Encounter brings together two towering works of contemporary chamber music that speak across cultures, histories, and inner worlds. Osvaldo Golijov's The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind and Peteris Vasks' String Quartet No. 6 arise from profoundly different traditions-Jewish mysticism and Baltic spirituality-yet meet in a shared search for truth, memory, and transcendence. Both works are intensely personal, rooted in lived experience and belief, and animated by music's power to give voice to what lies beyond words: longing, suffering, hope, and illumination. In this recording, these worlds do not merely coexist; they listen to, reflect, and transform one another. Performed by the Arethusa Quartet with clarinetist Chen Halevi, Encounter is also a meeting of artistic journeys. Golijov's ecstatic, ritual-like score unfolds as a spiritual ascent through dreams, prayers, and blindness-understood as deeper inner vision-while Vasks' Sixth Quartet traces a life's arc from farewell and remembrance to a final, hushed encounter with transcendence, illuminated by echoes of Beethoven. Across both works, vulnerability and intensity are balanced by stillness and song, darkness by light. What emerges is an album that feels at once intimate and universal: an affirmation of shared humanity, and a reminder of music's enduring ability to connect past and present, earth and spirit, performer and listener. = Curiosa is conceived as a personal "cabinet of curiosities" by violinist Jorge Jiménez, bringing together music that entered his life through years of travel, collaboration, and discovery. The album spans laments, dances, preludes, fugues, and songs from both renowned and anonymous sources, ranging from the Middle Ages to the Baroque and beyond. Each piece is selected for it's emotional depth, strangeness, and expressive power, forming a living repertoire shaped in rehearsals, late-night conversations, concerts, and recording sessions. Central to the project is Jiménez's fascination with unaccompanied music and historical instruments, particularly the baroque violin and vielle, whose raw and earthy sound transports the listener into earlier sound worlds. Throughout Curiosa, Jiménez weaves together personal heritage, musical memory, and imaginative storytelling. His own arrangements connect Bach, Dowland, Strozzi, Gaspar Sanz, and traditional tunes with vivid images. Joined by Joy Smith on early harps and Daniel Garay on historical percussion, and performing with his ensemble Tercia Realidad, Jiménez blends historical insight with spontaneity and improvisation. The result is an album that feels both intimate and expansive-music passed "between hands, ears, and hearts," constantly transforming while remaining deeply rooted in shared curiosity and human connection. Jorge Jiménez: "These pieces entered my life through the extraordinary musicians and ensembles I've been fortunate to work with across Europe. They form a living repertoire shaped in rehearsal rooms, late-night conversations, recording sessions, and concerts." = During the darkest of the lockdowns, I took my daughter to an open field near our home. In a time when the world felt shuttered and small, walking was our only escape from the suffocating stillness. As we reached the field, a sudden sensation washed over me-a quiet awakening. It wasn't just the spring breeze or the scent of the grass; it was a sudden reminder of what being alive meant. I felt I had been touched by Zephyr, the Greek god of the west wind, sparking a renewed wish to create and perform for the world once more. Liberte´: A piece exploring and searching for emotional freedom. Zephyr: Named after the gentle west wind, this track served as the primary source of inspiration for the entire album. Fushigi no Kuni: Translating to "Wonderland" in Japanese, this piece was inspired by Alice's Adventures in Wonderland written by Lewis Carroll. A Troubadour in the Moonlight: A composition and improvisation depicting a minstrel serenading a loved one beneath the moon. For Misato: A heartfelt dedication to Misato-san, my dear friend who departed too young. The five songs above are composed by Yukari. Eurus, Suibokuga, Pandora's Box, Don't Follow the Piper, and Au crépuscule are collective improvisations. = "We can imagine some eyebrows being raised at the description of Dora Pejacevic as a contemporary of Brahms; the two composers were born more than fifty years apart, and their lives only overlapped by twelve years. Yet both works by Pejacevic are unmistakably from the same compositional lineage as that by Brahms; and both are works written early on in Pejacevic's remarkable (and, sadly, all-too-short) life. Both pieces belong clearly to the romantic tradition, displaying no hint of the more modernist directions which her later works would take. We were immediately intoxicated by the passionate sweep of Pejacevic's Piano Quartet, but also the tenderness of it's slow movement, and felt it would make the perfect bedfellow for the First Piano Quartet of Brahms, a piece to which Tom has felt particularly close since student days. Brahms's Piano Quartet is justly one of the best-loved of all chamber works, and few works are more exhilarating to perform: the first movement offers an abundance of glorious themes; the second takes us to a mysterious dreamworld; the third luxuriates in expansive lyricism; then the fiery virtuosity of the gypsy finale sends us headlong to the finish line. This album brings us to the end of our recorded journey through Brahms's three piano quartets, and it has been the greatest privilege and joy to record these works, alongside three major piano quartets by composers who deserve to be far better known. However, we are pleased to say that the series does not end here: looking beyond the piano quartets, we have further albums in preparation, pairing Brahms with his brilliant and lesser-played contemporaries." -Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective
Peteris Vasks was born in Aizpute, Latvia, the son of a church minister. He studied the double bass and composition in Riga and Vilnius, among others with Valentius Utkins, and was a member of various symphony and chamber orchestras. He currently is a free-lance composer living in Riga.
