Peteris Vasks (born 1946)

Started by vandermolen, June 01, 2007, 07:02:13 AM

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The Emperor

Just heard the violin concerto, its amazing, really haunting. 8)

Brian

BUMP!

Just listened to the Symphony No 3 - it had a gorgeous opening and some other great moments. But overall I had the impression of very good music poorly organized. Now I'm throwing on the Symphony No 2 (all recordings from Ondine) and - another superb opening! Let's see where he goes from here ...  8)

I'd like to hear some discussion on this composer. Where does he fit into the "today" of music? Where does his style, and his sort of outlook of a romantic looking back over a century of loss, fit into the future of music?

snyprrr

Vasks vs. Silvestrov?

anyone?...

vandermolen

Quote from: Brian on April 21, 2009, 09:52:31 AM
BUMP!

Just listened to the Symphony No 3 - it had a gorgeous opening and some other great moments. But overall I had the impression of very good music poorly organized. Now I'm throwing on the Symphony No 2 (all recordings from Ondine) and - another superb opening! Let's see where he goes from here ...  8)

I'd like to hear some discussion on this composer. Where does he fit into the "today" of music? Where does his style, and his sort of outlook of a romantic looking back over a century of loss, fit into the future of music?

Symphony No 2 is my favourite - wonderful last few minutes. Symphony No 3 seems to take-off from where No 2 ended.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

snyprrr

I got a Wergo disc from the library that had:

Cantabile per archi (1979)
"Messages" for strings, 2 pianos, & percussion (1982)
Musica Dolorosa (1983)
Symphony for Strings "Stimmen" (1991)



These are all works for string orchestra, so, one can guage his progress (so say the notes! ::)). I must say I really enjoyed the Cantabile, in a Barber Adagio meets Gorecki No.3 kind of way. It has the same thing everyone loves like that.

I was hoping for more, so I went to the Dolorosa, but that was just a bit too much of the Romantic Penderecki-style gloomy non-melodic tonal zzzzzzzz....oh, sorry :-[,....zzzzz...

Again, I was hoping for the Stimmen, but it progressed kind of amorphously in a not as seductively melodic was as the first piece. This was supposed to be the piece that Vasks wrote as the Empire was breaking up, and, it has that typically grey Eastern European sound we come to associate with the nostalgic tonal yearnings a la Gorecki, Part, and Tavener, as has already been discussed, though, with more climaxes and development.

Again, I am hoping his Sym No.2 that you have been talking about goes back more to the Cantabile than the last work on this cd. I take it the Stimmen is Sym No.1? If his Violin Cto. has "that" cool sound, then I might like it. This kind of music I like best when it's blatantly Barber-ish, like Gorecki's No.3.

Still, I wonder about Silvestrov.

Scarpia

I recently bought a Vasks disks.  It was that 1 in a hundred disc that I don't manage to listen to even once.  I'm not sure what it was, I've already sold in on Amazon marketplace.   :(

Lethevich

#26
The 2nd and 3rd symphonies aren't very typical for him, they are his "public" face, more dramatic and large. They have very slight comparisons to be made with Pettersson and Silvestrov. Stimmen is indeed the first symphony, and is more in line with his single-movement string orchestra works. The Violin Concerto is my favourite work of his, and is in line with this style rather than the second two symphonies. Your Barber comparisons are apt, as Vasks is a Romantic at heart. He utilises methods of minimalism, but there is no attempt to create a "purity" of minimalism in the music, which points towards a more conventional language than some of his contemporaries. Have you looked into his quartets? They're good stuff but-  as with the rest of his music - not the most ambitious or challenging pieces out there.

Silvestrov is interesting, but not much comparable to Vasks' warm and fuzzy music.

Quote from: Scarpia on January 20, 2010, 06:19:40 PM
I recently bought a Vasks disks.  It was that 1 in a hundred disc that I don't manage to listen to even once.  I'm not sure what it was, I've already sold in on Amazon marketplace.   :(
Hehe! My reaction to Vasks at first was one of utter nausia - I've never had such a change in opinion on a composer before. It's shameless good fun IMO.
Peanut butter, flour and sugar do not make cookies. They make FIRE.

Scarpia

Quote from: Lethe on January 20, 2010, 09:46:36 PMHehe! My reaction to Vasks at first was one of utter nausia - I've never had such a change in opinion on a composer before. It's shameless good fun IMO.

I think it was some music for strings.  Nausea wasn't my problem.  The music seemed like a tone poem depicting paint drying.   :(

vandermolen

Just been listening to Symphony No 2 again - what a great work this is. After the deaths of Arnold and Arnell I would say that this is my favourite symphony by a living composer. From 20 minutes in it just gets better and better. The Ondine release is excellent with great notes  ;). It is a tonal work of great slumbering power, which in places I find very moving and it as a wonderful ending.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Sef

Although strongly derided by my family for daring to listen to Baltic organ music, I must say that I can really imagine Vask's Te Deum shaking the foundations of some European cathedral. Not usually an organ sort of person, but this grabbed me.
"Do you think that I could have composed what I have composed, do you think that one can write a single note with life in it if one sits there and pities oneself?"

vandermolen

Quote from: Sef on March 22, 2011, 08:45:24 AM
Although strongly derided by my family for daring to listen to Baltic organ music, I must say that I can really imagine Vask's Te Deum shaking the foundations of some European cathedral. Not usually an organ sort of person, but this grabbed me.

