Jüri Reinvere (born 1971 in Tallinn, Estonia) first studied composition at Tallinn Music High School. He continued his studies at the Chopin Academy in Warsaw, Poland from 1990 through 1992. From 1994 through 2004 he was a student at Helsinki’s Sibelius-Academy. He has been living for fourteen years in Finland and Sweden. In 2005, he moved to Berlin, Germany, where breaking changes influenced his work and thinking, including the addition of poetry writing to his repertoire. Reinvere is a multileveled composer, who is also a passionate metastructuralist. His music is both breaks and broadens the esthetics of music. His music and poetry are fed by the synergy of ongoing discord, creating both the eternal and the commonplace. His music can be characterized first and foremost through various oppositional concepts: silence/noise, tranquility/passion, reason/emotion. The orchestra work Written in the Sand (2001) was an initializing breakthrough in his oeuvre which is at once a massive and detailed musical map, including a spatial workspace and also a wide percussion instrument apparatus. His most recent works are Frost at Midnight (2008) and Requiem (2009). Reinvere was an award-winner at the International Rostrum of Composers in 2000 for Northwest Bow (1998) and in 2006 for Livonian Lament (2003). Jüri Reinvere’s essential characteristic is versatility. Certainly he is to be called a composer, but just as well he could be called a poet, organist, pianist, or a brilliant intermediary with the sounds of nature. In his work he has used swan songs, Livonian laments, the power of the sea and the wind. There are both classical and modernist aspects to his diverse compositions. Reinvere has a great and singular humor, but at the same time he can in his work express solemnity and an inner stillness that engages the listener and provides unexpected experiences. No one facet dominates over the others, they are all equal. WORKS The Double Quartet with Solo Piano (1994), written for two string quartets and the piano, is one of Reinvere’s best known works. It is an impressive mixture of new tonality and ancient modality. The piece is a timeless work which recalls for the listener atmospheric beauty as well ancient times and spaces. The skillfully organized harmonic-tensional-registral design of the music inspires a spectrum of changing feelings from sadness to peaceful satisfaction. The recorded composition Livonian Lament (2003), is a hypothetical reconstruction of Livonian homesickness by way of bridal lamentation. Livonians, now an almost entirely extinct Finno-Ugric nation, once lived on the east coast of the Baltic Sea. They had a vital lamenting culture, but there is no written record. It is produced together with Livonian folk musician Julgi Stalte, who also performs the lament. The base of the melody is a sound progression in the archaic Livonian song Laggõgid rūimõgid! Two choir motets, one sung with only vowels, the other with German text „Ein Schwan, ein Flügel“ are incorporated in the piece. The whisperings „Ist dein…, ist deine Nacht schon erreicht?“, symbolize the demise of the Livonian lament and the Livonian culture. All the interdependent parts of the multimedia work a.e.g./t.i.m.e. (2005), including solo flute, video, dance, light, graphical text and electronics, were composed by Reinvere. The piece is organized by the principle of a canon a 4. The solo flute part is combined with either live or prerecorded parts and requires skillful avant-garde playing techniques. Natural sounds are used only to emphasize important harmonic stages, the final being the chord a-e-g. The video part shows slow motion wind generators on the island of Pakri in West-Estonia during one day from sunrise to dusk. The whole work is a metaphorical, structural and visual play with the concept of time as fourth dimension. The text of the poem t.i.m.e as it is heard on this CD was written in by Jüri Reinvere for this piece. The piano piece Urvaste Evenings (1987) was inspired by a picture of the unique lighting of the Urvaste church in South-Estonia that stands alone in a rolling landscape. The piece is the first expression of the then-sixteen-year-old composers „own voice“ and has become part of the repertory of many pianists as well as a part of the composer’s ongoing laboratory. The structure of the work holds essential elements of Reinvere’s later musical approaches. The so-called Urvaste harmonics are found in the orchestra work Written in the Sand (2001) as well as in a.e.g./t.i.m.e. (2005) and in Space Within (2009). The poem In a Line of Gates was written in English by Jüri Reinvere in July 2009. PERFORMERS Peter Yearsley, born in southeast London, has recorded readings of poetry, children's stories, history, and philosophy. His recordings include "Ghost Stories of an Antiquary" by M.R.James, "The King In Yellow," "The Natural History of Selborne," and selected chapters from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." He has a London accent, which has been softened by school years spent in agricultural East Anglia. Scots flutist Richard Craig studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and in Strasbourg. He has worked with composers Brian Ferneyhough, James Dillon, Salvatore Sciarrino, Richard Barrett, Helmut Lachenmann, Kaija Saariaho; and with musicians Emilio Pomarico, Enno Poppe, Stefan Asbury, Pierre-Yves Artaud and Roberto Fabbriciani;and with the ensembles musikFabrik Cologne, KammarensembleN, SMASH and C.C.P. Livonian folk musician Julgī Stalte studied at the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy. She is soloist in the folk indie ensemble Tuļļi lum („Hot Snow“). She collaborates with several folk musicians in the Baltic States. Stalte has toured extensively throughout Europe and the United States. She is the keeper of the Livonian folk tradition being one of the few remaining native speakers of Livonian. Estonian pianist and music critic Ia Remmel studied at Tallinn Music High School and the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. She has won awards in piano competitions in Estonia and abroad (1985 the Čiurlionis compeition in Lithuania). She is a piano teacher at Tallinn Georg Ots Music School and editor-in-chief of the journals Muusika and Klaver. She is a regular contributor to notable Estonian printmedia. The NYYD Ensemble was founded 1993 during an international new music festival NYYD (nyyd = nüüd = now) by artistic director and conductor Olari Elts. The ensemble, with its remarkable activity of concerts, concert series, broadcastings and recordings has brought the world‘s new music to Estonia, and Estonia’s new music to the world. Jana Peäske is the solo pianist of the NYYD-ensemble. The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir (EPCC) was founded in 1981 by artistic director and chief conductor Tõnu Kaljuste. From 2001 through 2007 Kaljuste‘s work was taken up by Paul Hillier. Since 2008, EPCC’s chief conductor has been Daniel Reuss. EPCC is the best-known Estonian ensemble, and one of the best choirs, in the world. EPCC has had eight Grammy Award nominations, and it won a Grammy in 2007.