CAT# (YEAR COMPOSED): 58 (2001)
INSTRUMENTATION: for choir and optional children’s chorus
PAGES: 29
DURATION (APPROX): 14’00
PUBLICATION: BABELSCORES®
PREMIERE PERFORMANCE: Partial premiere was given in October 2000 in Rame Küla, Estonia. A second partial premiere was given by the Choir of the HdK (Berlin), Miriam Sohor, conductor at the SchlossPark in Potsdam, Germany in 2001.

NOTE: Kalevi Matus was Semifinalist in the Composition Contest of the Netherlands Radio Choir, 2007

NOTE 2: Dedicated to Marika Blossfeldt, Artistic Director of Polli Talu Arts Center, an International Residential Center in Rame Küla (Estonia), where Kalevi Matus was conceived and composed in September to October 2000.

NOTE 3: Pencil drawing on cover by Kristjan Raud (1865-1943), “Linda kive kandmas” (ca. 1935)

NOTE 4: Kalevi Matus is a series of six short choral movements with optional interludes. The text underlying Kalevi Matus is an episode of the Estonian national epic Kalevipoeg (meaning son of Kalev). In this story, Linda, Kalev’s widow is mourning her huband’s death and is carrying large stones to build a monument on his grave. Influenced by the folk songs of the Settu people from southern Estonia. The work uses some contemporary vocal techniques within an emotional and folk-influenced composition.

NOTE 5: Kalevi Matus is a series of six short choral movements with optional interludes.  The text “Kalevi Matus” is an episode of the Estonian national epic Kalevipoeg (Meaning son of Kalev).  In this story, Linda, Kalev’s widow is mourning her husband’s death and is carrying large stones to build a monument on his grave.  At the time, Linda is pregnant with Kalevipoeg, the heroic figure of the epic.  Weak from her condition, she drops a large stone.  Unable to pick it up, she sits down on the stone and begins to cry.  Her tears form a little puddle, which turn into a pond, and then into a lake.  Today, you can still see Linda’s large stone in the middle of her tear lake (Ülemiste lake) in Tallinn.

#58. Kalevi Matus_Mmt1_p1-2

Michael Edgerton is an active composer with performances around the world. His compositions have received international prizes and recognition including the important German award, the Kompositionspreis der Landeshauptstadt Stuttgart for his composition the Tempo Mental Rap, a series of six variations for guitar based upon a Steve Vai transcription of a Frank Zappa rap. Michael’s compositions utilize a broad range of musical influences such as European avant-garde, American experimentalism, progressive rock and world music. Since the mid-90s Michael’s compositions have been informed by scientific models and metaphors. Initially stemming from his studies with voice science and dynamical systems, he’s built a body of work that explores the integration of nonlinear concepts applied to sound production and compositional constraints. While the methods and systems he develops are often influenced by science, it is his intuition – his ear that gives birth to the music.

Michael is currently working as Professor of Artistic Research at Lund University/the Malmö Academy of Music in Sweden.

#58. Kalevi Matus_Mmt1_p1-2

Michael Edward Edgerton, 1985-2000