Flowering Jasmine

Chronique

These nine miniatures span an entire century of Latvian music, from early national romanticism to 21st-century post-romanticism. Orchestral music from Latvia contains fewer modernist elements, and in this album the musicians have consciously chosen to focus on a romantic feeling of the world. For the sake of variety, the selected music is written for a larger orchestra as well as music written for only strings. Most of these compositions are being recorded for the first time.

The Liepāja Symphony Orchestra plans to continue recording compilations such as this. There is much great yet still unrecorded and unreleased Latvian symphonic music and no shortage of themes: the sea, the city, dance, cinema, literature and on and on.

"In my opinion, the nine selected works are united by the presence of Latvian nature. Nature was the impulse that drove me to select this music, and rural Latvia constitutes my feeling of a peaceful home. It goes without saying that our meadows are the most vivid, our sun the warmest and our seaside trees the most stately. As I studied the scores of these nine miniatures, I had no difficulty imagining how the sun rises in Porietis’ Morning or where Ivanovs’ Rainbow shimmers. The tempi and phrasing were largely dictated by what I have experienced in the Latvian landscape, but it is important to note that, in this case, music is not an illustration of specific places or phenomena but rather a bridge to our relationship with the world". (Guntis Kuzma)
© SKANI