Concerto

Considering the great significance the flute is given throughout his oeuvre, works specifically for the flute are encountered much less frequently in Pēteris Vasks’ compositional output than would perhaps be expected. For example in his 1st wind quintet ‘Music for Fleeting Birds’ and the solo work Landscape with Birds, the flute imitates bird calls from Vasks’ Latvian homeland, a sound which, under the Soviet regime, was code for the pursuit of freedom and the call for change.

Vasks composed his Concerto for flute and orchestra long after the democratic changes; the illustrative features of his music have been adapted. Now melody replaces instrumental artistry, and the commitment to freedom has given way to reflectiveness.