Album insights
Kurt Weill's Violin Concerto for Wind Orchestra, Op. 12, marked a pivotal point in his stylistic development, reflecting influences from his musical upbringing in a family where his father served as a cantor. By the age of ten, he had already taught himself to play the piano. Despite losing some early compositions during his parents' emigration to Palestine in 1935, there remained enough material to identify a blend of styles around Weill at 18. Moving forward, he found his unique voice post-18, leading to rapid and energetic musical evolution. Notwithstanding receiving the prestigious Felix Mendelssohn Scholarship, Weill's dissatisfaction with traditional teaching methods prompted him to leave the Berlin School of Music in 1919. Subsequently, he secured a role as the second Kapellmeister at the Stadttheater in Lüdenscheid. Following a return to his parents in Leipzig, Weill headed back to Berlin.
Simultaneously, Ferruccio Busoni, having resided in Zurich during World War I due to his refusal to live in belligerent nations, undertook plans to return to Berlin. By autumn 1920, upon persuasion from his former student Leo Kestenberg, Busoni assumed the composition masterclass at the Academy of Arts. Weill's admission into the masterclass came through a recommendation from Oscar Bie. Weill's studies under Busoni concluded in 1923, with Busoni's declining health, leading to his subsequent passing in July 1924. Weill, deeply affected, immersed himself in composing, leading to the creation of his significant Violin Concerto for Wind Orchestra, demonstrating a fusion of influences from Busoni and the orchestration approach of Stravinsky.
The concerto, dedicated to Joseph Szigeti, premiered in Paris in June 1925, featuring Marcel Darrieux with the Orchestre des Concerts Straram under Walter Straram's baton. Nevertheless, Stefan Frenkel played a vital role in championing the work in the ensuing years. A recurring theme in Peteris Vasks' music revolves around the contrasting realms of good and evil, nature's purity juxtaposed with human impact, and the tensions between ideal paradises and current catastrophes. Growing up in an atheistic state due to his father's profession, Vasks faced challenges entering the Latvian Music Academy, leading him to Vilnius. His musical output, akin to Eastern European peers like Arvo Pärt and Henryk Górecki, often bears a spiritual essence, emphasizing positivity and hope amidst life's contradictions.
Vasks' Violin Concerto "Distant Light," composed in the mid-1990s at the request of Gidon Kremer, stands out for its desire to soothe suffering through music. The piece unfolds stylistically between Pärt and Lutosławski, bridging nostalgia with a touch of melancholy. The concerto's journey, captured in one musical arch, encapsulates Vasks' reverence for the past and cosmic reflections, depicting childhood reminiscences alongside celestial wonders.