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Peteris VASKS Violin Concerto, String Symphony   Gidon Kremer TELDEC 3984 22660 Tala Gaisma [28:58] Stimmen: Stimmen der Stille [6:01] Stimmen der Lebens [13:41] Stimmen der Gewissens [7:38]
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Crotchet



This disc came to me in a plain liner with titles and timing. Nothing else. In many ways this did me a favour as I was left only with the impressions taken in through my fallible ears.

Vasks Tala Gaisma is an (almost) half hour concerto for violin and a big string orchestra. The violin part is played for all it's worth in juicy virtuosity and religious meditation. In fact Vaughan Williams Tallis Fantasia seems to be a not-too-distant forebear. The meditative side often rises and floats into Lark ascendant heights. The quieter musical glories of this piece glow in molten floods beneath the scorched scar tissue of a Nordic landscape. Other string masterpieces are also hinted at: Finzi (Introit, Prelude, Romance) and Barber's Adagio. There are passionate flourishes (10.48), a folk dance (hinting at the Sibelius violin concerto), a central cadenza, Tippettian grandeur (Concerto for Double String Orchestra) and at 14.01 Shostakovich-like stabbing figures (17.48). Fury and threnody thread their way through these pages in a rite encompassing the wildly choleric and hushed poignant repose. The single span of music ends in an evocation of trembling ionospheric silence.

The tripartite Stimmen is of a piece with Tala Gaisma in mood. Think of it as a symphony for strings. Sibelius is a strong but not suffocating presence. The writing is an evolution from Tuonela, Symphony No. 6 and Valse Triste with nothing of the salon about it. Time steps slowly and reverentially through Stimmen der Stille in a theme which shadows Josef Suk's Meditation. The music rises and falls almost imperceptibly in a long span. The movement also reminds me of Arvo Pärt's In Memoriam. The more invigorating Stimmen Des Lebens is goaded on by rapturously chaffing birdsong and the final Stimmen des Gewissens (Voices of Conscience) returns to the 'Suk theme' alternating with insect-clouds and waves of sound. The ending is all floating stratospheric peace.

Vasks is one of those Baltic Scandinavians who are at last receiving something approaching their due. Against this background I hope that others such as Balakauskas and Janis Ivanovs (celebrated in a bounteous series from Campion - I can provide details) will not be forgotten. On the evidence of this disc Vasks is a distinctive Scandinavian romantic who writes in accessible but not facile melody. I mention the names of other composers for 'aural triangulation' purposes. If you enjoy the music I have mentioned you will enjoy the Vasks works on this disc. This music is amongst the finest string music produced during the twentieth century. I enthusiastically commend this disc.

Reviewer

Rob Barnett

Reviewer

Rob Barnett

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