Peteris Vasks: Stimmen

On this CD:

1. Ostrobothnian Symphony
Composed by Osvaldas Balakauskas
Performed by Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra
Conducted by Juha Kangas

2. Symphony for string orchestra "Voices"
Composed by Peteris Vasks
Performed by Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra
Conducted by Juha Kangas

3. Opus Lugubre
Composed by Onuto Narbutaite
Performed by Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra
Conducted by Juha Kangas

Peteris Vasks: Stimmen, Music, Osvaldas Balakauskas, Onuto Narbutaite, Peteris Vasks, Juha Kangas, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, 20th/21st Century Symphony, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Orchestral, Orchestral Music, Symphonic

Music of Peteris Vasks
Average customer rating:

Good Art, Poor Engineering

Dolorosa

Musica Dolorosa

Moving

Moving

Music of Peteris Vasks

Manufacturer: Telarc
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Symphonies | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
General Contemporary | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music
Modern & 20th Century | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Classical | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Peteris Vasks: Symphony No. 2; Violin Concerto "Distant Light"

Peteris Vasks: String Quartet No. 4

Vasks: Message

Peteris Vasks: Symphony No. 3; Cello Concerto [Hybrid SACD]

Rautavaara: Angel of Light

ASIN: B000003D2J
Release Date: 1997-09-23

Tracks:

Musica Dolorosa
Cantabile
Lauda
I. Klusuma Balsis
II. Dzivibas Balsis
III. Sirdsapzinas Balsis

Amazon.com

Vasks (b. 1946 in Latvia) is one of the rising stars of the Baltic region. His music has some affinities with that of Pärt and Tormis, and while Vasks isn't afraid to tap into different stylistic modes, like Schnittke, his music remains mostly tonal and doggedly idealistic. Musica Dolorosa (1983) is a masterpiece, plain and simple. Its combined strings create a sound world similar to Gorecki's famous Symphony 3. The major work here is the Symphony Stimmen (Voices) for string orchestra. It's unimaginably beautiful, full of flirtatious string-borne melodies and shadows of sadness here and there. --Paul Cook

Customer Reviews:

Good Art, Poor Engineering.......2004-08-20

To start, this CD is a wonderful exercise in, above all, orchestration. Vasks' works clearly show his admiration for the Romantic and early Modern masters, from Bruckner and Rachmaninov to Stravinsky and Salinen; as well as his ability to assimilate, then restructure their melodies and harmonics in a delightfully spacious way.

Many composers, Vasks among them, utilize great dynamic range variations, crescendos and diminuendos, as a tool to create a deeper spatial dimension and psychological impact. There is only one problem with this technique: While it works in a symphony hall or in a well-insulated, acoustically designed, listening room with hundred-thousand dollar sound equipment, on a CD played in your automobile or the typical living room with a modest sound system the results are literally aggravating!

In this particular CD, the dynamic range is so great that, to hear anything at all, or to protect your ear drums, you have to keep your agile fingers on the volume knob. In my opinion, the problem is two-fold: microphone placements and recording engineering, as well as the job of conducting the orchestra for the recording media.

Dolorosa.......2000-08-28

Vasks compositions on this CD are the most powerful modern-classical pieces I have heard. The emotion is raw and clear, the music is soaring and connects directly to the soul. Where it is truly not for the musical faint of heart, it is unbelievably powerful. Prepare for thrilling dynamics and strains of music that flow like ribbon.

Musica Dolorosa.......2000-05-29

A critical review of a work, in a music store, may be received poorly. Because mostly people who want to purchase that work, will visit the particular page in the first place.

That said, I do not want to issue a critical review on Vasks' music. This music is of an unbelievably high spiritual quality, such as many an aspiring composer could hardly hope to achieve.

So, perhaps, only a few observations are relevant:

I) This is serious music.

II) Little humor is to be found here, and, as a result, perhaps little joy as well. This is music for the time of being poor in spirit. You may feel a desire to weep, while listening. Perhaps in these tears, there is a blessing: communion with someone who has been, in some sense, wounded.

III) What is the ethos that makes this music so serious? Also, what is the ethos that, perhaps, permits happiness to be possible? These, for me, are the interesting questions that Mr. Vasks work raises.

