer Robert Jürjendal was this year’s composer in residence. At the closing concert, pianist Tähe Lee Liiv, 22, received the PLMF Young Musician Award.

This year’s festival was titled “Bridges of Folklore”. Its programme explored the influence of folk traditions from different countries on classical music, bringing together influences from Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Romania, Armenia, Ukraine and Latin America. The composers represented ranged from Brahms, Ravel and Scriabin to Pärt, Glass, Piazzolla and contemporary Estonian composers.

The title created an expectation that folk traditions would not appear only as sources of inspiration described in the programme notes, but would also leave a recognisable mark on the music itself. How clearly and in what form those bridges could be heard became one of the festival’s recurring questions.

The opening concert at Tallinn Town Hall set a high standard. Partnership was one of the evening’s key themes, already evident in Robert Jürjendal’s two works “Pühendus” and “Kuhu tõttad?”. Written in 1985, the pieces belong to Jürjendal’s early output, but they show no uncertainty typical of a beginning composer. Sensitive saxophone playing by Virgo Veldi found an equal partner in pianist Mika Rännäli, and the performers’ attentive responsiveness gave the music a natural sense of breathing.

The same high level of ensemble playing was present in Miklós Rózsa’s Sonata for Two Violins, Op. 15, although the work uses a very different musical language. The festival theme was more clearly audible here: Rózsa’s composition suggests intonations characteristic of Hungarian folk music, which emerged most strongly in the finale’s exuberant dance.

Aulis Sallinen’s Third String Quartet, “Aspekteja Peltoniemen Hintrikin surumarssista” (“Some Aspects of Peltoniemi Hintrik’s Funeral March”), has a different relationship with folklore. A Finnish folk tune first appears in clearly recognisable form, but the increasingly layered music leads into a much more complex and tense world. Sallinen’s work perhaps demanded the greatest concentration from listeners, but it was also one of the most interesting.

For the reviewer, the evening’s highlight was Aleksandr Scriabin’s two études. Mika Rännäli made bold use of the piano’s dynamic range. Alongside powerful climaxes, fragile moments remained equally striking. The most powerful impression came from the Étude in D sharp minor, Op. 8, No. 12. At the same time, an August storm raged outside the Town Hall windows, and the rain beating against the glass became an unplanned ensemble partner for the pianist. Nature and Scriabin’s music reached an unusually precise resonance that evening.

The following evening’s programme of works by Leevi Madetoja, titled “Melodia intima”, showed how much the listening experience depends on variety within a programme. The record release concert centred on a single composer, while the opening Piano Trio, Op. 1, charmed with its romantic lyricism. It was performed by Anna Liisa Bezrodny, Silvia Ilves and Mika Rännäli.