Rudolf Tobias: Des Jona Sendung - Jonah's Mission

I much enjoyed this choral work by one of the founders of Estonian music. It is fascinating to take a look into how a people develop into a nation and a distinct culture through art, music and literature. Estonian music has a unique sound and voice. Neeme Jarvi has blessed us by reviving such music and they are a treasure. Sadly, as the recordings are becoming dated, their availability will be limited. The only other recording of Tobias work I could find are string quartets.

A major accomplishment. Rudolf Tobias (1873-1918) must be counted as the founder of Estonian art music in more than one sense (apparently he composed the first Estonian string quartet, orchestral work and oratorio). His grand oratorio Des Jona Sendung, surely the pinnacle of his oeuvre, was premiered in Leipzig in 1909, but that performance was something of a disaster, and apparently the work gathered dust since then until Vardo Rumessen decided to restore and arrange it for a performance in 1989 (his restoration is the one we hear here). Tobias had even obtained German citizenship prior to the work's premiere, and the texts for the work are thus German rather than Estonian.The work is cast in 38 sections and scored for relatively massive forces. And the music is striking; fiercely passionate and of surging power, scaling windy heights and plumbing abysmal depths. There is absolutely nothing stolid and worthy about this music, although it does not shy away from monumentalism. That said, it is equally effective and captivating in its solemn and its tenderly atmospheric pastoral moments. And it does not really sound like anyone else (perhaps early Tubin) - certain elements are discernible, to be sure, such as Liszt and Sibelius (Kullervo), but they certainly do not obscure the individual voice (Franz Schmidt's Buch mit sieben Siegeln mght in fact be the closest I can think of in terms of what kind of work this is). Tobias was also an imaginative orchestrator, apparently, for the orchestral textures, while wonderfully effective (in particular the marvelous writing for woodwinds), are also strikingly original. It is, indeed, something of a masterpiece, and that seems to be the opinion of all other reviews I have seen of it.Fortunately the performances are great. The remarkable Baltic choral tradition is deployed for wonderful effect, with truly brilliant, ferocious, smoldering and dashing performances from the choruses - it is really, truly remarkable and would have been a reason in itself to check out this release, even if the work in question had not been such a marvelous one. The soloists are also impressive, with no real weak links though they all seem stronger on fervor than tenderness. The orchestra players similarly play their hearts out under Järvi's powerful but sensitive direction. With superbly comprehensive notes, this set is a real winner - the only drawback is that the sound, although perfectly clear, is a little recessed and dull.