Moving.......1999-11-21

Vask symphony "voices" is movingingly beautiful and etherial. One movement contains only stringed instruments and it soars. It is one of my all-time favorites.

Moving.......1999-11-21

Vask symphony "voices" is movingingly beautiful and etherial. One movement contains only stringed instruments and it soars. It is one of my all-time favorites.

Peteris Vasks: Concerto for Cello and Orchestra

Average customer rating:

No one!
Cello concerto is a poignant work

Peteris Vasks: Concerto for Cello and Orchestra

Manufacturer: Conifer
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

Modern & 20th Century | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0000024EG
Release Date: 1997-01-14

Tracks:

Con: I. Canto I - David Geringas
Con: II. Toccata I - David Geringas
Con: III. Monologhi - David Geringas
Con: IV. Toccata II - David Geringas
Con: V. Canto II - David Geringas
Str Sym-Voices (Balsis): Voices Of Silence (Klusuma Balsis) - Riga PO/Jonas Aleksa
Str Sym-Voices (Balsis): Voices Of Life (Dzivibas Balsis) - Riga PO/Jonas Aleksa
Str Sym-Voices (Balsis): Voice Of Conscience (Sirdsapzinas Balss) - Riga PO/Jonas Aleksa

Customer Reviews:

No one!.......2000-05-16

No one is better than Prokofiev! Period!

Cello concerto is a poignant work.......2000-02-02

This CD contains two very powerful works by the contemporary Latvian composer Peteris VASKS. Both the Sympony for strings and the Cello concerto are wonderful. However, I was blown away by the concerto. Yes, there are influences from Prokofiev and Shostakovich but this is deeper stuff. Vasks is more spiritual, more daring, and more magical. Riga Philharmonic and Mr. Geringas play as if possessed. Try also Vasks' chamber music available on Conifer Classics label.

Average customer rating:

Peteris Vasks: Stimmen

Manufacturer: Finlandia
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

Modern & 20th Century | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000005IGO
Release Date: 1995-06-06

Tracks:

Ostrobothnian Sym
Sym, 'Stimmen': I. Stimmen Der Stille
Sym, 'Stimmen': II. Stimmen Des Lebens
Sym For Strings 'Stimmen': III. Stimme Des Gewissens
Onute Narbutaite: Opus Lugubre

Average customer rating:

Pettersson Lite
Distant Light, Voices
Compelling
Excellent, Passionate!
Essential listening

Vasks: Distant Light / Voices
Peteris Vasks , Gidon Kremer , and Kremerata Baltica
Manufacturer: Elektra / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

Modern & 20th Century | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000026CDC
Release Date: 1999-11-09

Tracks:

Distant Light (Tala Gaisma): Concerto For Violin And String Orchestra
Voices (Balsis): Voices Of Silence (Klusuma Balsis)
Voices (Balsis): Voices Of Life (Dzivibas Balsis)
Voices (Balsis): Voice Of Conscience (Sirdsapzinas Balss)

Amazon.com

The grand scale of Arvo Pärt and Giya Kancheli, some very striking climaxes, and the nostalgic strains of Latvian folk music seem to collide in the compositions of Peteris Vasks. Romantic, melancholic, and utterly enjoyable, Vasks sounds at times like Pärt for people with short attention spans--as glacial as his music can get, an explosive violin solo or familiar waltz is just around the corner. There's an unmistakable sadness that never escapes his work, obviously reflective of the tumultuous nature of his Latvian homeland. But this emotion-filled music seems tailor-made for violinist Gidon Kremer, who--accompanied here by his hand-picked KremerATA Baltica ensemble of young Baltic-area musicians--clearly embraces the works. Distant Light is a 30-minute single-movement concerto, where graceful string passages give way to soaring violin solos. Voices is a symphony for strings with quiet expanses, birdsong, and a tumultuous third movement. Simply put, these are gorgeous works. Vasks is clearly a composer to watch and Kremer, as usual, is brilliant. --Jason Verlinde

Customer Reviews:

Pettersson Lite.......2003-09-18

Vasks is typical of today's "spiritual minimalists" - sort of a blend of New Age "air pudding" with a very light sprinkle of "seriousness". Easy to listen to - you could put this on as background music, or to fall asleep to. And I realize that's what a lot of people seem to be looking for these days. But don't expect any soul-searching, or profundity. Slightly melancholic, wistful, not exactly "deep", but at least it isn't Yanni. If you've heard it once, there's not a lot to be mined out of it on repeated listenings.

