Pēteris Vasks: Distant Light, Piano Quartet & Summer Dances

Born in Ukraine, Vadim Gluzman grew up in Latvia, Pēteris Vasks’ native country, and here he pays magnificent tribute to this most appealing of composers. Vasks’ music has a purity and serenity that mask its complexities, and his musical language has won him a huge following. Violin Concerto “Distant Light” alternates solo turns by the violin with passages of heart-easing harmony for orchestral strings. Gluzman judges it to perfection. The Summer Dances, for two violins, are almost naive in their directness while the Quartet for Strings & Piano amplifies the sonorities powerfully. An ideal introduction to Vasks’ mesmerising musical world.