Erkki-Sven Tüür is one of the most exciting representatives of a generation of composers currently in their fifties. His works have won numerous awards and are widely performed in the most prominent venues and festivals. The Estonian composer has said, ‘My pieces are abstract dramas in sound, with characters and an extremely dynamic chain of events; they unfold in a space that is constantly shifting, expanding and contracting.’

 
Dedicated to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and premi?red in 1999, the 17-minute orchestral Exodus is ‘a journey that reflects on mankind’s unquenchable desire to free itself from its confines’. The work creates the effect of tremendous force, culminating in an explosion of emotion and dynamics. This comes with a fabulous sense of colour and brilliantly wrought orchestration. Erkki-Sven Tüür masterfully pacifies the music after the climax; the musical fabric becomes sparse, movements become slow and it rounds off with melodic fragments hovering in thin air. Finally, the high-pitch string chords in the last moments flutter off into nothing.