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Songs from the heart

Juhan. Riho Sibul, Jaak Sooäär, Henno Kelp, Andrus Lillepea. Ava Muusika 014, 2013 2013 marked the centenary of the death of Juhan Liiv. Liiv, without any doubt, belongs in the pantheon of patriotic poets. Many popular Estonian songs have taken his poems and set them to music – „Ma lille sideme võtaks", „Ta lendab mesipuu poole" are but two examples that are almost de rigueur in any choir's repertoire. Liiv had a serious and gloomy side as well. „Kui tume veel kauaks ka sinu maa", inspired Roman Toi to write a brilliant score for male chorus, a case where the passion of the words is magnified by an extraordinary melody.
But these are the best known of the poet's works. Liiv was a man who loved his country and nature, but struggled for most of his life with psychological issues. He did not lead a long and happy life, dying in poverty at the young age of 47. The line between genius and insanity is often difficult to draw; Liiv seems to be one case, where it is difficult to delineate or categorize with conviction. Yet, without a doubt, no reader of his poetry will remain unmoved and his work has withstood the vagaries of the passage of time. The slender one heard of a project called Juhan last year, a recording of a number of Liiv's poems set to music. Thanks to a good-hearted friend the slimster finally has a copy of the CD recorded by luminaries Riho Sibul, Jaak Sooäär, Henno Kelp and Andrus Lillepea. It was worth the wait to hear this recording, knowing little about which poems were chosen. Jaak Sooäär was the composer, finding melodies for 11 of Liiv's poems. It must be emphasized, that almost without exception these are not well known poems of Liiv's, the majority not even found in my collections of his poetry. This adds an extra...

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