Vasks: Laudate Dominum

Album review

Latvia's Peteris Vasks is the most Beethovenian of the Nordic holy minimalists, with extremely long lines woven into large structures and given a dark, somber cast. These trends have intensified over Vasks' long career, and they perhaps reach their apex in these works, all written in the 2010s when the composer was in his late sixties. There are just five works on the album; for the full effect sample one of the larger ones, perhaps the opening Da pacem, Domine, where the harmonic structure shifts just a few times over the course of the work. Even more than in the large, Western minimalist works of Reich and Glass, which are the nearest comparisons, Vasks demands a lot of choristers, who have to maintain pitch and consistent tone over very long stretches. Having lived with Vasks' music for a while now, the Latvian Radio Choir under Sigvards Klava deliver a virtuoso performance, and they get ideal backing from Ondine's engineers, working in Riga, Latvia's St. John's Church. The end result is powerful, calm, and truly monumental.
© TiVo