Latvian composer
Peteris Vasks, who for much of his career worked under the constraints of the Soviet system, sees composition as a political act and hopes that his music might be a vehicle for national healing. He has written, "I have always dreamed that my music would be heard in the places where unhappy people are gathered." Much of
Vasks' work is soulfully meditative, as are most of the movements of these string quartets, the first three of the five he has completed. Many have the mournful tone and the static sense of time being suspended that is characteristic of the Eastern European mysticism of composers like
Pärt and
Górecki. The feeling of time being displaced or being cyclical is most striking in the first movement of the Second Quartet, which begins almost exactly like the last movement of the Third Quartet, with a distinctive, hushed, almost pitchless murmuring in the upper strings.
Vasks is most effective in these quiet, reflective moments; the faster movements sometimes seem merely busy. The Second Quartet is perhaps the most consistently successful; subtitled "Summer Tunes," its movements are beautifully evocative of gentle, natural sounds. The U.K.-based
Navarra Quartet plays with exceptional commitment, intensity, and nuance and it's successful at bringing out the music's subtle poetry. The sound is extremely present. Hearing the players' breathing is a frequent phenomenon on recordings of string chamber music and something to which most listeners can adjust. The strenuous nasal exertions on this recording, though, are distracting enough to make it difficult to enjoy the music, particularly in the quieter moments, of which there are many.