Kristjan Kõrver

WORKS FOR THE STAGE

Operas

• The Iron-Ants [Raud-Ants]

  chamber opera
  2013
  voice, flute, kannel, cello
  Text: on the basis of fairytale by Jacob ja Wilhelm Grimm
  Fp: Ensemble Resonabilis, conductor Andrus Kallastu, director-consultant Ott Aardam; July 27, 2013, Cannon foxhole in Ninase peninsula, Saaremaa Island, Mustjala Festival/Saaremaa Opera Days
  

WORKS FOR ORCHESTRA

Works for symphony orchestra

• Supra petram

  • Audio

  • Supra petram / University of Tartu Symphony Orchestra, conductor Taavi Kull

  -

  +

  /

  Supra Petram (‘onto the cliff’; ‘to the rock’ in Latin)
  
  “This composition has a long backstory. Initially, I wanted to write it in the middle of the 1990s when I was still studying at the Georg Ots Music School but I failed. I had the idea and the ambition but I didn’t have the support of a compositional technique that I cannot cope without. From the initial material I only preserved an abstract frame that I have carried with me for decades. At one point, I discovered that this frame resembles the familiar formulas of the psalms I know from Gregorian chant. Thus, for this composition, I have drawn on the structure of these psalmodic formulas. I use this as the rock on which to rest the pitch structure of my composition. Within this system, I have tried to operate so as to make them sound as traditional as possible yet at the same time inexplicably fresh.
  
  Let it be said that my first contact with Gregorian chant also took place at the Georg Ots Music School. This rock was right underneath my nose, and yet I was unable to value it at the time.”
  
  Kristjan Kõrver

  2022
  5'
  symphony orchestra
  Fp: University of Tartu Symphony Orchestra, conductor Taavi Kull; April 16, 2022 Tartu St. John's Church, April 20, 2022 Tallinn Methodist Church, Estonian Music Days
  Commissioned by: Estonian Music Days
  
• Sic!

  • Audio

  • Sic! / Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, conductor Mihhail Gerts

  -

  +

  /

  Sic! is a piece for a symphony orchestra akin to an overture. The Latin title has many meanings, including ‘so’, ‘just as’, or ‘thus’ but it may also be a simple confirmation. Sic! is also an adverb that may be added in brackets when one wants to emphasize that the preceding text has been quoted exactly or needs special attention. Thus, I resolutely support the negation of post-truth (sic!).
  
  Kristjan Kõrver

  2020
  5'
  symphony orchestra
  Fp: Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, conductor Mihhail Gerts; April 30, 2021, online from Tallinn, Estonia Concert Hall, Estonian Music Days & Baltic Music Days
  
• Symphonism 12

  • Audio

  • Symphonism 12 / Vanemuine Symphony Orchestra, conductor Risto Joost

  -

  +

  /

  2009
  5'
  symphony orchestra
  Fp: Vanemuine Symphony Orchestra, conductor Risto Joost; June 4, 2009, Tartu St. John's Church, VIII Estonian Young Composers' Festival
  Commissioned by: Estonian Young Composers' Festival
  

Works for string orchestra

• Schizzo concertato

  • Audio

  • Schizzo concertato / Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, conductor Risto Joost

  -

  +

  /

  2016
  6'
  string orchestra
  Fp: Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, conductor Risto Joost; January 26, 2017, Tallinn House of Blackheads
  

Works for wind orchestra

• Wedding Guest's Dream [Pulmalise unenägu]

  2010
  6'
  wind orchestra
  Fp: May 29, 2010, Raplamaa Song and Dance Festival
  Commissioned by: NPO Rapla Folk Culture Society
  

WORKS FOR SOLO INSTRUMENT(S) AND ORCHESTRA

Works for percussion and orchestra

• co

  • Audio

  • co / Vambola Krigul (percussion), Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, conductor Lauri Sirp

  -

  +

  /

  The title is a Latin prefix that can be associated with many familiar words – concert, compete, construction. “co” is informed by the potential of the concerto without itself being a concerto.
  
