Tüür: Crystallisatio

ECM’s New Series has singlehandedly introduced the wider world to Estonia’s composers, and this program of works by Erkki-Sven Tüür is among the label’s finest. Around the fullness of Tüür’s writing for strings, we are treated to two psychedelic gems that lean more than suggestively into his prog rock roots: “Architectonics VI” (for flute, clarinet, vibraphone and strings) and the title piece (for three flutes, glockenspiel, strings and live electronics). Yet it is the astonishing “Requiem” of 1994 that pulls out all the stops, showing us the potential of its assembled forces to inject vibrancy into the act of mourning.