Peteris Vasks, like his fellow Baltic composer Arvo Pärt, is known for his lyrical, contemplative themes, and the solid harmonies he likes to disrupt with arch dissonances. Unlike Pärt, he doesn’t seem particularly entranced by the Christian religion. He’s an environmentalist and if you listen closely, you can find traces of nature adulation in his work. He may even be a pantheist.
The works on this disk form an excellent cross section of this pleasant and engaging composer. Musica Adventus is a tasty mix of the late romantic string symphony and a late twentieth century secular lacrymosa. The final movement recalls Henryk Górecki’s dolorous Third Symphony (“Symphony of Sorrowful Songs”), but not so much as to be derivative. There is too much busy invention for that, such as Vasks’ sudden birdlike sounds injected at key moments. While the piece is Mahlerian at times, it is also highly original in its thematic development and recapitualtion. When its agitation becomes almost too much to bear, Vasks knows just when to pull back. He tidily ends the piece, folding it into nothingness.
Viatore, another work for string orchestra, is even more mysterious. Sometimes its low register string theme lurks like the shadow of death, but then we hear a contrasting, repeated staccato theme on woodwinds. I know this scent—it’s minimalism– but one of slow progressions and haunting dimensions. Concerto for English Horn and Orchestra begins languorously like the previous two. With Normunds Šnē on the English horn, we know we’re in good hands. He plays it transparently, devoid of distracting vibrato and cheap showmanship. His instrument reminds me of the funereal oboe in Luciano Berio’s Sequenza VII. But in the next movement, the work perks up and assumes a folk music character, with a rhythmic dance you might stumble into while touring Vasks’ native Latvia. There’s no telling what will happen next in this composer’s work, other than it will be something extraordinary. The man seems to be equally at home with ensemble work and concertos. The music goes down easy and, like an attentive lover, beguiles anew at each encounter.
TrackList:
Musica Adventus
Viatore
Concerto for English Horn and Orchestra
— Peter Bates
