Work of the Week - Peteris Vasks: Epifania
Peteris Vasks' works for string orchestra are exceptionally popular. The Latvian composer is blessed with an unrivalled sense for giving strings an incredible variety of sounds and emotional depth, whilst keeping the technical demands on the players relatively moderate.
The most recent composition of this kind is named Epifania and will be performed for the first time on 29 July 2011 in the Finnish town of Kokkola. The Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra is performing the work under the baton of Juha Kangas. The composer writes:
Epifania is dedicated to the Finnish conductor Juha Kangas who celebrated his 65th birthday last year. We have been close friends since 1991 when he directed the first performance of my 1st Symphony ’Balsis · Voices’. Epifania is a brief, tranquil composition with an extremely measured sonorous string sound primarily played con sordino. A lyrical theme is introduced at the beginning which is varied during the central section with cumulative exhilaration, only to reappear a third time in inverted form in the final section, accompanied by the divisi violins playing an old Latvian folk song. As an unspoken motto above the music, I can see the question: what remains at the end of a life full of music? Peteris Vasks
View score:
Our record label WERGO has released two CDs with works for string orchestra by Peteris Vasks. They offer a fantastic introduction to the stunning soundscapes which Vasks is able to create.
Cantabile per archi / Botschaft / Musica Dolorosa / Symphony 'Voices' (1993)
Latvijas Filharmonijas Kamerorkestris, Latvijas Nacioñalais Simfoniskais Orkestris, Riga
WERGO WER-62202
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