Among the works of Vasks, his compositions for string orchestra are of particular importance. With the help of several works scored for strings, the CD on hand imparts comprehensive knowledge of the development that Vasks has undergone since the last 70's.
Vasks wrote in the introduction to his symphony "Stimmen" [Voices]:
"At the end of 1990 I had begun to write the symphony. Then came January 1991. Blood was flowing in the streets of Latvia and Lithuania. Sleepless nights at the barricades. After all that, the new beginning was difficult. The symphony speaks of my essential, most meaningful themes. About life. About eternity. About conscience. I wrote it with love and faith."
The Queen of Instruments meets one of the world's leading organists, Iveta Apkalna. The repertoire of the new album includes Vasks' Viatore and Te Deum, as well as Pärt's famous Spiegel i'm Spiegel, Pari intervallo, Trivium, and Annum per annum. Two of the most important contemporary composers are united on one album, celebrating Pärt's 90th birthday in 2025 and Vasks' 80th birthday in 2026. Also captured on this release is a milestone in music history: it is the first-ever solo organ recording made on the organ of the Ventspils Concert Hall "Latvija"-one of the most remarkable concert instruments in Northern Europe.
Vasks: Orchestral Works / Sinkevich, Repušić, Munich Radio Orchestra
BR Klassik
CD
$19.99Apr 02, 2021
All the works of the Latvian composer Peteris Vasks on this release are written for string orchestra: the three connected compositions "Musica serena" (2015), "Musica dolorosa" (1983) and "Musica appassionata" (2002), and also Vasks' Concerto No 2 for Violoncello and Strings, also known as "Klatbutne" (“Presence”, 2011/12). Vasks' three instrumental pieces here are light-hearted, tragic (dealing with the death of his sister as well as the political situation in Latvia at the time), and passionate, providing an overview of the diversity of his work across a timespan of almost three decades. His deeply spiritual Cello Concerto, which was premiered by Sol Gabetta and the Amsterdam Sinfonietta and conducted by Candida Thompson in Ghent, refers in its title to the pure being of his music - which is present, without distance, in every movement of the bow. The beauty that Peteris Vasks evokes in his works would not be possible without the experience of violence and cruelty in this world. He grew up in a country deprived of liberty, and He grew up in a country deprived of liberty, and because of his faith and his artistic convictions he was subjected to reprisals from Russian cultural doctrine. His father, a Baptist pastor, was considered an "enemy of the state", and his homeland was under Soviet control. As a result Vasks developed a vision of freedom and subtle protest in his music. Vasks' expressive, direct and often deliberately simple music quickly became the mouthpiece of the long-suppressed Latvian people, giving the nation a proud voice that can be heard worldwide. Today, alongside Arvo Pärt and Erkki Sven-Tüür, Peteris Vasks is one of the most famous composers from the Baltic states of the former Soviet Union. On April 16, 2021, the music world will celebrate his 75th birthday.
REVIEW:
The Munich Radio Orchestra are experienced with Vasks’ music, having already made one recording of it. Cello soloists, Uladzimir Sinkevich is from Belarus and is the orchestra’s principal cellist. He is a fine player. Anna-Maria Palii is a member of the Baravian Radio Chorus and also has a solo operatic career. She handles her short part well. The conductor, Ivan Repušić, is from Croatia and has been the chief conductor of the orchestra since 2017. He secures excellent results. These performances are assured, lyrical and idiomatic. It so happens that they were made under the restrictions due to the Covid pandemic, with social distancing and so on for the performers. I note this only as a point of interest; you would not know it from the performances, except perhaps because of the obvious commitment of all concerned to the whole enterprise. The recording is very good and the sleeve notes are helpful. There are other recordings of all these works, but not grouped together. This is a very worthwhile recording.
Originally a double bass player, Peteris Vasks has a special fondness for the string family, and has composed numerous works for string ensembles of various sizes. Some of his most widely performed works are for string orchestra, among them Musica dolorosa and the violin concertos Distant Light and Lonely Angel. Another one is his Symphony for Strings ‘Voices’, composed in 1991, as his native Latvia, along with Estonia and Lithuania, was breaking free from the crumbling Soviet Union. In a note on the work, Vasks has written: ‘… the new beginning was difficult. The symphony speaks of my essential, most meaningful themes. About life. About eternity. About conscience.’ On this recording, ‘Voices’ is performed by Vasks’ compatriots in the eminent Sinfonietta Riga, making their first appearance on BIS. The Sinfonietta has an ongoing collaboration with Maxim Rysanov, as soloist as well as conductor, and Rysanov here has occasion to show both sides of his musicianship, as he conducts the ensemble as well as performs the solo part in Vasks’ recent Concerto for Viola. The concerto is dedicated to Rysanov, who premièred it in 2016 and now presents it on album for the first time. In four movements, the work demonstrate a characteristic feature of Vasks’ style, the strong contrasts between translucent serenity and deep despair that remind us of the ephemeral and complex world we live in.
REVIEW:
Peteris Vasks has a distinctive voice, and his works always deliver emotionally. The two compositions on this release are no exception — though they are exceptional.
In the concerto, Vasks plays to his strengths. The music slowly swirls in gossamer strands, coalescing from time to time for greater emotional impact. Vasks also weaves in folk-like melodies that temporarily ground the music. Maxim Rysanov’s playing gets to the emotional center of Vasks’ music. At times it’s almost heartbreakingly beautiful.
