Postcards From Kurzeme

Santa Vižine, concertmaster of the viola group of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, Matīss Eisaks, double bass player of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig, and Agnese Egliņa, recipient of the Great Music Award and a dynamic pianist, meet in Riga to unite in a chamber music programme whose common denominator comes from Kurzeme. Quiet monologues are contrasted with expressive double-talk with the listener in the Sonata for Double Bass Solo by Pēteris Vasks, who was born in Aizpute. Tālivaldis Ķeniņš, originally from Liepāja, has encoded similar contrasts in his Partita Breve for Viola and Piano. Gundaris Pone, a member of the world's avant-garde elite, spent his childhood in Saldus and at one point wrote seven postcards from Kurzeme for the piano on behalf of seven musical giants of the 20th century, whereas in the voice of the viola he sought a reflection of the Latvian mentality, reflecting on how grief and death are perceived in different cultures around the world. But Pēteris Vasks' Three Gazes (Trīs skatieni) will be the meeting point for all three musicians – this masterpiece of notation and timbral freedom will never have two identical interpretations. 

Programme

Pēteris Vasks Sonata for Solo Double Bass
Tālivaldis Ķeniņš Partita breve for Viola and Piano
Gundaris Pone Grand duo funebre for Viola and Double Bass
Gundaris Pone Cartolina dalla Curlandia for Piano solo

Participants

Santa Vižine, viola
Agnese Egliņa, piano
Matīss Eisaks, double bass