Neeme Järvi conducts Artur Kapp, Artur Lemba & Mihkel Lüdig [Chandos]

Neeme Järvi (head of the Järvi conducting clan) digs well below the core repertoire line for this collection from Estonian composers schooled in St Petersburg. On the evidence of these selections, Kapp (1878-1952), Lemba (1885-1963) & Lüdig (1880-1958) all wrote music that brims with atmosphere, description, colour, folksiness and expressive lyricism. An engaging start with Lüdig’s Overture-Fantasy No.2 is followed by Lemba’s Piano Concerto No.1 (Mihkel Poll the bravura soloist); the first movement may be heard as an Estonian counterpart to the Warsaw Concerto, and as early as 1905. Then further Lüdig, his Midsummer Night, with its Rimsky-Korsakov moments, and another Overture-Fantasy, No.1 this time, again suggesting that Lüdig’s output is worth exploring further. Finally Kapp. The Last Confession, originally for Piano and Organ and here arranged for violin and strings, finds Triin Ruubel as a sweet-toned violinist in soul-baring music that would pass for Max Bruch. Finally Kapp’s Symphony No.4 (1948, “Dedicated to the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League on its thirtieth anniversary”) is listener-friendly music with a vengeance; not a cloud in the blue sky, and with occasional nods to Borodin. The best movement (of four) is the short Andante, reminiscent somewhat of Liadov’s Enchanted Lake. Throughout, the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra plays with dedication for its veteran maestro, and Chandos CHAN 20150 also boasts excellent sound.