Achim Breiling <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>BIS released a CD with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Lan
>Shui some time ago, featuring Jan Jrvlepps Garbage Concerto (1996) and
>Imants Kalnins "Rock" Symphony (Symphony No.4; 1972).  Anybody know
>something about these composers and/or these works?

I could not tell about the Swedish composer of the Garbage concerto (surely
Peter could enlighten you, or Mats) but I can give a few hints about Imants
Kalnins (approximately pronounced "kalningsh").  This Latvian composer was
born in 1941.  Janis Kalnins, another celebrated Latvian composer who left
the country when it was annexed by the Soviet Union and has been active in
Canada (Newfoundland) since, is his uncle IIRC.  Imants Kalnins caused a
kind of scandal in the late 1960s with his symphonic music influenced by
rock, more specifically by repetitive, martelated rythmic patterns.  His
Symphony No. 3 (1968) is an interesting instance of this, maybe a bit
simplistic in its throroughly unsentimental, not very lyrical approach, as
well as its square symmetric pattern, but at any rate far from the usual
socialist realism then prevalent in most of the USSR, including Latvia
(while Lithuania and Estonia strived to find their own voice as soon as
1960).  There are some affinities with Shostakovich, though.  The 4th
symphony, which I never heard, is notably longer, and whereas it became
I.Kalnins's most famous piece, it seems that some Latvian musicians would
rather call it "notorious".

However it should be at least of genuine historic interest.  If you
want to know more about Latvian music, you should try at least a couple of
Ivanovs's symphonies (a new integral series has been started by Marco Polo,
and Campion has reissued many of the old Melodiya recordings), such as Nos.
5, 10, 11, 12.  No. 4 "Atlantida" should be fine, and give some idea of
what Ivanovs might have become if he had not endorsed parts of the official
Soviet style.  Obviously Ivanovs had one of the strongest musical profiles
of his time, and he arguably did not make the best of it.  His contemporary
Skulte (b.1909) has a more optimistic, hedonistic touch, and his 5th
symphony is very attractive, a kind of more Northern counterpart of Aram
Khatchaturian.  No CD to my knowledge.  One of Janis Kalnins's more famous
works is the 2nd symphony "of the Beatitudes", of which the Riga "Ave Sol"
choir has made a CD recording.  J.Kalnins is more traditional than Kenins,
another exiled Latvian composer in Canada, whom I think is one of the major
composers of his generation anywhere.

In the following generation, Kalsons remains quite close to the modern
Russian school, his 3rd symphony is powerful, but a bit heavy.  In
contrast, his violin concerto is a virtuosic kaleidoscope, very impressive.
Plakidis is much more restrained, and probably one of the true poets of
Latvian music.  Of course, the best-known Latvian composer nowadays is
Vasks, whom Achim has praised many a time on the list.  Some of the NY
listers may have heard of Gundaris Pone, a modernist whose emphasis was
on instrumental virtuosity and dramatic efficiency.

Clearly Latvian music is very little represented on CD, and if you do not
have old LPs, this new one could be worth investigating.  But Bis still
owes us the complete symphonies of Kenins, and also some orchestral and
chamber music by Jerums (1919-1978), Pavasars and others.

Best wishes,

Thanh-Tam Le
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