This is dazzling, thrilling, eerie, beautiful, clever, disturbing, funny, compelling music! I can't think when I was last so impressed by a whole album of music by a composer unfamiliar to me. Definitely one of the best things I've found on eMusic.
I started out listening to Lepo Sumera by listening to his Symphonies (which are great, especially #2). His choral stuff is great too. For a good sample of the best of this CD, download Seenekantaat (Mushroom Cantata): III. Carmen autumnus and "Saare piiga laul merest (Island Maidens Song from the Sea". The latter is in esoteric Estonian, about an Estonian myth the title mentions, with hilarious (in Estonian) parts, which are funny for their annunciation and delivery (you’ll see). The theme to it is extremely catchy as well. The choral stuff is tonal, but in a way like no other tonal music, it has a magical, entrancing sound, with atonal sections, and with very strong motifs and melodies. Lepo Sumera was strongly influenced by Estonian folk traditions, such as the archaic Estonian "runo song", an oral folk song tradition involving much repetition, similiar to minimalism, but less minimalist. For more, dowload his Symphonies as well.
