Pēteris Vasks: Oboe Concerto, Vēstījums & Lauda

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Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks (born 1946) is one of the most prominent names among living composers today. This album by the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andris Poga includes the first recording of Vasks’ atmospheric and pastoral Oboe Concerto written for the centenary celebrations of Latvia’s independence in 2018 and performed by one of today’s leading oboists, Albrecht Mayer. The new concerto is coupled with two early orchestral works from the 1980s, Vēstījums and Lauda – both musical manifestations from the final years of the Soviet Union when occupied Latvia started its peaceful fight to regain the country’s independence.

Vasks’ writes: “The Oboe Concerto is possibly one of my brighter works”. The Concerto has two pastorale movements echoing the Latvian landscape with hints to Latvian folk music. However, the Concerto portrays something much deeper that Latvia’s beautiful nature. Vasks comments: “The Concerto could be viewed as akin to a human life with its beginning, period of maturity, and departure”. The Concerto received its premiere on October 5, 2018, at the Large Guild Hall in Rīga, one month before the culmination of Latvia’s centenary celebrations. Albrecht Mayer and the LNSO performed the work under the baton of Andris Poga, as on this recording.

Vēstījums ("The Message", 1982), for Two Pianos, Strings and Percussion belongs to Vasks’ early works. In this piece Vasks wanted to express “how exquisitely beautiful the world is and what we, in our hubris, are doing with it”. The work culminates in a moment when “the cosmos rejoices”: “We, the insane, will be lost but the miracle of the world will remain”, as Vasks explains.

Lauda (1985) was the composer’s form of “spiritual protest” during Latvia’s final years as part of the Soviet Union, originally written for the 150th anniversary of Latvian folklorist Krišjānis Barons, a moment which resulted in a peaceful candle protest. The work received its premiere two years later, in 1987. © Ondine