Maarja Nuut presents song cycle built around Estonian poetry

Estonian composer Maarja Nuut will present a new song cycle written for London vocal ensemble Shards, using texts by Estonian poets. The work brings together eight singers, percussion, violin and live electronics, ERR reported.

“Combing hair with sand” is not a traditional song cycle, Nuut said, but a genre-crossing work. Poems and motifs by Eha Lättemäe form its backbone, and her words also supplied the title. Texts by Tõnis Vilu, Mehis Heinsaar, Hasso Krull, Nuut and others feature in the cycle.

Nuut began writing parts of the work in 2022, initially with a chamber choir in mind. Those performances were cancelled for unspecified reasons, and the material remained unfinished. Last year, during a residency in England with composer Max Richter, she discussed the project and was introduced to Shards. The ensemble and Nuut spent a day recording demos so she could hear how singers from another language background would approach the Estonian texts.

Getting the singers to perform in Estonian was challenging, Nuut said, particularly because of sounds such as the letter õ. But she was also interested in how people from another cultural background would hear choral and vocal music, and what they would notice in it.

After the initial session, Nuut continued writing material for the ensemble, approaching the work differently to suit its performers. She said the cycle has no clear linear narrative, but she hopes its different texts come together as a cohesive whole.

The residency takes place at a rural art farm in England, where Richter and his wife, visual artist Julia Mahr, have workspaces and a studio. Nuut said the studio’s quality was a key reason for accepting the invitation. She will present the cycle in Tartu, Pärnu and Tallinn.