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Vasks: Te Deum - Pyrhönen

Vasks: Te Deum - Pyrhönen

Alba Records  ABCD 325

Stereo/Multichannel Hybrid

Classical - Instrumental


Peteris Vasks: Te Deum, Viatore, Canto di forza, Musica seria, Cantus ad pacem

Tuomas Pyrhönen (organ)

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Review by John Miller - May 6, 2012

The Latvian composer Péteris Vasks (b.1946) has written music in a wide range of genres, including orchestral, operatic, vocal and chamber, but he has always considered it a duty to write for the magnificent Walcker Organ in its home, the Riga Dom or Cathedral. The cathedral is the largest medieval church in the Baltic States, dating from 1211. Its ample acoustic has complete synergy with the Walcker, so it has often been observed that the organ never seems too loud or aggressively fierce, despite its formidable power. You can easily verify this by turning up the volume as you listen to this disk, without fear of your ears melting from ferocious mixtures!

The organ itself, of the Germanic tradition, has four manuals and two pedal divisions, one of which is for ranks which are in the swell box. As well as a large array of stops for the manuals, providing a huge range of possible colouristic combinations, the pedal registers too have an unusual range and richness of stops, from 2' to 32', sporting no less than 3 ranks of 32' length pipes, Principalbass, Bombard and Grand Bourdon.

Vasks' music is listener-friendly, even with his more experimental early works. He has long arching melodies, major and minor keys, and in his latest works, comparatively little dissonance. As a humanist, he seeks to influence attitudes through his emotionally appealing music, and says that his art bears a human message of peace and beauty - with the addition of a little inbuilt Latvian melancholy.

So far Vasks has written five organ works, substantial pieces which are fitted nicely onto this generous 76'24" disc. They are played with great skill and dedication by the Finnish organist Tuomas Pyrhönen, who despite his relative youth has a doctorate in Finnish Organ Music, has given recitals internationally, recorded two previous CDs, broadcasts for Finnish Radio and holds a church organist's post. Purhönen clearly has an affinity with Vasks' music, and he writes about it and the composer with great insight in his notes for the SACD's booklet. The booklet also has a specification for the organ and some appropriate photos, and the texts are in English and Finnish. The composer was present during the recording sessions.

The programme gets under way in fine style with Vasks's 'Te Deum' (1991). Normally played as a celebration for the visit of a Bishop or higher dignitary to a church, this one celebrates nothing less than the establishment of the Latvian State at the end of its Soviet occupation. Its thunderously imposing opening, with the 32' ranks brought into sonorous play, yields to quieter thematic material with hints of Latvian folk tunes, unusually often in the deeper regions of the organ, with brighter descants high above. This leads to a Hymn of Praise for the new State, not chant-based but swinging from major to minor, which goes through a whole gamut of contrasts in dynamics and tempi.

'Viatore' (2001) means "Wanderer" and is dedicated to Arvo Pärt, a close colleague of Vasks. A humanistic work, it is the story of a Wanderer, starting from his arrival in the World. Life's path is lit with an infinite Universe of stars (poetically portrayed with twinkling high flutes above deeper, long-held pedal notes). One of two themes grows and develops as the Wanderer ages, the other, an "Eternity" theme, remains constant and is played pianissimo. It becomes clear that the Wanderer has some epic and awe-inspiring moments on his journey, together with calmer and more sanguine ones. This is superbly written for the organ, and Purhönen is resourceful in conjuring wonderful tone colours for a highly unusual and very imaginative piece.

'Canto di forza' (2006) was originally written for the 12 solo cellos of the Berlin Philharmonic, but transfers convincingly to the organ. It is an expansive hynn-like lament leading inexorably to a final paean at the FFFF dynamic level; deeply impressive and uplifting.

'Musica Sera' (1988-2008) is one of Vasks' experimental works during the Soviet regime, recalling and portraying the population's terror and hopelessness towards the end of the occupation. It is a passacaglia setting of quotes from Vasks' Chamber Opera 'Latvia'. Disconcerting chromaticism, tone clusters and dark registers menace with nervous flashes and runs of manifold eyrie sounds. Not a pleasant (but a vivid) work to listen to; but it gives one some impression of conditions for Vasks and his fellow countrymen.

'Cantus ad pacem' (1984), "Song for Peace" , is an appropriate piece to complete the programme. Pyrhönen describes this aptly as "an expressive concerto for organ". It has three themes, noble and sorrowful, bright and playful and birdsong-like (references to Messiaen). It is a great romp for both organ and organist, and as ever, Pyrhönen marshalls his colouristic resources with great dexterity.

The DXD originating format engineering is superb, with the organ placed at a normal listener's distance in the vast acoustic, whose clean reverberation decay lasts for several seconds at the end of each piece. You can hear the stops being pulled or pushed in, engaging a train of couplings, not a distracting noise but one adding to the sense of listening to a real instrument in a church, which, in multichannel especially, has become an extension of your listening room.

With Pyrhönen never flinching at the huge technical difficulties of playing all the notes on four manuals and pedals as well as managing the tonal resources of the big organ, this is a deeply satisfying listening experience, both sonically and musically, and a further crown for Alba's excellent and still growing catalogue of organ music. An absolute must for organ lovers.

Copyright © 2012 John Miller and HRAudio.net

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