Normunds Sne - Péteris Plakidis: Music for String Orchestra (2000)

The music of Pēteris Plakidis (1947-2017) is rooted in the melodic character of Latvian folk-music, which imbues all his works with a remarkable strength and beauty. Renaissance and Baroque polyphony and forms, such as fugue, chaconne, canon and variation, provide the strong internal organisation that binds together a remarkable and moving synthesis of disparate elements. Although Plakidis shares some points of contact with the 'Holy Mystics’ among other Baltic composers, such as Arvo Pärt and Pēteris Vasks, his own music evokes the meditative power of nature and the distinct character of his Latvian roots. From these four works a unique voice emerges, a musical personality full of harmonic warmth, rhythmic excitement and dramatic lyricism.

Pēteris Plakidis, piano
Antra Bigača, mezzo soprano
Uldis Urbāns, oboe
Vilnis Pelnēns, oboe
Andris Pauls, violin
Dzintars Beitāns, violin
Riga Chamber Players, chamber orchestra
Normunds Šnē, conductor