  Kristjan Kõrver
   

  2005
  15'
  solo percussion, string orchestra
  Fp: Vambola Krigul (percussion), Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, conductor Lauri Sirp; April 14, 2005, Tallinn Methodist Church, Estonian Music Days Festival
  Commissioned by: Estonian Music Days Festival
  

WORKS FOR ENSEMBLE

Duos

• Experimentum crucis

  • Audio

  • Experimentum crucis / Ensemble Fractales: Marion Borgel (violin), Gian Ponte (piano)

  -

  +

  /

  2016
  11'
  violin, piano
  Fp: Ensemble Fractales; October 25, 2016, Tallinn, Hopner House, International Contemporary Music Festival Afekt
  
• Psallite I

  • Audio

  • Psallite I / Kristi Mühling (kannel), Ene Nael (harspichord)

  -

  +

  /

  Psallite I
  
  Confitemini Domino in cithara; in psalterio decem chordarum psallite illi. (Ps 32, 2)
  Praise the Lord with the harp, make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre!
  Interestingly, I have first and foremost associated the sound of the word psallite in Latin („to sing/make music“) with the attack and sound world of the Estonian kannel and the harspichord. Therefore, I was very happy to find out that that word can mean all of the following: fingerpicking a string instrument, singing while the string instrument accompanies, and simply singing (mainly Psalms) to praise the Lord.
  The premiere of this work took place on 21 February 2015 at Kloostri Ait in Tallinn, the performers were Kristi Mühling and Ene Nael.
  
  Kristjan Kõrver
  (Text from booklet of Estonian Music Days 2016)

  2015
  9'
  kannel, harpsichord
  Fp: Kristi Mühling (kannel), Ene Nael (harpsichord); February 21, 2015, Kloostri Ait, Tallinn
  
• Psallite II

  • Audio

  • Psallite II / Kristi Mühling (kannel), Ene Nael (harpsichord)

  -

  +

  /

  2015
  5'
  harpsichord, kannel
  Fp: Ene Nael (harpsichord), Kristi Mühling (kannel); November 20, 2015, Tallinn, Writers' House
  

Trios

• Ludus triplex V

  • Audio

  • Ludus triplex V / Leonora Palu (piccolo), Diana Liiv (celesta), Leho Karin (cello)

  -

  +

  /

  Ludus triplex V (latin for a trimple game)
  
  It often goes so with starting a new piece that I get half a dozen of ideas or so, that I find hard to narrow down. The only possible solution seems to be to plan a whole series or family of works. Just as well, I am usually not capable of starting this potential series from beginning. It sounds like such a tremendous effort that might just as well remain undone. If I manage to convince myself that I am already dealing with the fifth movement of the series, it gives me incredible confidence. So here we have the fifth member of Ludus triplex, a potential family of different trios.
  
  Kristjan Kõrver

  2015
  5'
  piccolo flute, cello, celesta or piano
  Fp: Ensemble U:; April 16, 2015, Salme Culture Centre, Estonian Music Dayse Festival
  Commissioned by: Estonian Music Dayse Festival
  

Quartets

• Timor et tremor

  2008
  10'
  percussion (4 players)
  Fp: PaukenfEst: Vambola Krigul, Anto Õnnis, Madis Metsamart, Lehari Kaustel; April 2, 2008, Narva Castle, Estonian Music Days Festival
  Commissioned by: Estonian Music Days Festival
  Manuscript
• Canorus

  • Audio

  • Canorus / Tarmo Johannes, Ann Õun, Linda Vood, Enely Hiiemaa

  -

  +

  /

  2005
  15'
  4 flutes
  Fp: Tarmo Johannes, Ann Õun, Linda Vood, Enely Hiiemaa; June 18, 2006, Tartu St John´s Church, V Estonian Young Composers´ Festival
  
• Expansio I

  • Audio

  • Expansio I

  -

  +

  /

  The title refers to expansion of registers, but also to something external to music – such as a good message which as it spreads finds more and more supporters.
  
