PETERIS VASKS (b.1946): String Quartet No. 4, JAAN RÄÄTS (b.1932): Concerto for Chamber Orchestra, Op. 16 (arr. Mihkel Kerem {b.1981]), ERWIN SCHULHOFF (1894-1942): 5 Pieces for String Quartet, ANTON WEBERN (1883-1945): Langsamer Satz.

Description: Vasks is best known for textures of somber beauty and consonant harmony, often inspired by Latvian folk music, disturbed but never destroyed by chromatic undercurrents and a pervading sense of melancholy which nevertheless tends to resolve into optimism based on the continuation of the spiritual and natural worlds. Here, in the Fourth Quartet of 2000, two harsh, dissonant and driving Toccata movements add a Shostakovichian disruptiveness but the long, lovely and lyrical final movement is a typical example of all tension being resolved as the sound of the instruments slowly rises and vanishes into the ether. Rääts' 1961 concerto, a five-movement piece of rhythmic energy and bouncing neo-classicism often recalls Shostakovich's more goofily frenzied movements as it merrily hurtles along, slowing only for a short, meditative andante. Prezioso String Quartet.