Latvian music

[JollyRoger]

Latvian:
What musical  treasures Latvia holds.. Thanks so much for the Ivanovs and now the Skulte,(who is completely new to me.) I am presently going thru his 9 symphonies.
Sorry to be an annoyance..perhaps I missed ths elsewhere in this forum, or erred in the download - But the Skulte 3rd text indicates 4 movements, but there were only 3 Mp3 files. Can I assume that movements 3 and 4 are contiguous? Posting track times might have been useful if that is the case.

[Sicmu]

This is the breakdown of the mvts in the recording I got from the Latvian radio, hope this helps :

Adolfs Skulte,

Symphony No.3 "Ave Sol" Cis Moll "Cosmic"(1963)

1.Mvt 1 Gravemente                   13:24
 
  Mvt 2 Vivo.Con Fuoco                       

2.Mvt 3 largo                              08:26

3.Mvt 4 Presto                            06:55


                                                  28:45


Symphony Orchestra of Leningrad's Philharmony,
Arvids Jansons,
Recorded in 1963 at the Big Hall of Leningrad's Philharmony ( Mono)

[JollyRoger]

This is the breakdown of the mvts in the recording I got from the Latvian radio, hope this helps :

Adolfs Skulte,

Symphony No.3 "Ave Sol" Cis Moll "Cosmic"(1963)

1.Mvt 1 Gravemente                   13:24
 
  Mvt 2 Vivo.Con Fuoco                       

2.Mvt 3 largo                              08:26

3.Mvt 4 Presto                            06:55


                                                  28:45


Symphony Orchestra of Leningrad's Philharmony,
Arvids Jansons,
Recorded in 1963 at the Big Hall of Leningrad's Philharmony ( Mono)

yes, thanks so very much Sicmu. My clips are 13, 8 and 6 minutes respectively and that corresponds to this information.
Hence, the first clip has 2 movements.

[JollyRoger]

This is the breakdown of the mvts in the recording I got from the Latvian radio, hope this helps :

Adolfs Skulte,

Symphony No.3 "Ave Sol" Cis Moll "Cosmic"(1963)

1.Mvt 1 Gravemente                   13:24
 
  Mvt 2 Vivo.Con Fuoco                       

2.Mvt 3 largo                              08:26

3.Mvt 4 Presto                            06:55


                                                  28:45


Symphony Orchestra of Leningrad's Philharmony,
Arvids Jansons,
Recorded in 1963 at the Big Hall of Leningrad's Philharmony ( Mono)

yes, thanks so very much Sicmu. My clips are 13, 8 and 6 minutes respectively and that corresponds to this information.
Hence, the first clip has 2 movements.

I also have an issue with the 7th symphony by Skulte.
The symphony downloads into 2 parts but the 2nd part contains Parts or movements? 2 and 3.
The music is not contiguous and I have parsed this into 2 pieces of based on a break in the audio, I hope into movements:
Mvt 2 - 11:32 and Mvt 3 -  is 12:47
Can you help?

[Sicmu]

Here's what i have :

Adolfs Skulte,

Symphony No.7 "Preserve Nature"  ( 1981)

1.Mvt 1 Grave-Agitato              11:30
2.Mvt 2 Largo                           11:47                     
3.Mvt 3 Allegro furioso             12:59
                                                36:16

Latvian National Symphony Orchestra,
Chamber Choir "Ave Sol"
Vassily Sinaisky,

[JollyRoger]

Here's what i have :

Adolfs Skulte,

Symphony No.7 "Preserve Nature"  ( 1981)

1.Mvt 1 Grave-Agitato              11:30
2.Mvt 2 Largo                           11:47                     
3.Mvt 3 Allegro furioso             12:59
                                                36:16

Latvian National Symphony Orchestra,
Chamber Choir "Ave Sol"
Vassily Sinaisky,

Thanks a bunch, Sicmu..now I can parse it into movements..

[Dylan]

Hooray! Haven't heard this for twenty + years; wonder if I'll find it as magical as before? Many thanks!

This refers to Dambis' Shakespeare music. To avoid my having to add explanatory notes and move replies without download links of their own to the Downloads Discussion board, please post them here in the first place - Mark

[Greg K]

I'd like to call attention to the beauties of Jazeps Medins' 2nd Symphony for anyone who might have overlooked it here among the Latvian symphony uploads.  A so attractively gentle, refined, bucolic, and inspired piece in my judgement.  The finale is much more demonstrative and incisive than the rest, - needed balance perhaps, but somewhat intrusive on the felicities that precede it which I don't wish interrupted.  Nonetheless, another of my nice discoveries.  Thanks to Tony for providing. 

