Peteris Vasks: String Quartets Nos. 2 & 5
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SKU: NX.WER73292
By Spikeru String Quartet. By Peteris Vasks. Classical. Listening CD. Published by Wergo (NX.WER73292).As a child, Peteris Vasks began to study violin. He recalls as his happiest the times he was able to play in a string quartet. Later Vasks performed as a double-bass player with various Latvian and Lithuanian symphony and chamber orchestras. He says it was clear soon enough that the sound of string instruments was for him the most perfect: “Apart from everything else, I was fascinated by cantilena - the feeling of an immense and never-ending chant. It is in the sound of string instruments that my message sounds best - I am able there to sing out in the best way.†Vasks's pantheistic love of nature is mirrored in his String Quartet No. 2 - “Summer Tunesâ€: “I experience God and pray to him in the forest, on the seashore, everywhere, because the world as God created it is so beautiful.†The first movement, “Coming into Bloomâ€, is introduced in a subdued and flowing manner until the music settles. The second movement, “Birds†- with its free imitations of birdsongs - ranks among the most elaborate of Vasks's compositions. The third movement, “Elegyâ€, ushers in autumnal resignation. The String Quartet No. 5 consists of two contrasting movements with poetic titles: “being present†and “so distant ... yet so nearâ€. This opus explicitly reveals the dualism of images and moods so intrinsic to Vasks's music, to which the composer's written introduction bears witness: “The first movement immediately ushers in an atmosphere of emotional high tension. The dominant musical atmospheric elements are dramatic and turbulent. [...] The second movement is the quartet's quiet, unhurried, songlike section - a forgiving, love-filled gaze upon a world tormented by pain and contradictions. Gradually, the singing becomes more personal, emotional, and dramatic. [...] The quartet dies away in a mood of radiant sorrow. One cycle has ended. We continue to live.â€.
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Song List (7)
- <i>String Quartet No. 5</i>
- 01. Klatbutne - Gegenwart - Being Present
- 02. Talu prom... Tik tuvu so fern... und doch nah - So Distant...Yet Near
- <i>String Quartet no. 2</i>
- 03. Izplauksana - Das Aufbluhen - Coming into Bloom
- 04. Putni - Die Vogel - Birds
- 05. Elegija - Elegie - Elegy