If you'd like a more substantial musical experience, try the symphonies of Allan Pettersson. Start with his 7th.

Distant Light, Voices.......2000-10-16

Distant Light, a violin concerto by Latvian composer Peteris Vasks, is uperbly performed by violinist Gidon Kremer and his Kremerata Baltica ensemble. This Teldec CD also features Vasks' symphony for strings entitled Voices. Both works are permeated by a sense of melancoly created by rather soft dynamics, very simple textures, an estremely slow harmonic motion--often elaborating a drone or single harmony for a minute or more at a time, and beautifully expressive extended melodic lines. Vasks' music is very much in the tradition of more well-known Central European composers Henryk Gorecki and Arvo Part, even Alan Hovhaness. Indeed, several moments of both works on this CD are remarkably similar (one might even say uncomfortably similar) to sections of Gorecki's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs. Vasks himself claims a strong influence from Polish avant-garde music, particularly that of Witold Lutoslawski. This influence is scarcely apparent in these pieces, however--they are for the most part extremely conservative, more reminiscent of Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, with a touch of New Age sensibility.

Vasks is largely self-taught as a composer, although clearly not adverse to closely examining those he admires for models. His formal musical training is primarily as a double bass player, and his knowledge of stringed instruments is clearly seen, as he achieves wonderfully rich sonorities. The writing is beautifully complemented by the outstanding performance of the Kremerata Baltica ensemble, a group of young musicians from the Baltic States of Latvia, Lituania and Estonia. Intonation and expression are impeccable, but perhaps most noteworthy is the gorgeous depth of tone the ensemble achieves. Kremer himself presents a sensational performance, fluently navagating the technical and virtuostic difficulties while creating a remarkable variety of tone color. The cadenza of Distant Light leads to the climax of the concerto and shows not only Kremer's flair for the dramatic, but also one of the few passages in which the influence of Lutoslawski and the Polish avante-garde can be seen.

To my ear, the stylistic disparities here are too great to be completely successful in the context of the whole. The climax, described by Vasks as "aleatory chaos" represents only a few seconds of an otherwise almost entirely traditional composition lasting almost half an hour. It therefore seems more something artificially grafted onto the work than something achieved--a sort of Deus ex machina of evil rather than of delivery and redemption, if you will. Vasks' programmatic concern is the struggle of man for freedom from oppression--specifically the struggle of the Baltics for freedom from the Soviet empire. Oppression itself is not the subject of Vasks' attention, but nevertheless, that such oppression be represented by aleatory chaos is, frankly, cliched. This is the kind of gesture that beginning composition students make--and that it is wildly out of proportion to the rest of the work (and furthermore followed by a curious pastiche-updating of Liszt's Mephisto Waltz) makes it unconvincing and lacking in conviction. If only the oppression of the Baltic peoples by the Soviets were so short and readily abandoned. Vasks misses his chance to truly develop a meaningful climax out of the materials he has worked so successfully with up to this point. Having said this, though, it is the only miscue on the recording. Otherwise, performance and compositions are well worth repeated listening.

Compelling.......2000-01-11

Simply a "must hear" if you are a fan of Part and love the beauty of violins.

Excellent, Passionate!.......2000-01-10

If you enoyed this, check out Keith Jarrett's, "The Melody at Night with You" and John McArthur's, "HIDDEN."

Essential listening.......1999-12-02

Vasks' String Quartets and his Cello Concerto remain his best work to date. This disk contains music a Vasks aficionado would surely love. The only negative is the packaging. The soloist-- Kramer -- (who is, of course, an excellent violinist) is featured in a way gets in the way of appreciating Vasks. The booklet for the CD is an ad for Kramer, not other music of Vasks.

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