Vasks: Orchestral Works (CD, BR-Klassik)

All the works of the Latvian composer Peteris Vasks on this CD are written for string orchestra: the three connected compositions ‘Musica serena’ (2015, dedicated to the Finnish conductor Juhga Kangas), ‘Musica dolorosa’ (1983) and ‘Musica appassionata’ (2002), and also Vasks’ Concerto No 2 for Violoncello and Strings, also known as ‘Klatbutne’ (‘Presence’, 2011/12). Vasks’ three instrumental pieces here are light-hearted, tragic (dealing with the death of his sister as well as the political situation in Latvia at the time), and passionate, providing an overview of the diversity of his work across a timespan of almost three decades. His deeply spiritual Cello Concerto, which was premiered by Sol Gabetta and the Amsterdam Sinfonietta and conducted by Candida Thompson in Ghent, refers in its title to the pure being of his music – which is present, without distance, in every movement of the bow. Today, alongside Arvo Pärt and Erkki Sven-Tüür, Peteris Vasks is one of the most famous composers from the Baltic states of the former Soviet Union. – On April 16, 2021, the music world will celebrate his 75th birthday.