Season opening concert. Vasks premiere and Bruckner s Sixth

Friday, 5 October, 19.00, Great Guild

Saturday, 6 October, 19.00, Liepāja Great Amber Concert Hall

Season opening concert. Vasks’ premiere and Bruckner’s Sixth

Albrecht MAYER – oboe

Conductor Andris POGA

Programme:

Pēteris VASKS Musica appassionata

Pēteris VASKS Oboe Concerto (premiere)

Anton BRUCKNER Symphony no. 6

Pēteris Vasks describes his new work: ‘It consists of three movements: the first is a morning pastorale, the second a festive scene, the third – an evening pastorale. The course of a single day. The beginning resembles the waking of the nature, next, the realm of song and dance, and, finally, the nature falling asleep, but with a vestige of that red stripe along the horizon that will show the arrival of yet another day in the morning. It is a bright, vital composition. I strived to imbue the work with my idea and sense of nature’s inexhaustible vitality and my people’s unceasing spirit. Yes, a more dramatic note might appear in the third movement, but it is followed again by light and peace.’

Albrecht Mayer is the principal oboe of the Berliner Philharmoniker since 1992, a world-famous soloist and chamber musician, and a workshop teacher in large international festivals. His stage partners include Hélène Grimaud, Leif Ove Andsnes, Lars Fogt, and Thomas Quasthoff. Mayer has received the ECHO-Klassik award. Albrecht Mayer’s last visit to Riga was in May, 2013, when he played the solo and led the performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s compositions in the LNSO season closing concert.

In addition to Vasks’ new work, Andris Poga included the following compositions in the programme: Pēteris Vasks’ Musica appassionata (2002), a passionate testimony to the force of life, and Symphony No. 6, a monumental, lavish and vital work by the symphony music giant of the Romantic era, Anton Bruckner.

The LNSO and Andris Poga will go on a major tour to France, Germany, and Switzerland in October, performing Pēteris Vasks’ Musica appassionata in five concerts, including one at the Philharmonie de Paris. The concerts are a part of the international culture programme of Latvia’s Centenary Celebration.