Peteris Vasks: Major presence in Northern Europe

October and November sees a warm reception for Peteris Vasks in Scandinavia and Estonia – providing an important milestone for the Latvian composer. With three premieres of Vasks’ works starting on the 19 October with the 5th String Quartet, then continuing on the 9 November with Missa for choir and string orchestra and culminating on the 25 November with 3rd Symphony.

Vasks’ first four quartets have already proved to be huge successes and now this fifth for the Kronos Quartet looks set live up to the rest - Premiere on the 19 October at Tallinn, with further performances on the 21 in Copenhagen and the 22 October in Malmö.

Vasks on the Quartet: 

”String Quartet No. 5 consists of two contrasting movements. The first movement, being present, immediately leads to an atmosphere of high emotional tension. The prevailing atmospheric elements of the music are dramatic and passionate, alternating with each other like a kaleidoscope. In contrast to that, a second theme is intoned three times – an invitation, a memory of the existence of another world, a light-house which illuminates the twilight in which we live so often. But this invitation remains unheard. The first movement concludes with dissonances in the upper register – a cry of utter desperation.
The second movement, so distant … yet so near, is the calm, unhurried vocal section of the quartet. A forgiving, loving look at a world tortured by grief and contradictions. Gradually, the singing becomes more personal, more emotional and more dramatic. The rhythmic figure of a funeral march in the recapitulation of the second movement is a gesture of loss. Eventually, the quartet loses itself in an atmosphere of light-filled grief.”

Both of the Premieres in November occur in Finnland: Missa is for the Helsinki Bach Festival and the 3rd Symphony is for the Tampere Filharmonia and their chief conductor John Storgårds.

 Peteris Vasks: Biography and works
 upcoming performances with Vasks’ works
 Kronos Quartet
 Tampere Filharmonia