"This was a gamble CD for me but I am very happy I purchased it. Think of a cross between Philip Glass, Schnittke, and Sibelius. The texture is very clean and the music has great momentum. My favorite is the Symphony No. 2 with its atmospheric middle movement which is followed by a breathtaking finale that runs through all twelve minor keys till it dramatically hits the home key with full orchestral furry. The effect is really powerful.This CD is an exceptional value, very well recorded, and completely enjoyable to those who enjoy northern landscapes and modern music."
Buy it!!
John C. Leopold | colorado springs, co United States | 05/31/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Check out the second symphony - an unheard treasure. Why this is not played on our local stations is beyond me except that it was composed by an Estonian composer who is not known well outside his country. The last movement of the 2nd builds up to an overwhelming, intoxicating climax of brass and strings and then feathers off into nothingness. Eight minutes is gone before you know it. Grab you wife or significant other on a dark, stormy night and play this --"
Robust and Satsifying
Karl W. Nehring | Ostrander, OH USA | 08/09/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Estonian composer Lepo Sumera (b. 1950) uses repetition as a key compositional technique, but he does not beat the listener over the head with it in the manner of Phillip Glass. It might be said that Sumera strings themes together to get somewhere rather than to go around in circles. His music seems to grow and progress rather than merely to repeat, and the overall effect is quite robust and satisfying. At this point in his career, Sumera has completed four symphonies, so here is the chance for the adventurous music lover to follow a promising symphonic career right from the beginning."
Sumera: an outstanding and distinctive late 20th C composer
Robert Hughes | Ohio State University, U.S.A. | 08/17/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"If you are expecting another competent symphonist whose gifts for late romantic composition and textures make the locals (perhaps justifiably!) proud, but who offers little distinctive merit for outsiders, well, you have a real treat waiting for you. Sumera was quite special and very "accessible," in the best sense of the word. His tense, rhythmic flair and his melodicism make him generally closer to John Adams, to my American ears, than to Arvo Pärt or Erkki-Sven Tüür or Helena Tulve (speaking of whom, how can there be so many freakishly excellent Estonian composers?). All of the Järvi BIS Sumera symphony discs are great, the Kaljuste choral disc is very, very fine, and the (harder to find) chamber collections are worth hunting down. You really can't go wrong with Sumera--he's just that good--and I think he should please a broad range of classical tastes, from the fairly conservative to those more committed to contemporary trends in post-Shostakovian writing."