Must look out for that!
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Mirror Image

Quote from: Sef on March 22, 2011, 08:45:24 AM
Although strongly derided by my family for daring to listen to Baltic organ music, I must say that I can really imagine Vask's Te Deum shaking the foundations of some European cathedral. Not usually an organ sort of person, but this grabbed me.

Why would you be derided for listening to Baltic organ music? This seems quite odd.

Christo

Quote from: vandermolen on March 21, 2011, 03:13:55 PM
great notes  ;).

Totally agree with your verdict on the music - and the notes, of course  ;D ;D 8)
... music is not only an 'entertainment', nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

Mirror Image

#33
I've only heard a handful of Vasks' music: the VC and Cello Concerto and Symphonies Nos. 1-3. None of it struck me as particularly interesting. The music doesn't really do much in terms of interesting harmonies, orchestration, there are few good melodies here and there, and the rhythms in many of these works seem pretty cliche. I would, however, like to hear music that pushes the envelope a little more, especially considering its the 21st Century now. I mean Stravinsky and Berg, for example, have composed music of great innovation and originality, but, at the same time, their music pushed music forward. Their music sounds as relevant today as it did when it was composed. This is where Vasks fails to capture my admiration.

Sef

Quote from: Mirror Image on March 22, 2011, 12:18:53 PM
Why would you be derided for listening to Baltic organ music? This seems quite odd.
Funny you should use that word - that's exactly what they called me - Odd. The downside of not having a musically open family, but each to their own.
"Do you think that I could have composed what I have composed, do you think that one can write a single note with life in it if one sits there and pities oneself?"

Lethevich

Non musical people tend to have astonishing difficulties understanding why anybody would want to listen to organ "church" music.

I've gotten the occasional glance indicating alarm over my mental state when I've been caught listening to it ;D
Peanut butter, flour and sugar do not make cookies. They make FIRE.

71 dB

#36
Recently I got my first Vasks disc, a composer totally unknown to me until now.  I initially got interested of the disc because of violist Alina Pogostkina, who won the Sibelius violin concerto competion back in 2005, but hasn't recorded hardly anything (record companies perhaps feel she hasn't got enough name/selling power). This Vasks disc on Wergo "vox amoris" is the only one I can find. Well, I sampled the disc on Spotify and liked it a lot. It sounded a superb disc and gave an opportunity to explore a new composer. So I bought it and it is the most expensive CD in many many years.  :P

[asin]B007K0PSQE[/asin]

The three works on that disc are similar. "Lonely Angel" is perhaps weaker than "Vox Amoris" and "Distant Light". Anyway, I like this disc a lot and Vasks seems an interesting composer to explore further.



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TheGSMoeller

#37
You should definitely explore more Vasks, 71. I'm at work so can't get into depth with my thoughts and recordings, but my experience with this composer was I liked one disc (Symphony No 2, Violin Concerto-ONDINE) and moved on to more orchestral/instrumental works (Symphony 3, Cello Ct - ONDINE), chamber (String Quartet 4) and then choral works (Latvian Radio Choir - ONDINE), and I've enjoyed them all.
I will say that Distant Light might be Vasks' most expressive work on a more accessible scale, his other works I've listened to seem a bit more modern in tone, more dissonant and edgier, but never strays too far from that expressiveness that Distant Light offers.

71 dB

Quote from: TheGSMoeller on March 23, 2014, 04:29:01 AM
You should definitely explore more Vasks, 71.

We should definitely get rid of this "should do this and that" thing with classical music. Takes the fun out and turn things into a burden. I explore Vasks (and all other composers) if it is fun and in ways that don't feel an obligation. Paying those ONDINE / Wergo prices isn't that fun. Fortunately Naxos has put out their first Vasks disc (Flute Concerto etc.).

I have been buying quite a many classical discs recently and I need to take it easy for a while. My "buy more Graupner plan" is on hold too.  :-\

Quote from: TheGSMoeller on March 23, 2014, 04:29:01 AMI'm at work so can't get into depth with my thoughts and recordings, but my experience with this composer was I liked one disc (Symphony No 2, Violin Concerto-ONDINE) and moved on to more orchestral/instrumental works (Symphony 3, Cello Ct - ONDINE), chamber (String Quartet 4) and then choral works (Latvian Radio Choir - ONDINE), and I've enjoyed them all.
I will say that Distant Light might be Vasks' most expressive work on a more accessible scale, his other works I've listened to seem a bit more modern in tone, more dissonant and edgier, but never strays too far from that expressiveness that Distant Light offers.

Thanks for these thoughts and recommendations.  :)
Spatial distortion is a serious problem deteriorating headphone listening.
Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
and less tiresome in headphone listening.

My Sound Cloud page <-- NEW Jan. 2024 "Harpeggiator"

TheGSMoeller

Quote from: 71 dB on March 23, 2014, 05:08:54 AM
We should definitely get rid of this "should do this and that" thing with classical music.

We should definitely do that.  ;)