Hortus Musicus

HORTUS MUSICUS
Artistic director − Andres Mustonen

Hortus Musicus specialises in performing early music, including 8th–15th-century European forms such as Gregorian Chant, Organum, Medieval Liturgic Hymns and Motets, the Franco-Flemish School, Renaissance Music (including French chansons, villanelles and Italian madrigals) and Baroque. The group also presents non-European styles including Indian Ragas, Arabian mughams and Jewish music. The group’s repertoire has also included pieces by 20th−21st century composers (Pärt, Silvestrov, Kancheli, Tüür, Kaumann, Vähi, Grigorjeva, Knaifel) often composed specially for Hortus Musicus.

In 1972 the first performance of the early music consort Hortus Musicus (‘Music Garden’) initiated a new tradition in the Estonian music life. The founder, leader, and most radiant figure of Hortus Musicus is Andres Mustonen. The consort has been the first in the Estonian interpretation lore, one of the first of the Soviet Union and the Nordic countries to bring so methodically and such interesting programs the rich and largely undiscovered inheritance of early music closer to the listener. The real province of Hortus Musicus is non-ethnical European music from its start to late Renaissance and the masters of Baroque. This also explains the choice of instruments and the cast of the consort. The musicians are not only interested in the beauty of the lyrics and music but rather try to interpret the era as such and convey their attitude to what is being performed. Each Hortus Musicus’ evening is like a musical performance with original instruments and authentic attire. The staging is polished and “through-composed” – everything is essential, from strokes to the chair on which the musician is sitting on the stage. In short, you are attending ”…attractive and technically sure performances…” (The New York Times). The intense and wide scale concert life has secured concert halls forHortus Musicus nights in different parts of the world. From the start, Hortus Musicus has participated in number of international festivals and music festivities (Holland Festival, Die Berliner Festwochen, Glasperlenspiel, Music of Old Cracow, Tel Aviv Festival, Copenhagen Summer, Helsinki Festival, Bratislava Autumn, Malmö Baroque, Prague Spring, Dubrovnik and Plovdiv Festivals, Boston Festival). Since 1976, Hortus Musicus has worked under the auspices of Eesti Kontsert, the National Concert Institute of Estonia.

Download: photo of Hortus Musicus (in the Gate Tower, Tallinn, Estonia, colour, jpg, RGB, 1.2 MB)

Ensemble Hortus Musicus:
Andres Mustonen – violin, artistic director
Anto Õnnis – tenor, percussion
Tõnis Kaumann –  baritone, percussion
Riho Ridbeck – bass, percussion
Olev Ainomäe – bombardone, shawm, recorders, krummhorn
Tõnis Kuurme – dulcian, recorders, krummhorn
Valter Jürgenson – trombones
Imre Eenma – tenor viola da gamba, violone
Taavo Remmel − violone, double bass
Ivo Sillamaa – positive organ, harpsichord, piano

