Pẽteris Vasks: Pater Noster · Dona Nobis Pacem · Missa (2007)

Posted By : peachfuzz | Date : 05 Aug 2009 08:05:20 | Comments : 11 |

Pẽteris Vasks - Pater Noster · Dona Nobis Pacem · Missa (2007)
Classical | EAC (APE, CUE & LOG) | 253 MB

Focusing on the religious aspect in Vasks' music, this disc contains three sacred works for choir and orchestra, featuring the outstanding Latvian Radio Choir and its conductor Sigvards Klava, as well as the Sinfonietta Riga. Based on Latin texts from the traditional Christian liturgy, these works include the two contemplative motets Pater noster (The Lord's Prayer) and Dona nobis pacem (Grant us peace), as well as the ordinary of the Mass. Vasks' style of choral writing links him to the composers who have come to be described as 'holy minimalists,' a group that includes Arvo Pärt, Henryk Góreck, Giya Kancheli, and John Tavener, whose music, while stylistically diverse, tends to rely on tonal and modal harmonies, is frequently harmonically static or slow-moving and is often linked to plainchant and ancient liturgical traditions. Vasks' choral music is firmly rooted in Western polyphony and is for the most part traditional-sounding; there is little in it apart from certain unconventional harmonic progressions that would make it immediately identifiable as a product of the late twentieth century. Among the other holy minimalists, the sound of his music is most closely related to that of Górecki in its harmonic textures and the somber earnestness of its moods. The three works recorded here are polyphonically and harmonically sensual, in spite of their serious tone. An exception to the sober tone is the Mass' Sanctus, which, while not exactly lighthearted, is lively; the composer imagines it 'sung by happy, little angels.' The Latvian Radio Choir sings with warmth and passion and with excellent control in the composer's extended, sustained vocal lines. Sigvards Klava, conducting Sinfonietta Riga, leads them in deeply felt performances. The CD should be of interest both to fans of choral music and of new trends in minimalism tinged with Romanticism.

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Posted By: scarabou Date: 05 Aug 2009 13:19:22

merci beaucoup pour la découverte!

amitiés
scarabou

Posted By: d'Avignon Date: 05 Aug 2009 16:19:59

Well, it's the reviewer saying so, but I wouldn't call Vasks a minimalist. Nor do I think he has much in common with Pärt or Kancheli, let alone Tavener. But perhaps this album tells otherwise.
That's a new Vasks for me, thank you!

Posted By: Piterets Date: 05 Aug 2009 17:07:12

i thought i had it, but in fact i don't. thanks!
p.s. i do have after all, but thanks all the same! :)

Posted By: peachfuzz Date: 05 Aug 2009 20:53:44

@ d'Avignon

Now c'mon, by "holy minimalist", the reviewer isn't referring to the music of Steve Reich or Philip Glass (as in Minimalist with the Capital "M"). I believe he or she is alluding more or less to the spiritual dimension of their music without the usual crap that often comes prepackaged with the order. Put it another way, it's holy enchantment without the crap (eg. holy crap). Again, Vasks might not sound like Pärt or Kancheli, but neither does Glass sound like Reich or Riley. But Vasks does share a frame of reference that binds Pärt and Taverner, no less than Glass falls into the same fold as Reich and Riley (or so I'm led to believe).

Speaking of which, aren't we all little tired of the same repetition from the Minimalist school? Isn't it time for a change?

Posted By: d'Avignon Date: 05 Aug 2009 22:24:18

I was rather referring to Vask's instrumental works (those I know best), about which there's hardly anything minimal, sonically speaking. It's there that I think he's closer to composers like Gubaidulina. Whose works have an enormous spiritual dimension, of course, but they're not repetitive. Neither are Vask's string quartets, for example.

As for your concluding remark: I couldn't agree more. After Akhnaten, a composer like Glass got stuck in repeating the repetitive. Perhaps a little bit too much of a good thing

Posted By: peachfuzz Date: 05 Aug 2009 22:39:48

This might sound too trivial to be swallowed in one sitting, but if you're a composer from the Soviet-era you squarely belong to one of two camps: the unholy serialists (better known as Polystylists) like Schnittke and Gubaidulina or the holy minimalist like you know whom.

Posted By: d'Avignon Date: 05 Aug 2009 23:00:00

Interesting! - we have a debate going on. Gubaidulina started as a serialist, but I wouldn't say she is still now. It's hard to define her music - some critics have characterised it as "archaically intuitive", whatever that means. Her point of departure is not unholy at all! On the contrary. But this is obviously a term which refers to the internal organization of the music itself, not to the composer's spirituality.

Now, the problem with Vasks is he seems to fall into both categories. I listened to your upload, and yes, the vocal works have a lot in common with the regular choral stuff coming from the former USSR states - but again, his string quartets are very different, very modern. So, I'd say the 'trivial' division doesn't apply to him

Posted By: peachfuzz Date: 06 Aug 2009 07:16:39

I would have to postpone this debate for another time since I have no intention of getting into the business of labeling who is who of which school of music. Nevertheless, your point is well taken. No doubt, there are important differences between Vasks and Pärt as well as Gubaidulina. But over the years I have keenly felt a common thread that binds the music of the Soviet bloc composers and that is the underlying current of deeply brooding melancholia with a touch of Eastern Orthodox mysticism to boot. Now I'm not a religious person nor do I give a rat's ass about the subject matter, but the aura of spiritual elements in their music is undeniable even for this heretic.

On a final note, might I add that the earlier Vask is not necessarily the same as the later Vask. Hell, even Pärt sounded vastly different in his yourger days when he made a brief foray into serialism. For example, have you had a chance to listen to the following recording yet? You would be pleasantly surprised.

http://avaxhome.ws/music/avant_garde/Arvo_Symphonies.html

Posted By: annexia Date: 06 Aug 2009 07:21:10

Haven't heard the music yet, but allured by the exchange of hearts: How does Ustvolskaya fit in this dichotomy? She's holy alright ... ;) Btw, Gubaidulina actually never convinced me, unlike Ustvolskaya, and in that order Suslin maybe.
Damn, I should upload that documentary on Gubaidulina and Ustvolskaya, to give you an extra reference on my remark ...
Edit: we seem to be online at the same time, but yours was dropped earlier. No need to elaborate, just curious.

Posted By: d'Avignon Date: 06 Aug 2009 14:46:47

I'll have a listen to the Pärt symphonies, I've got them somewhere - just one of those compositions that drowned in the waves of music coming in too fast here, I'm afraid.

"The underlying current...to boot" - I have to agree on that of course, but this applies to composers who work in the minimal vein as well as the modernists - although I'm not so sure about Gubaidulina's Eastern mysticism in her earlier works; the relation to pagan barbarism a la Stravinsky is a touch too strong there.

@annexia
Ustvolskaija, talking about a barbaric sound world - she defies categorization. Brooding melancholy alright, but massive quantities of it packed together like matter in a black hole.
Not a bad metaphor for some of her compositions, I'd say.

----
btw, I don't pretend my knowledge of music is anything more than amateuristic. I may well be blatantly wrong in some of my observations. I enjoy talking/writing about it, though. And then, at times, people ask me about composers they've never heard of, and I take this large sledgehammer of easy labelling...well, you know how it goes.

Posted By: Igone Date: 26 Sep 2010 01:15:03

Thank you very much !

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