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Latvian music

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guest145
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« on: August 17, 2012, 04:34:27 pm »

Hi, everyone!

It's great to be back among musical friends! For my first download on this board, I've put together a vast selection of works by Peteris Barisons, which have been discussed and requested by various members (on the former UC board and in post-UC discussions). Atsushi was kind enough to upload Barisons' Second Symphony a while ago on UC, but the version I've uploaded today is a more recent recording by a different conductor. The other works have not been uploaded before. While Barisons' music is indisputably (at least in my mind, and those of various Latvian musicologists) Romantic in character, I'm not posting it on the new UC due to the prohibition against LP sources for downloads, so you will only find them here.

I hope you enjoy them!
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cjvinthechair
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« Reply #1 on: August 17, 2012, 06:59:17 pm »

Gee - Mr. Latvian, what an extraordinary upload ! Taken me 40+ minutes to download & arrange the pieces, never mind listen to any.
Quite fantastic, thanks !
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Clive
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« Reply #2 on: August 17, 2012, 07:30:27 pm »

Thank you once again, Latvian ;D! Barison's music is wonderful and richly romantic; there are many treasures in Latvian classical music: Janis Medins' Dainas and piano concerto, Ivanovs' and Skulte's symphonies, etc. Keep up the good work :)!
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« Reply #3 on: August 17, 2012, 08:47:54 pm »

Hi, everyone!

It's great to be back among musical friends! For my first download on this board, I've put together a vast selection of works by Peteris Barisons, which have been discussed and requested by various members (on the former UC board and in post-UC discussions). Atsushi was kind enough to upload Barisons' Second Symphony a while ago on UC, but the version I've uploaded today is a more recent recording by a different conductor. The other works have not been uploaded before. While Barisons' music is indisputably (at least in my mind, and those of various Latvian musicologists) Romantic in character, I'm not posting it on the new UC due to the prohibition against LP sources for downloads, so you will only find them here.

I hope you enjoy them!

The Ivanovs series of symphonies you had posted on UC was one of the greatest treasures i had found there.  At some point, it would be great to post them here-- I can do it if you don't mind me referencing your links.
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All download links I have posted are for works, that, to  my knowledge, have never been commercially released in digital form.  Should you find I've been in error, please notify myself or an Administrator.  Please IM me if I've made any errors that require attention, as I may not read replies.
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« Reply #4 on: August 17, 2012, 10:19:10 pm »

The Ivanovs series of symphonies you had posted on UC was one of the greatest treasures i had found there.  At some point, it would be great to post them here-- I can do it if you don't mind me referencing your links.

Work in already in progress on the Download thread. More than I can digest, but I'll do my best.  :D
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… music is not only an `entertainment’, nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.  RVW, 1948
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« Reply #5 on: August 17, 2012, 11:02:49 pm »

Maris.... I may be being very stupid but when I extract the .rar file for the Three Preludes I only find one of the three inside the file ???

I shall certainly now revise my Barisons catalogue ;D
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jowcol
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« Reply #6 on: August 18, 2012, 12:17:41 am »

Maris (Latvian)--

Did you have Skulte's 5th in your listing of SKulte symphonies? If you don't have it,   I had downloaded a copy of the 5th from Symphony Share, and it is my favorite of the cycle.  (7 and 9 are also very good!)
I would gladly upload it.  Or maybe I am just getting old and did not see it.

Thanks for transferring all of your work over from UC-- I plan to do the same, but I'm still uploading more "new" works. 
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« Reply #7 on: August 18, 2012, 03:11:50 am »

Quote
Maris.... I may be being very stupid but when I extract the .rar file for the Three Preludes I only find one of the three inside the file

Hmm... I'm not sure what the problem could be. I just downloaded it myself and all three were there. Maybe Mediafire lost one in the course of your download? I suggest you delete the file and try downloading again. If anyone else experiences the same problem, let me know.

You stupid, Colin? Never!  :o

Followed your advice ;D   Success :)
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guest128
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« Reply #8 on: August 18, 2012, 05:00:16 am »

Regarding Skulte, my own clear favorites among the Symphonies are Nos.4&5, with No.4 (at variance with Jowcol) holding a significant edge.  In fact, the pace, sweep, pathos, and melodic distinction of this piece so jell for me as to give it a lovability comparable to Ivanovs' No.6  and Jazeps Medins' 2nd in my affections.

Honestly, I've been rather disappointed with the rest of Skulte's cycle, and just don't find the works distinctive or memorable after numerous listenings (though no less grateful to Latvian for the opportunity to hear them).   Prompted by Jowcol's remark, and after a long lapse, I may give Nos.7&9 another chance to convince, but would be interested to have from Latvian the kind of comparative "pocket" summary and evaluation of Skulte's Symphonies that he once very usefully provided for Ivanovs'.
 
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« Reply #9 on: August 18, 2012, 08:02:55 am »

Actually, Skulte is clearly one of my top favourites among Latvian composers. I think his sense for colour and atmosphere is most remarkable, highly imaginative and, in a way, also pictorial music. Here are some thoughts about his symphonies:

I would regard Nos. 1-4 as one group. Probably, Skulte is nearest to Socialist Realism here - while I want to emphasize that for me, there is nothing pejorative about this. All four symphonies are related to special themes (Peace, Nature, Space Flight and Youth). While I would be ready to admit that No. 1 might still have certain lengths (though much of it is very attractive in my view), I do think that No. 2 is a magnificent portrait of nature, with bright, blossoming colours, a brilliant hymn to the sun.

No. 3 is more compact, it's a portrait of space and Skulte inserts some very interesting features here, like working with the harmonic series or using flageolet effects, to illustrate the universe in music. It's a magic moment when the symphony finally drifts away into space. No. 4 is one of the greatest youth symphonies I know, since Skulte manages to evoke a certain atmosphere of sparkling lightness, the music almost seems to float in some passages.

