Volume 26 Issue 4 - December 2020 / January 2021

translations – he also translated the novel – are provided in the
booklet. Sveinsson calls his creation an opera, but the only characters
in this unique work are set designs painted by Ragnar Kjartansson.
There are no people on the stage, (an opera with no divas says the
composer); the orchestra, solo cellist, vocal trio and chorus perform
unseen from the pit. The first of its four movements is purely instrumental
and is strongly reminiscent to my ear of Górecki’s Symphony
of Sorrowful Songs. The sombre mood continues in the following
movements where the choral settings are somehow lush and stark
at the same time. Kjartansson’s stage sets are said to be rooted in
“Germanic romantic clichés” and I assume the striking paintings,
which adorn the four panels of the cardboard packaging, are drawn
from them. It is an impressive addition to Sono Luminus’ ongoing
commitment to bringing Icelandic culture to the world.
During my tenure at CJRT-FM in the 1990s, one of my great pleasures
was getting to know and work with Latvian-Canadian composer
Tālivaldis Ķeniņš (1919-2008). During one of my years there “Tāli”
was the subject of our annual week-long Canadian Composer
Retrospective, which involved an extended documentary which I
produced, and daily broadcasts of his music, including a concert that
featured his Viola Sonata, commissioned for Rivka Golani especially
for the occasion. After service in the Second World War, Ķeniņš settled
in Paris where he studied with Tony Aubin and Olivier Messiaen at the
Conservatoire. After successful completion of his degree, including a
first prize in composition for his Cello Sonata, he moved to Canada
and became an important fixture in our musical life, teaching for
many years at the University of Toronto and serving as the president
of the Canadian League of Composers. 2019 marked the centenary of
Ķeniņš’ birth and although I’m not aware of any particular fanfare to
mark that occasion, it is nice to see that two new recordings of his
orchestral music have just become available.
The first to arrive, Tālivaldis Ķeniņš –
Symphony No.1; Two Concertos, features
the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra
on the Ondine label (naxosdirect.com/
search/ode+1350-2). The Concerto di
camera No.1 for piano and chamber
ensemble (flute, clarinet and strings) was
composed in 1981 and first performed
during the Latvian Song Festival at U of T on
Canada Day that year. Ķeniņš says, “This is not a virtuoso romantic
concerto but rather a work held within the baroque and classical
framework in a concertante style, where the thematic material is a
neverending development and takes shape in the dialogue between
the soloist and the other members of the chamber group.” The soloist
in this performance is Agnese Egliņa. In the Concerto for Piano from
1990 the accompanying string orchestra is complemented by an
extensive obbligato percussion part, performed by Edgars Saksons.
Once again the soloist is Egliņa. Both concertos are conducted by
Guntis Kuzma. The earliest work, dating from 1959, is the first of eight
symphonies that Ķeniņš would pen over his career. The eminent
Latvian critic in exile, Jānis Cīrulis, called this work “a mighty
symphonic edifice, which rises above our local musical structures.” It
was first played at the Indianapolis Latvian Song Festival in 1960 and
shortly thereafter in Vancouver and Winnipeg and broadcast by the
CBC. This June 2020 performance from Riga’s Great Guild Hall is
conducted by Andris Poga.
The second disc was produced by the
Latvian Music Information Centre. Tālivaldis
Ķeniņš – Violin Concerto; Concerto for Five
Percussionists and Orchestra; Beatae voces
tenebrae (LMIC088 skani.lv) once again
features the Latvian National Symphony
Orchestra under the direction of Andris
Poga in performances from the Great Guild
Hall earlier this year. The Violin Concerto
dates from 1974 and was commissioned by the CBC for Steven Staryk
who gave the first performance with the CBC Vancouver Orchestra.
The internationally renowned Canadian soloist and concertmaster –
he had been the youngest ever to hold that position with the Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 24 – was visiting professor at
the University of Victoria at the time. At the premiere, Vancouver Sun
critic Lloyd Dykk perceived the Violin Concerto as “an old-fashioned
melange of Romantic and Neo-Classical patterns and moods ... prominent
in its Milhaudish playfulness.” The soloist in this performance
is Eva Bindere, winner of the Latvian Grand Music Award in 2016 for
musician of the year. She says: “This concerto was a true surprise. I
believe it’s absolutely world-class music, written extremely professionally,
with a wonderful technical understanding of the instrument,
[...] In the musical sense, the concerto is very saturated; much
depends on the soloist’s personal contribution... [but] the whole
process brought me joy, and I never felt that this composition needed
any sort of subjective ‘assistance.’”
The Concerto for 5 Percussionists and Orchestra (1983) was commissioned
by the Faculty of Music, U of T, with support from the Ontario
Arts Council, on the occasion of Ķeniņš retirement (although he
would stay active as professor emeritus for many more years). Ķeniņš
had a close relationship with percussion. In a conversation with
Edgars Kariks, he stated: “I appreciate the extensive opportunities
that percussion instruments offer. They provide so much colour. They
give my music a dynamic profile... something like an independent
objective. They serve as the foundation for all of the dramatic
elements...”
Beatae voces tenebrae was commissioned by the Composers,
Authors and Publishers Association of Canada (CAPAC, now
SOCAN). In 1977, in conjunction with the Frankfurter Buchmesse,
the world’s largest trade fair for books, CAPAC organized Canadian
Music Week in several cities in Germany – eight concerts featuring
various compositions and performers from Canada. The premiere of
Beatae voces tenebrae was given by the Beethovenhalle Orchestra in
Bonn, conducted by Boris Brott. The CBC issued a double LP of works
featured during that event which has held a treasured place in my
collection over the years. I am delighted by this new recording of one
of Ķeniņš’ most moving orchestral works. He did not often provide
detailed program notes, but this work is an exception: “This composition
coincides with a period of grief in the life of the composer who
was mourning the sudden passing of two close friends. These events
have influenced the meaning and design of the work and explain the
frequent allusions to motivic ideas by classical composers bearing on
similar concerns. Through a series of images of serenity and drama,
past and present intermingle in sudden flashes of emotion and various
dimensions of human anguish...” The excellent booklet notes detail
some of the quotations from Liszt, Bach (and the well-known BACH
motif – B flat, A, C, B natural which appears frequently), Beethoven
and Fauré, with bar numbers and timings of where to find them in
the recording. The composer’s epigraph on the score reads “to those
beloved shadows who once were a part of our lives.”
I am honoured to have known Tāli Ķeniņš as a colleague and proud
that he considered me a friend. He inscribed my copy of his biography
Between Two Worlds (by Ingrida Zemzare, in Latvian, with
English summary) “For David Olds, in true friendship.” I will treasure
it always.
And one final note, speaking of colleagues and friends, while
preparing for this article and for David Hetherington’s recent virtual
recital “Cello Masterworks” (newmusicconcerts.com), I listened to
Hetherington and William Aide’s recording of Ķeniņš’ prize-winning
Cello Sonata on a disc that also includes his Piano Quartet No.2 (with
Paul Meyer and Steven Dann) and the Concertante for flute and piano
with Aide and Robert Aitken (Centrediscs CMCCD5997 cmccanada.
org/shop/cd-cmccd-5997). Highly recommended!
We invite submissions. CDs, DVDs and comments should be sent
to: DISCoveries, WholeNote Media Inc., The Centre for Social
Innovation, 503 – 720 Bathurst St. Toronto ON M5S 2R4.
David Olds, DISCoveries Editor
discoveries@thewholenote.com
42 | December 2020 / January 2021 thewholenote.com