“Estonian Incantations I” was released in the spring of 2019. It features new music for chorus and guitars by Tauno Aints, Sven Grünberg, Robert Jürjendal and Raul Sööt. The music is performed by Ain Agan, Paul Daniel, Andre Maaker, Marzi Nyman, Weekend Guitar Trio, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and conducted by Kaspars Putninš. It was recorded at the United Methodist Church in Tallinn, Estonia in 2016.

“While all the pieces on this disc have much to commend them, for me the pick of the bunch is Robert Jürjendal’s See öö oli pikk (The Night Was Long) where the choir is accompanied by three electric guitars (one of which is played by the composer) and some telling electronic effects. The text is drawn from a poem by the contemporary Estonian poet Doris Kareva whose title translates as ‘Gardens of Nothingness’; it alludes to the anxieties and hopes experienced during hibernal sleep and to the warmth provided by another. The spectrally magical effects with which the piece begins at once provide a mysterious, yet oddly comforting cocoon of sound. When the choir enter, the drone upon which the whole is built could represent the soil itself. Odd sounds reveal themselves in fragmented form, eventually making the listener more aware that these are indeed guitars and while the choral writing is close and serious, the overall effect is otherworldly. If Jürjendal’s music unfailingly projects the essence of the words, in the work’s latter stages the synthetic sounds do seem to communicate the awakening of nature. The choir’s final entry at 8:32 is entrancing and magical, the voices swell and melt into an ethereal electronic halo”.

– Richard Hanlon, review of “Estonian Incantations I” on MusicWeb International

You can listen to the album on Spotify.