No. 5 was written almost 10 years later and it is really a totally different work in terms of mood: all of a sudden, we now get a dark and depressive piece, full of struggle and grief. The climaxes of this symphony are highly impressive as a bell joins the orchestra. Near the end of the finale, the opening theme of the music is picked up again and transformed to something like a tragic hymn, before the music collapses and fades away into silence. Skulte's Sixth Symphony is more positive again, on the one hand he obviously wanted to try out some more harmonic effects here (beginning), on the other hand the finale is pretty lighthearted. For me, that's a work of transition.

Skulte's last three symphonies are from the 1980s and show his late mastery. The Seventh's title is "Preserve Nature!", and thus, the music depicts the beauty of nature (you can even hear birds at times) as well as it worries about its conservation. A choir joins the orchestra in the last two movements (of three). The ending is very characteristic: a broad and glorious tune is heard in form of a climax, but in the end, a dissonant chord is heard, maybe to be regarded as some kind of appeal.

The Eighth does not have a title but as Maris once explained, it's a symphony about the sea, quoting two Latvian folk songs. I heard the symphony several times with this background in mind, and I now think it really makes a lot of sense, I could really hear the morning mist above the water, large waves and quiet sea, the sun, and finally maybe the sunset, when everything gets calm again. Magnificently done, a great piece.

The atmosphere of farewell which is already in the Eighth up to some point is then totally obvious in the Ninth, which I would even characterize as a symphony of farewell. Grey colours of autumn, a mood of melancholy and retrospective, interact with elements of reminiscence, e.g. subtle waltz tunes which are heard several times. There are some very special moments in this symphonies, at which the music seems to come to a halt and just views back. The end presents once again one of Skulte's great, golden orchestral climaxes with a catchy tune, but it finally vanishes (really in such a way that its gets fragmented bit by bit), and the closing bars are most elegiac and silent.

Especially Symphonies Nos. 8&9 are very conservative of course (they were composed in 1984 and 1987, respectively), but for me, this doesn't matter if a composer is able to create such strong images, has such a great command of orchestral colours and moods and also a distinctive voice.

What escapes me a little about your statement, Greg, is why you think this music is not memorable. Quite on the contrary, it's highly memorable in my view. Each symphony contains passages and tunes which I could recall at any time by heart!
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« Reply #10 on: August 18, 2012, 01:37:28 pm »

Regarding Skulte, my own clear favorites among the Symphonies are Nos.4&5, with No.4 (at variance with Jowcol) holding a significant edge.  In fact, the pace, sweep, pathos, and melodic distinction of this piece so jell for me as to give it a lovability comparable to Ivanovs' No.6  and Jazeps Medins' 2nd in my affections.

I'll need to give 4 another listen.  To be honest, the first 4 struck me as not memorable-- but it may have been one of many factors not involving the music.  And feel free to be "at variance"-- this helps me pay more attention to works that my have been under my radar.
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guest128
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« Reply #11 on: August 18, 2012, 03:47:09 pm »


What escapes me a little about your statement, Greg, is why you think this music is not memorable. Quite on the contrary, it's highly memorable in my view. Each symphony contains passages and tunes which I could recall at any time by heart!

The why escapes me also, Holger, at least in any very articulable sense, else I might have tried to elaborate on it.
I fully acknowledge that for me to say "not distinctive or memorable" about most of Skulte's Symphonies without any explanation offers no insight and makes the measure of my sensibility at least suspicious.  To the extent I provoked your much more interesting descriptions, I'm happy for my comments to serve as a completely forgettable "set-up".

Just now as I write I'm listening again to Symphony No.9, - 33' in and the work is just about over.  A "farewell Symphony" you say, - "autumnul", "melancholic", and "retrospective".  I should be in my element here.
But it's not really happening so.  I can relate your words somewhat to the passing sounds at times, and the overall mood I feel some resonance with.  However the themes I just don't find compelling, - not "memorable" as I say,
nor does the piece as whole hang together for me, - it is just a "succession" but not a "coherence".  There are fragments that engage me momentarily, even a few sustained passages I hear some  "call" from.  But overall, - and the piece has now finished - I'm rather indifferent to it.  It's a miss.  I can't say any more.

No.4 is a different story, and I do love Skulte for that one, - though the "Youth" motif mostly escapes me, and I can't at all say "sparkling lightness" is the impression that carries the day with me.  If "youth" means anything for me here I would understand it more as "youth in restrospect" inasmuch as I hear a certain "wistfulness" and reminescence at least parrellel to the qualities you depict.  Maris will decide :).
   
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« Reply #12 on: August 19, 2012, 08:56:13 pm »

Gentemen - & particularly Mr. Latvian - you cannot imagine how much hard work this magnificent thread is providing for an ignoramus willing to learn.
Thought I'd done pretty well 'sorting' the Barisons uploads in 40 mins, or so; sifting out what I've got, what I want and whether I agree with any/everyone's opinion on what's best etc. for the recent uploads will take much of a day....and won't it be a wonderful way to spend it !

Being part this this and other such music sites has been as much fun as I've had in years (yeah, I know, need to get out more !). Many thanks to all.
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Clive
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« Reply #13 on: August 21, 2012, 04:38:49 pm »

My most heartfelt thanks for all your uploads but specially for Kalsons symphonies, after buying some years ago a CD with his Cello and Violin Concertos I have been interested in this composer, but without much chance to listen to others works.
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« Reply #14 on: August 21, 2012, 04:45:06 pm »

I have updated the Kalsons catalogue accordingly :)
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