Yesterday I finished my new piece for soprano and lute.

The text is by Georgy Ivanov (a leading poet and essayist of the Russian emigration between the 1930s and 1950s), who in some of his poems was passionate about and inspired by the Middle East. In the music I also tried to add a bit of that flavor.

I didn’t come up with the choice of poet accidentally. I was born in Russian family in Estonia shortly before the Soviet Union collapsed. I lived many years abroad. During all that time I traveled couple of times to Russia to meet relatives, to see the country, the nature. Even though I never really lived in that country I feel that my spirit is Russian, because I was raised influenced by Russian culture: fairy tales, music, traditions, poetry. Couple of months ago I was asked to write a piece for soprano and lute. So, I started to search for a text. I went through many poets, but when I read poems of Georgy, I felt some native feeling. I thought, I understood what he tried to express in some of his poems: homesickness, as well as desire get to know another culture (Arabic), I loved the way how beautifully he spoke about the human feelings. Choice felt on: “Кровь бежит по томным жилам…” (“Blood runs through the languid veins…” transl. D.T.).