ĶENIŅŠ, T.: Symphonies Nos. 4 and 6 / Canzona Sonata (Vižine, Latvian National

[guest377]

A new CD of the music of Kenins 

https://www.amazon.com/Symphonies-4-6-Santa-Vizine/dp/B08YQR5VZ

[guest822]

Thanks, Dave. If you go to the Presto Classical site here: https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/search?search_query=Kenins%20 you can sample snippets of these pieces and other CDs of Kenins', which facility doesn't seem to be available on Amazon's website. I have had a quick listen and they are certainly colourful. I think I hear an influence of Stravinsky too, for what it's worth. Still, I guess he's hard to avoid for any mid-to late 20th century composer!

[guest145]

A welcome release, indeed! Symphony No. 4 was previously available on a CBC LP back in the 70s, coupled with Ķeniņš' Violin Concerto. Steven Staryk was the soloist and John Avison conducted both works.

I knew Ķeniņš back in the 1980s and had some interesting conversations with him, as well as a composition masterclass. He once told me that the fugue was his favorite musical form, and if you listen to any amount of Ķeniņš' music you'll encounter fugues quite frequently, as in the 6th Symphony.

There are eight numbered symphonies followed by a nonet subtitled "quasi una sinfonia," as a bit of sly humor to evade the "curse of the ninth symphony." There's also an excellent Sinfonietta from the 1970s. I attended the premieres of a couple of the late symphonies and they're long overdue for commercial recordings. In the meantime, some of Ķeniņš' works can be heard on the Internet Archive in the Pogonyi collection. Also, if you visit the Canadian Music Centre website and sign up for access you can hear all the symphonies.

[guest145]

My mistake -- the nonet is subtitled "L'ultima sinfonia."