Wings.magazine August.2006

Five CD set that highlights the absolute finest recordings for the Elektra label during their first (and some say finest) decade: 1963-73. Features the label's biggest hits, most famous artists and plenty of obscure classics as well. 117 tracks from the likes of Judy Collins, Eric Clapton, Tom Rush, Paul Butterfield, The Lovin' Spoonful, Queen, Dennis Linde, Carly Simon, Bread, The Wackers, David Ackles, Harry Chapin, Mickey Newbury, The Doors, The Stooges, Love, MC5, The Dillards, Tim Buckley, Nico, Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs and many more. Rhino. 2006.

Recorded by the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and various soloists and ensembles in churches in Tallinn as well as the Estonian Concert Hall, the five compositions heard on Arboles lloran por lluvia (Trees cry for rain) give deeper insight into the unique sound-world of Estonian composer Helena Tulve, into music that is nourished by both contemporary and ancient currents. Tulve draws upon a wide-range of inspirational sources. She explores the raw fabric of sound and the nature of timbre in both analytical and instinctive ways, in compositions that are unmistakably her own, yet her work is inclusive - here incorporating aspects of Gregorian chant, melody from Yemenite Jewish tradition, and texts from Sufi, Sephardic and Christian mystic poetry. Reyah hadas 'ala (The Perfume of the Myrtle Rises) unites the ensemble of the Gregorian chant and the early music instruments. This is the only work in which Tulve has used a pre-existing melody, a song of the Yemenite Jews. Extinction des choses vues (The Extinction of the Things Seen) is an orchestral piece in which the musical ideas are derived from a text by the Jesuit thinker Michel de Certeau called Extase blanche (White Ecstasy).