[Dylan]

(This refers to Dambis' Shakespeare music. To avoid my having to add explanatory notes and move replies without download links of their own to the Downloads Discussion board, please post them here in the first place - Mark)

Apologies - I was in a rush to leave for work, and only realised as I pressed "send" that I was on the wrong page! However, the good news is that the music IS as limpid evocative and haunting as I recall, and I recommend it to all Forum members!

[Latvian]

To those of you who have raved about Imants Kalniņš' music recently, I refer you to a review I wrote a number of years ago of a recording of Kalniņš' score Pūt, vējiņi!:

http://latviansonline.com/reviews/article/1862/

Obviously, I can't upload this recording since it's a commercially available CD, but I'll provide the excerpts from the earlier Melodiya disc shortly. Dazzling stuff!

[Dundonnell]

I think that it is to Kalnins' credit that he is obviously willing to take the risk in writing music which does, at times, as you say "teeter on the edge" of banality in order to make as wide an appeal as possible whilst at the same time expressing his deeply felt emotion. This can be a disastrous strategy ending up satisfying nobody by producing a banal mish-mash of stylistic influences. Kalnins carries it off....for me at least

[JimL]

I'd like to call attention to the beauties of Jazeps Medins' 2nd Symphony for anyone who might have overlooked it here among the Latvian symphony uploads.  A so attractively gentle, refined, bucolic, and inspired piece in my judgement.  The finale is much more demonstrative and incisive than the rest, - needed balance perhaps, but somewhat intrusive on the felicities that precede it which I don't wish interrupted.  Nonetheless, another of my nice discoveries.  Thanks to Tony for providing.

I'll second that, Greg.  This symphony appears to be in A Major.  And I'm pretty sure that the "Andante sostenuto" in the finale is just an introduction and the main body of the movement is titled with a much faster tempo.

[Latvian]

I think that it is to Kalnins' credit that he is obviously willing to take the risk in writing music which does, at times, as you say "teeter on the edge" of banality in order to make as wide an appeal as possible whilst at the same time expressing his deeply felt emotion. This can be a disastrous strategy ending up satisfying nobody by producing a banal mish-mash of stylistic influences. Kalnins carries it off....for me at least

For me, as well! It's certainly a difficult trick to pull off, and the relative success can often be determined by the ear of the beholder. Thinking back historically, I'd say Mahler was certainly a worthy antecedent, with the folk tunes and "lighter" melodies, harmonic turns, etc., that he often introduced (Not that Kalnins really evokes Mahler's world at all). In the same vein, the Krejci 2nd Symphony I recently uploaded has some rather trite and vulgar material, elevated to a much higher status by the composer's compositional artistry, resulting in a work of great pathos.

[Greg K]

I'd like to call attention to the beauties of Jazeps Medins' 2nd Symphony for anyone who might have overlooked it here among the Latvian symphony uploads.  A so attractively gentle, refined, bucolic, and inspired piece in my judgement.  The finale is much more demonstrative and incisive than the rest, - needed balance perhaps, but somewhat intrusive on the felicities that precede it which I don't wish interrupted.  Nonetheless, another of my nice discoveries.  Thanks to Tony for providing.

I'll second that, Greg.  This symphony appears to be in A Major.  And I'm pretty sure that the "Andante sostenuto" in the finale is just an introduction and the main body of the movement is titled with a much faster tempo.

Does Medins' 3rd fall as flat for you as it does for me by comparison?  Just none of the lilt and flow,
the thematic buoyancy and seamlessness of its predecessor.  I find it tedious and aimless and unmemorable even though pretty much in the same mold.  OK - not that bad.  But very disappointing after that lovable 2nd.

I know some here have proposed a rule to never "go negative" about anything in the Downloads lest the feelings of its provider be hurt and generosity seem impugned.

But I can't be alone in often deriving a certain pleasure and satisfaction from discovering I don't respond favorably to something (the moreso when unalloyed by having spent good money on it .
The exposure itself has its own kind of meaning, and in that respect I am grateful for even the music I dislike here.

Bedises that, had SICMU (or someone else) not posted Medins' 3rd Symphony, I would have forever been tormented by what I might be missing given how pleasing I find the 2nd.  Now able to set it aside as something of a "miss" brings a kind of rest in that regard I appreciate.

Just a bit of manifesto.

[JimL]

Haven't gotten to that one yet.  Will let you know.