TÕNU KÕRVITS

Composer

Tõnu Kõrvits – music characterised by fine-hued orchestral textures, romantic representation, vivacity, beauty, and passion. Has been performed on festivals in Copenhagen, Katowice, Usedom, Lockenhaus, Montreal, Moscow. Has been awarded Eller Music Prize 2001, Young Artist Prize 2002 by the President’s Cultural Foundation, the State Culture Award (2011 / 2012, Estonia).

Biography

Tõnu Kõrvits (b Apr 9th, 1969 in Tallinn, Estonia) graduated from Alo Põldmäe’s composition class at Tallinn Secondary School of Music in 1987. After completing his studies at the Estonian Academy of Music with Raimo Kangro in 1994, he engaged in postgraduate studies with Prof Jaan Rääts from 1994–1998.

In 1993 he made his debut at the Estonian Music Festival, the central forum for Estonian contemporary music, with the piece for chamber orchestra To a Man, In Whose Eyes the Brightness of Polaris Sparkled. Since then the said festival has always featured his orchestral and chamber works, all of which have been well received by the Estonian music press. In 1994 Tõnu Kõrvits’ Guitar Concerto was chosen to represent Estonia at the International Rostrum of composers in Paris. A year later the concerto was performed, and consequently recorded for the CD-project White Concert, by guitarist Tiit Peterson and the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Vello Pähn. In the course of the same concert-season, the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra performed the young composer’s work The Blue Gate, and his septet Rainbird’s Home was played by the outstanding Estonian ensemble of contemporary music, NYYD, at the ArtGenda festival in Copenhagen.
The early works of Tõnu Kõrvits appear quite simple, tonal, and perhaps most noticeably influenced by Post-Romantic orchestral composers. Over the ensuing years, a discernible change of style has occurred: an enriched palette of tonal colours, a consistent use of contemporary composing techniques, a continuous striving for the sublime. The Detached Bridge for saxophone quartet and chamber orchestra, that was premièred by the Tallinn Saxophone Quartet and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra at the 1998 Saxomania Festival, should be viewed as a definite turning-point in that respect. It is considered as one of his best works up to now. About this composition, critic Igor Garšnek wrote in the live review: “The piece, teeming with mystical-flavoured timbres and full of high-strung energy, sounded very succinct and emotionally charged.” Of the same composition, critic Evi Arujärv opined: “The new piece by Tõnu Kõrvits was highly interesting. Deep down at the ‘bottom’ of his music always lies a pure lyrical source. It seems as if the composer envisions symbolistic mirages and ‘bluish’ landscapes (the titles!) while writing the scores. The music was positively vibrating, melodically expressive, and the vertical organisation of sound had a delicately romantic feel. The smoothness of consecutive passages, and the interplay between differentiation and unification were aspects which – discernible while the melodic ornamentation transmuted into sonoristic flows or when, on the contrary, tense sound-compacts dispersed into melodies or distinctly articulated phrases – made the music very exiting indeed.”
Also in 1998: the completion of the piano trio Good Night, the composing of Music for voice and piano to 3 Shakespearean sonnets, the performance of Dome Music at the Contemporary Music Festival in Katowice, Poland. The Assignation for saxophone quartet, written in 1999, is now a regular item of the Tallinn Saxophone Quartet’s repertoire. For the Year 2000 Project, taking place under the aegis of the European Broadcasting Union, Tõnu Kõrvits was elected by the Estonian Radio as the representative of his country. For the occasion he composed The Days Of Glory, a piece of 5 min duration based on Perotin’s Viderunt Omnes, that Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and the Tallinn Brass have jointly performed. Commissioned to write a new composition for the Festival Commitee Lockenhaus ‘99, the major music event organized by maestro Gidon Kremer in Austria, Tõnu Kõrvits responded with For You, The Messenger Of Night. Soon after its completion this piece was included in the concert program of Kremerata Baltica.

Tõnu Kõrvits has participated in master-courses for young arrangers (eg with the Metropole Orchestra and conductor Vince Mendoza in Hilversum, Holland, in 1997), in seminars for young composers (“The Young composers in the Baltic Area” in Gotland, Sweden, in 1997; “The Baltic Music” in Boswil, Switzerland, in 1996) as well as in the masterclass of composer Stephen Montague in Gdansk, Poland, in 1998.

In addition to writing contemporary compositions in the classical idiom, Tõnu Kõrvits is known as an accomplished arranger of popular music; he was a nominee for the Estonian Music Award ‘98 in the Best Arranger category. He has composed soundtracks for several animation films.

The music of Tõnu Kõrvits is characterized in general by fine-hued orchestral textures, dramatic representation, vivacity and passion.

His works are published by Antes Edition and Eres Edition in Germany, by Warner Chappell in Finland, and by ERP in Estonia.

At present Tõnu Kõrvits gives lectures about instrumentation and orchestration at the Estonian Academy of Music.

Selected works:
Awake, My Heart! for handbell ensemble (2003, published by ERP)
Sleep, Sleep Little Mats, fragm, 79 sec, mp3
Short pieces for two guitars (1991)
Song for a Distant Friend
A Long-Lasting Farewell for guitar and piano (1993)
Symphony (1994)
Prelude for guitar, fragm, 73 sec, mp3
3 Psalms for voice and piano (1996)
To My Spiritual Brother for alto flute and guitar (1996)
Moon and Sea for voice and guitar (1998)
Halo for three electric guitars (1999)
Afterglow for string quintet and harpsichord (2000)
The Spring (La Source) for alto-saxophone and vibraphone (2000)
Longer Than Thousand Summers for solo flute and chamber orchestra (2000)
The Myth for symphony orchestra (2001)
Beyond Solar Fields, concerto for bassoon and symphony orchestra
Teardrop-Fantasy for symphony orchestra (2011)

Press resonance:

Lisaks Mozartile mitmekesistasid kontserdi  kava Tõnu Kõrvitsa uudisteos “Pisarate-fantaasia” sümfooniaorkestrile ja Peeter Vähi noorpõlveteos “Concerto piccolo” klavessiinile ja kammerorkestrile (1975). Kõrvitsa umbes kümneminutine ABA-vormis pala, festivali ainus esiettekanne, rullus kuulaja ees lahti nii vormiliselt kui orkestratsioonilt hästi tasakaalustatuna. Autori sõnul olevat teos inspireeritud John Dowlandi muusika pisarate kujundi lembusest ning kõlaski pigem heakõlaliselt ja  samas nukralt. Puhkpilliosad meenutasid veidi Stravinski neoklassitsistliku perioodi teoseid. (Mart Jaanson, Sirp, 05.08.11, Estonia, whole article)

See Tõnu Kõrvits’ recordings by ERP: Awake, My Heart!, Nonstop