Discography

	EARLY MUSIC OF 3rd MILLENNIUM Knaifel, Tüür, Vähi, Pärt, Silvestrov, Kancheli 2011 ERP 4611; press resonance Comforter, fragment, 2 min 22 sec, mp3 In Memoriam HM, fragment, 2 min 37 sec, mp3
	MESSE DE… CARMINA BURANA Anonymous 2020 ERP 11720 Carmina Burana, In taberna quando sumus, fragment, 2 min 34 sec, MP3, 320 Kbps
	HOMMAGE À BRILLANCE DE LUNE Beethoven / Vähi 2020 ERP 11920 Beethoven / Vähi, Hommage à brillance de Lune, fragment, 4 min 58 sec, MP3, 320 Kbps
	HALF A CENTURY Anonymous, Banchieri, Landino, Gabrieli, Tromboncino, Monteverdi, Telemann, Kancheli, Vähi… 2022 ERP 12722
	JERUSALEM Anonymous authors, Walther von der Vogelweide, traditional Arab melodies, traditional Jewish melodies, etc 2017 / 2018 ERP 10318, press resonance Deus miserere. fragment, 2 min 47 sec, mp3, 320 Kbps Reyah hadas, fragment, 2 min 40 sec, mp3, 320 Kbps
	CANTO:) Monteverdi, Frescobaldi, Banchieri, Mainerio, Bonelli, Zanetti, Marini 2018 ERP 10518 Christe, redemptor omnium, fragment, 2 min 15 sec, mp3, 320 Kbps Salve Regina, fragment, 2 min 54 sec, mp3, 320 Kbps
	AVE… Anonymous, Guillaume de Machaut, etc 2005 ERP 805; press resonance
	VEEMUUSIKA / WATER MUSIC Georg Friedrich Händel Hortus Musicus Academic Orchestra 1997 Tallinna Vesi, Hortus Musicus #10, Händel, Water Music, Prelude, 2 min 3 sec, mp3
	GREGORIANISCHE CHORÄLE. PLAINCHANTS Anonymous authors Erdenklang
	1200−1600 MEDIEVAL-RENAISSANCE Erdenklang
	MAYPOLE Orlado di Lasso, Pierre Attaingnant, Moritz Landgraf von Hessen-Kassel, etc Erdenklang 70982
	VUESTROS AMORES, HE SEÑORA Juan del Ensina Erdenklang 50792
	TELEMANN QUARTETS Georg Philipp Telemann 2003 APEX / Warner Classics 2564 60636-2 #16, Telemann, Quartets, fragment, 2 min 36 sec, mp3
	PEETER VÄHI. TO HIS HIGHNESS SALVADOR D Hortus Musicus Academic Orchestra 1997 Antes Edition Classics BM CD 31.9086 Concerto piccolo, fragment, 2 min 26 sec, mp3
	CD: 2000 YEARS AFTER THE BIRTH OF CHRIST Performed by: Kaia Urb, Hortus Musicus, The Bad Orchestra 1995 Forte FD 0016/2
	CD: 2000 YEARS AFTER THE BIRTH OF CHRIST Performed by: Kaia Urb, Hortus Musicus, The Bad Orchestra 1995 Antes Edition Classics BM-CD 31.9059 2000 Years After The Birth of Christ, Himmelan geht unsre Bahn, fragment, 2 min 4 sec, mp3 Press resonance
	CD: HELESA 2008 Kancheli. Helesa, fragment, 2 min 34 sec, mp3 Vähi. In Memoriam HM, fragment, 2 min 45 sec, mp3
	Double-CD: TAMULA FIRE COLLAGE Work: 2000 Years After The Birth Of Christ Performed Hortus Musicus, Kaia Urb and The Bad Orchestra 1999 Salumuusik CD-1054 More info; Press resonance

La Folia (live), 16 min 10 sec, mp3, 320 Kbps

Media reviews

… еще один фестивальный концерт с участием его вокально-инструментального ансамбля Hortus Musicus… Музыканты “Хортуса” были в красочных старинных одеждах − исполнялась средневековая Carmina Burana. Первоначально это рукопись, сборник стихов вагантов XII−XIII веков. В основном светские тексты на латыни (но встречаются и на средневерхненемецком языке, старофранцузском или прованском) – о любви, о морали, застольные песни, театрализованные представления. Среди них много сатирических, насмешливых и даже непристойных, что само по себе сообщает живость и свежесть восприятию. Некоторые стихи положены на музыку, и именно эта оригинальная музыка (а вовсе не одноименная кантата Карла Орфа) была исполнена солистами Hortus Musicus. Андрес Мустонен, выступавший и в качестве руководителя ансамбля, и скрипача, свободно перемещался по сцене во время исполнения. (Irina Severina, Da capo al fine, 7–8 / 2018, Russia, whole article)

Virossa on vahva vanhan musiikin perinne, jonka kärjessä loistaa festivaalin toisena päivänä esiintynyt Hortus Musicus. Yhtyettä voidaan festivaalin nimen puitteissa voitaisiin kutsua Castalian hovikapelliksi: ikonisiin kaapuihin sonnustautuineina, yhtye yhdisteli leikkisästi eri periodien ja musiikkilajien soittotekniikoita. Jazz, spoken word, vapaa- sekä pastissi-improvisaatio kuuluivat kaikki yhtyeen palettiin heidän punoessa Carmina buranan ja Tournai-messun osia lomittain. Festivaalia tuottava levy-yhtiö Estonian Record Productions julkaisi konsertin ohessa yhtyeeltä kaksi uutta levyä. (Lauri Supponen, Rondo Classic, 13.08.20, Finland, whole article)