  Kristjan Kõrver
   

  2003
  6'
  4 alto saxophones
  Fp: Sax Quatuor; April 7, 2003, Estonian Academy of Music Chamber Hall, Estonian Music Days Festival
  Commissioned by: Estonian Music Days Festival
  Manuscript
• Expansio II

  • Audio
  • Pdf

  • Expansio II

  -

  +

  /

  2003
  12'
  saxophone quartet
  Fp: Quartet SaxEst; February 12, 2005, Tallinn Town Hall
  Distributor: EMIC KKR 001
  

String quartets

• Corde

  • Audio

  • Corde / YXUS Ensemble

  -

  +

  /

  Corde
   
  In Latin, the title of this composition for a string quartet means ‘from the heart’. ‘From the bottom of my heart, on all strings, with and without bow,’ Kristjan Kõrver said, remarking on his work. Corde was premiered during the World Music Days on 8 May 2019 at the Tallinn Creative Hub and was performed by the YXUS Ensemble – Olga Voronova (violin), Mari Targo (violin), Laur Eensalu (viola) and Leho Karin (cello).

  2019
  7'
  string quartet
  Fp: YXUS Ensemble: Olga Voronova (violin), Mari Targo (violin), Laur Eensalu (viola), Leho Karin (cello); May 8, 2019, Tallinn Creative Hub (Kultuurikatel), World Music Days 2019
  Commissioned by: Estonian Music Days/World Music Days
  CD „New Estonian Chamber Music“, Estonian Music Information Centre (2021); YXUS Ensemble
  

Quintets

• Unrestrained [Ohjeldamatu]

  Kristjan Kõrver:
  
  Why do we think that the essence of sacred folk music lies in the text so it would be inappropriate to set the tunes for instruments only? Why do we tend to separate the ways of making music, why do we keep the “folk-like” and “academic-like” ways apart?
  
  The title of the piece refers to folk melody “Why are we restrained” from Otepää (South-Estonia). The apotheosis of the piece uses the sacred folk tune “Honour ad glory forever”.

  2003
  7'
  jew´s harp and bagpipe (1 player), Hiiu zither and violin (1 player), chromatic zither, chrotta, flute
  Fp: Cätlin Jaago (jew´s harp, bagpipe), Krista Sildoja (Hiiu zither, violin), Elo Kalda (chromatic zither), Kristjan Priks (chrotta), Tarmo Johannes (flute); April 6, 2003, Kloostri Ait, Estonian Music Days Festival
  Commissioned by: Estonian Music Days Festival
  

Wind quintets

• Diversio

  2012
  5'
  wind quintet
  Fp: wind quintet Estica; 29.03.2012, Vanemuine Concert House, Tartu
  

Sextets

• Crisis

  • Audio

  • Crisis, part I / Ensemble U:

  -

  +

  /

  „... and as totally out of himself he snapped his fingers fiercely and then hit the wall with his head with full force. To his great surprise, things seemed to settle and such course of events („thing-settle“ as he had already managed to call it in his mind) totally wound him up. He decided to contribute to the settlement of things and shook them intensely – until things shook out of place again. He did not give up, quite the contrary – he found some encouragement in this all. While discovering various ways out of the embarrassing situation, he got some distinctive pleasure out of applying them simultaneously, to maintain the predicament. In and out of place, snap and a kick, until it all became a weird lyro-grotesque dance...“
  
  (Roman Waffel – A pointless Man’s Journey Out Of Himself)

  6 parts
  2011
  10'
  flute, clarinet (also bass clarinet), violin, cello, piano, percussion
  Fp: Ensemble U:; December 29, 2011, Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre Chamber Hall
  
• Gratis dictum

  • Audio

  •  

  -

  +

  /

  How long should effort be expended on one work, how many preparatory additional activities and contextual systems should be developed, so that renouncing them would seem compelling, that the sense of relief and freedom created by abandoning them would be genuine, so that shrugging them off would really be a sacrifice?
  
  Kristjan Kõrver

  2007
  10'
  alto saxophone in Es, trombone, violin, cello, percussion, piano
  Fp: Ensemble Bipolar, conductor Manuel Nawri; April 17, 2007, Tallinn Teachers’ House, Estonian Music Days Festival
  Commissioned by: Estonian Music Days Festival
  Manuscript
• Gradatus

  • Audio

  • Gradatus / Ensemble Voces Musicales, conductor Risto Joost

  -

  +

  /

  Gradually moving toward gradation, preparing preparations for preparedness for transitioning to transition.
  
