Eller - The Bells

"Die Glocken" (The Bells) (1929) Heino Eller (1887-1970) was a major Estonian composer best remembered as composition teacher of Eduard Tubin and Arvo Pärt. Eller attended the St. Petersburg Conservatory initially as a violin student before focusing on composition. He wrote mostly instrumental works, including symphonies, tone poems, ballets, string quartets, a handful of piano sonatas and numerous preludes. His early works from 1910-20 reveal Scriabin's and Rachmaninov's influence. In the 1930s Eller's tonal language became more modern and he ran into trouble with Soviet authorities who condemned some of his works as "formalist." In response, Eller relaxed his modernism and incorporated Estonian folk song into his music.