Vasaras vakara mūzika

Pēteris Vasks occupies a special position in the circle of Baltic composers. He is not only the most significant and popular composer ever to come out of Latvia; he always speaks to his listeners with a fervent intensity that seems to point to something higher. This higher aspect is without a doubt something that stands above the world of humanity but is also present within each person: divine nature.

“I am deeply rooted in nature, in the nature of the North. It influences all of my music. The nature we know is also quite various; we have four very distinct seasons. The winter is very long, the summer very short and therefore all the more beautiful and longed for. The seasons in between are quite dramatic.” 

 

In 2009, as a kind of “encore”, Vasks wrote Vasaras vakara mūzika –Music for a Summer Evening based on old sketches and therefore rather strongly anchored in tradition. 

 

Vasks says: “It describesthe quiet end of a summer day. The sun sets. Slowness. Memories of previous experiences rise. With the memories’ appearance comes an increase in intensity. Towards the end, a kind of folksong is heard: ‘We have survived the time of tyranny and have kept our identity’. The ending is quiet, everything is asleep.“

 

(Christoph Schlüren

Translation: John Patrick Thomas and W. Richard Rieves)