  Kristjan Kõrver
   

  2004
  12'
  2 violins, viola, double bass, harpsichord, percussion
  Fp: Ensemble Voces Musicales, conductor Risto Joost; April 19, 2004, Estonian Academy of Music Chamber Hall, Estonian Music Days Festival
  Commissioned by: Estonian Music Days Festival
  

Works for large ensemble (8+)

• Pre

  • Audio

  • Pre / Voces Musicales Ensemble

  -

  +

  /

  Lately, in connection with a forthcoming major work, I have been developing an existential theme: people, who have sealed their choice forever by refusing to regret anything. This has made me see life on earth more and more as a preparation for something unfathomable. The ensemble work “Pre” came into being as a phenomenon related to this line of thought.
  
  Kristjan Kõrver

  2002
  10'
  flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, trumpet, percussion, piano, 2 violins, viola, cello
  Fp: Voces Musicales Ensemble, conductor Risto Joost; April 4, 2002, Estonian Academy of Music Chamber Hall, Estonian Music Days Festival
  Commissioned by: Estonian Music Days Festival
  CD „Estonian Music Days 2002. Estonian Composers IV”, Estonian Radio (2003); Voces Musicales Ensemble, conductor Risto Joost
  

WORKS FOR SOLO INSTRUMENT

Works for French horn

• Quasi una litania

  • Audio

  • Quasi una litania / Olivier Darbellay (horn)

  -

  +

  /

  2009
  17'
  horn
  Fp: Olivier Darbellay; April 16, 2009; Estonian National Opera Chamber Hall, Estonian Music Days 2009 Festival
  

Works for piano

• Toc III

  • Audio
  • Video

  • Toc III / Kadri-Ann Sumera (piano)

  -

  +

  /

  “Toc III” for solo piano (2018) belongs to a series called “Toc” I started in 2006 and is the third member of this family. Back then, the first composition to be born was for solo cembalo, all the others exist so far as pretty abstract ideas in the depths of my consciousness, but will hopefully sometime materialize as solo pieces for various keyboard, plucked or percussion instruments. The first mentioned instrument groups can in particular be associated with the notion of toccata from late renaissance and baroque period, which indicates a relatively large-scale, often improvisational instrumental piece with quite a free structure, made up of characteristically contrasting passages. I refrained from calling my piece toccata, because this word has in later times started referring to a short virtuosic character piece, which is not the kind of piece I wanted to write. I wanted the title to be as short and allusive as possible. Thus, the composition represents a selection of vertiginous reflections, triggered by the syllable “toc”. It is my hommage to the original toccata.
  
  Kristjan Kõrver

  2018
  11'
  piano
  Fp: Kadri-Ann Sumera (piano); April 14, 2018, Tallinn House of Blackheads, Estonian Music Days Festival. Premiere of complete version: Kadri-Ann Sumera (piano); October 30, 2019, 1st Studio of the Estonian Public Broadcasting, International Contemporary Music Festival Afekt
  
• Invitation to Dance [Kutse tantsule]

  • Audio
  • Video

  • Invitation to Dance

  -

  +

  /

  Invitation to Dance
  
  “This piano piece is the earliest in my current list of compositions and the first I am totally satisfied with aesthetically. The title bears first of all symbolic meaning – it is a call for ecstatic praise of human existence. Nevertheless, the joyfulness of the character of music is also connected with some decisions in my personal life made at the time the piece was composed.”
  
  Kristjan Kõrver

  2001
  4'
  piano
  Fp: Kai Ratassepp (piano); April 9, 2001, Estonian Academy of Music Chamber Hall, Estonian Music Days Festival
  CD „New Estonian Chamber Music“, Estonian Music Information Centre (2017); Irina Zahharenkova (piano)
  

Works for other instrument

• Toc Ia

  The term “toc” could mean the essence from which toccatas can be made, throughout history, the form with the idiom most linked to keyboard instruments. “Toc I” represents a fragmentary selection of head-turning thoughts that gripped me upon hearing the syllable “toc” as spoken by myself.
  
  Kristjan Kõrver
   

  2006
  12'
  harpsichord
  Fp: Imbi Tarum (harpsichord), April 4, 2006, Viljandi Culture centre, April 8, 2006, KUMU Art Museum, Tallinn, 5th International Harpsichord Days
  Commissioned by: 5th International Harpsichord Days
  
• Piece No 4 from the cycle “...notae...” [Pala nr. 4 tsüklist “...notae...”]

