Search - Peteris Vasks, John Storgårds, Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra :: Peteris Vasks: Symphony No. 3; Cello Concerto [Hybrid SACD]

A beam of light through the stormclouds

Ryan Morris | Chicago, IL | 10/24/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In our present musical chaos, brought on by the intolerable Boulezians and other ignorant drones of the musical establisment in the late fifties till very recently, it is beyond uplifting to hear music of such beauty and skill that perhaps there is hope. Now that Rautavaara has found his plateau and is composing those works which will close out his life, springing up all around are composers who have absorbed the best from that "school which will remain nameless" and combined it with tradition, taking their lead from rautavaara.

That is where we are with this symphony. If you have heard vasks intense, violent, yet accessible second symphony or his violin concerto, one of the finest written in the last fifty years, you know you are dealing with a composer who is of the highest order, though, as Rautavaara was, still searching for a definitve voice.

This symphony is the polar opposite from the second, more close a kin to rautavaara's eighth with a beautiful opening hymn. The entire work, though modern, is accessible to everyone. It is only modern in its sense of harmonic structure which those who dont care about such things will care about and even know that during such beauty such a thing is occuring.

After the symphony, the cello concerto is another modern masterpiece, easily the finest of the last twenty years, maybe more. It is also accessible yet of interest to those who study music.

If you are a fan of Rautavaara's late school, or of Christopher Rouse's better works(Violin Concerto, Concerto Corde) mixed with Part, a little Lutoslawski and Penderecki, and even a splash of Gorecki and Pettersson and Vagn Holmboe-this is the next in line.

One day, he will take the mantle from Rautavaara as the worlds finest composer."

Great Stuff

B. R. Merrick | 05/12/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Vasks begins his Third Symphony in the manner of Brahms's First: a long line of melancholy driven forward in triple time, that confronts the listener with a wall of solid orchestral sound. It's absolutely stunningly beautiful.



From there, he veers off into various contrasting musical ideas, hinting at Scandinavian influence and also the spare modern writing of Eastern Europe (although his orchestrations are as thick and serious as his harmonies). The Tampere Philharmonic does a nice job of keeping the music flowing from start to finish, in both the symphony and concerto.



Like a lot of contemporary composers (I'm thinking of Danielpour, Rouse, and Kirchner here, and I think you all know which CD I'm talking about) Vasks's Cello Concerto pushes the orchestra far out in front. However, Vasks has some extraordinarily fascinating things to say in doing so.



The music comes out pretty clear on this recording, although it is a tad more muted than what I think you would expect. I can't tell if that's the orchestration or some other factor. It isn't so much a complaint as simply an observation. It's well worth the purchase to hear such a fine composer, conductor and orchestra."