  • Audio

  • Piece No 4 from the cycle “...notae...” / Kristi Mühling (kannel)

  -

  +

  /

  2004
  5'
  kannel
  Fp: Kristi Mühling (kannel); October 8, 2004, Estonian Academy of Music Chamber Hall, Autumn Festival of the Estonian Academy of Music
  CD "Contemporary chamber and solo music for kannel", Kristi Mühling (2009). Ensemble Resonabilis: Kristi Mühling (kannel), Iris Oja (voice), Tarmo Johannes (flute), Aare Tammesalu (cello)
  Manuscript
• Piece No 9 from the cycle “...notae...” [Pala nr. 9 tsüklist “...notae...”]

  • Audio

  • Piece No 9 from the cycle “...notae...” / Kristi Mühling (kannel)

  -

  +

  /

  2004
  5'
  kannel
  Fp: Kristi Mühling (kannel); June 20, 2004, Festival Suure-Jaani Music Days
  Commissioned by: State Concert Institute Eesti Kontsert
  CD "Contemporary chamber and solo music for kanel", Kristi Mühling (2009). Ensemble Resonabilis: Kristi Mühling (kannel), Iris Oja (voice), Tarmo Johannes (flute), Aare Tammesalu (cello)
  

VOCAL AND CHORAL MUSIC

Works for voice(s) and other instrument(s)

• Katharine collaudemus

  2015
  soprano, viola
  Text: from Carmina Burana (in Latin)
  Fp: Kai Kallastu (soprano), Talvi Nurgamaa (viola); November 6, 2015, Pärnu St. Elizabeth's Church
  
• Signum magnum II

  • Audio

  • Signum Magnum II / Ensemble Resonabilis

  -

  +

  /

  2009
  6'
  voice, flute, Estonian kannel, cello
  Text: the Revelation of John (in Latin)
  Fp: Ensemble Resonabilis; November 24, 2009, Tartu Cultural Factory
  CD "North Wind, South Wind", ERP (2012); Ensemble Resonabilis
  
• Signum magnum

  2003
  8'
  mezzo-soprano, alto flute, bassoon, cello
  Text: from The Apocalypse (in Latin)
  Fp: Iris Oja (mezzo-soprano), Tarmo Johannes (flute), Peeter Sarapuu (bassoon), Leho Karin (cello); August 7, 2003, Tallinn Swedish St. Michael´s Church
  Commissioned by: Tallinn Cultural Heritage Department
  
• Florete flores

  • Audio

  • Florete flores / Iris Oja (mezzo soprano), Tarmo Johannes (flute), Kristi Mühling (kannel), Aare Tammesalu (cello)

  -

  +

  /

  2002
  5'
  mezzo-soprano, flute, Estonian zither kannel, cello
  Text: from The Wisdom of Jesus The Son of Sirach (in Latin)

  Florete flores quasi lilium et date odorem et frondete in gratiam et conlaudate canticum et benedicite Dominum in operibus suis. Alleluia.

  
  Fp: Iris Oja (mezzo-soprano), Tarmo Johannes (flute), Kristi Mühling (kannel), Aare Tammesalu (cello); October 13, 2002, Estonian Academy of Music opera studio, Autumn Festival of the Estonian Academy of Music
  Commissioned by: Estonian Kannel Society
  Manuscript

MUSIC FOR CHILDREN

Instrumental works for children

• Little Gavotte [Väike gavott]

  2017
  harpsichord
  Fp: Rasmus Kõrver (harpsichord); April 22, 2018, Kadriorg Palace, Tallinn Harpsichord Festival
  
• Sonatina [Sonatiin]

  • Pdf

  2003
  7'
  piano in four hands
  Fp: Kai Ratassepp, Mati Mikalai; October 25, 2003, Nõmme Music School, Tallinn
  Commissioned by: Estonian Piano Teachers’ Association
  Distributor: EMIC KKR 002
  

INCIDENTAL MUSIC

Music to plays

• Music for Jean Anouilh´s play "The Orchestra" [Muusika Jean Anouilh’ näidendile “Orkester”]

  2003
  Fp: February 2003, Tallinn Teachers' House, director Tõnu Lensment
  Commissioned by: The Estonian Institute of Humanities Theatre Students