Ilona Meija is one of Latvia’s premiere flute performers. In her career, she has played with orchestras such as the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonietta Rīga as well as given many chamber music performances. It is in fact chamber music that is closest to her, and, due to that, Meija, along with distinguished pianist Dzintra Erliha, recorded an album of Latvian chamber music for flute and piano. Entitled Citādas krāsas (or Other Colours), the album was released in 2016 by the Latvian national record label Skani as part of their series ‘Latvian composers’.

The album displays a broad range of compositional styles and eras, covering almost eighty years in Latvian classical music, from the mid-20th century to modern times. Being just two instruments, the intimate nature of this music is apparent with the first track, composer Lūcija Garūta’s ‘Nāras dziesma’ (Mermaid’s Song). The work, composed in 1928, was originally intended as a vocal work, but is perhaps even more effective as an instrumental performance. The mystic being is presented in both a playful and energetic manner, with both light-hearted and serious moments. Erliha has long been an enthusiastic interpreter of Garūta’s works, and recorded a number of them for her 2008 album Zvaigznes skatiens.

Meija’s flute expresses a great longing and sadness in Jānis Mediņš’ work ‘Rapsodija’ (Rhapsody). The composition, written in 1945, not long after Mediņš went into exile in Sweden during World War II, quotes Latvian folk songs extensively, and one will hear passages from songs like ‘Pūt, vējiņi’ and ‘Skaisti dziedi, lakstīgala’, among others, woven together. Though there is a melancholic mood to the work, especially considering he recently had to flee Latvia, the work ends on an up-beat note, perhaps reflecting Mediņš’ wish for the listener to have hope during those dark times.

Among the more recent compositions is Anitra Tumševica ‘L’air et la lumière’, written in 2010. The work is in an experimental vein, and uses effects like Meija simply blowing air into the flute (creating a breathing-like effect) as well as simply tapping the flute keys for a kind of rhythmic effect. The work, which alternates between calm, meditative sections and sharp, crashing chords, was inspired by the works of Garūta and French composer Olivier Messiaen, and Erliha is particularly adept at interpreting this work (her previously mentioned CD Zvaigznes skatiens also included her interpretations of a number of Messiaen’s piano works).

Modern chamber music is also represented by composer Santa Bušs and her work ‘TransparenT’ for solo piano. The work begins with Erliha playing the piano strings themselves, and, over the course of the work, using the varied sounds of the piano to create a sonic portrait of the nature of Sardinia. The work was composed for Erliha, and took inspiration from the syllables of her first name – ‘dzin’ (to sound like a bell) and ‘tra’ (trill) – and uses these effects to form a compelling sonic tapestry.

The album concludes with Latvian American composer Dace Aperāne’s ‘Daina’. The work, dedicated to both Meija and Erliha, was inspired by Latvian folk song texts about the sunset and sunrise. Though the work is brief (just over two minutes in length), in a short period of time the artists present a lyrical and colorful landscape, with Meija’s flute providing the ‘fine silver’ (sīku sudrabiņu) of the folk song text.

The CD also includes works by composers such as Imants Zemzaris, Pēteris Vasks, Pēteris Plakidis, Artūrs Grīnups and Maija Einfelde, and has extensive liner notes on the performers, the composers and their compositions in English, Latvian and French.

Meija continues to actively perform with Sinfonietta Rīga, and among their many concerts in 2018 will be a stop at the Baltic Sea Festival in Stockholm in August. Erliha will join singer Maija Kovaļevska in a number of international performances, including stops in Australia in April and May, and in the United States in September and October.

Ilona Meija and Dzintra Erliha bring their immense flute and piano talents together and present an engaging and immersive spectrum of colors on Citādas krāsas. Presenting a wide array of styles and sounds, the artists have gathered some of the most notable and memorable works in Latvian chamber music, revealing many nuances and depths in these compositions. The national label Skani continues to present both the best performers and composers in Latvian classical music, and these two artists have created a valuable and essential collection.

For further information, please visit the Skani website.

Top photo: Santa Savisko-Jēkabsone.

Citādas krāsas

Ilona Meija, Dzintra Erliha

Skani, SKANI 041, 2016

Track listing:

1. Nāras dziesma – Lūcija Garūta
2. Rapsodija – Jānis Mediņš
3. Pastorāle – Pēteris Plakidis
4. Variācijas par Frensisa Lē tēmu – Imants Zemzaris
5. Noktirne – Artūrs Grīnups
6. Sērdieņu dziesma – Maija Einfelde
7. Sonāte flautai – Pēteris Vasks
8. Ēnu dejas – Pēteris Plakidis
9. L’air et la lumière – Anitra Tumševica
10. TransparenT – Santa Bušs
11. Daina – Dace Aperāne

Celebrated painter Mark Rothko (born Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz in Dvinsk, modern-day Daugavpils, Latvia) painted some of the most memorable and identifiable canvases of the 20th century. With just a few colors and basic shapes, his paintings seem simplistic at first, but reveal a lush and intimate world that is both striking and affecting.

Using the paintings as inspiration, the Māris Briežkalns Quintet, a jazz ensemble from Latvia, has endeavored to translate these paintings into music, with the help of a number of distinguished Latvian composers. The result is the 2016 album Rothko in Jazz, a collection of ten jazz compositions inspired by the works of Rothko.

The Māris Briežkalns Quintet, made up of Māris Briežkalns on drums, Viktors Ritovs on keyboards, Gints Pabērzs on saxophone, Edvīns Ozols on double bass, and Raimonds Macats playing the cello and harmonica, has been performing for more than 10 years. The group describe their sound as having pop-jazz and Latin-jazz accents, and has played around the world and released multiple acclaimed albums.

The group enlisted the help of a wide range of Latvian composers (from established composers like Pēteris Vasks and Raimonds Pauls to younger talents such as Jēkabs Jančevskis) to assist with the project – each composer was given the assignment of taking one Rothko painting and creating a composition based on how the painting inspired the composer.

According to the CD notes, the paintings selected for this project are all from Rothko’s last artistic period, abstract expressionism, and were painted in the period between 1945 and 1968. Though most of the artworks produced during this time were of Rothko’s signature ‘multiform’ style, some of the works still had additional abstract images in them, for example the painting CR#248 (many of his works were untitled, and are identified by number in the booklet) painted in 1945. This painting served as the inspiration for Latvian American composer Lolita Ritmanis’ work ‘Against the Current’. The easy going, flowing work is woven together by Pabērzs’ saxophone, making for a dreamy opening for this collection.

One might not immediately think that composer Pēteris Vasks’ somber, weighty music would translate to a jazz format, however, his work ‘Autumnal’ (painting CR#513, 1954) effectively captures the beauty of nature that one can interpret from the green and the orange in the painting. Being Vasks, the work is a slow, melancholy stroll, accentuated by the deliberate, fateful tones of Ritovs’ piano playing.

Compoer Jēkabs Jančevskis, a rising star in Latvian composition, provides the engaging work ‘Red-and-White’ (1285.69, 1968), which features the slow wail of Macats’ cello, supplemented by Briežkalns’ steady rhythm.

As Rothko grew older, his paintings grew bleaker, such as CR#814 painted in 1969, which inspired Georgs Pelēcis’ work ‘Black and Gray’ (perhaps appropriate, given the composer’s last name, which can be translated as ‘greyblack’). Driven by Briežkalns’ drums and Ozols’ double bass), this wistful work is slightly sentimental and slightly morose, and is an engrossing listen.

The CD comes in a hardback book, with a reproduction of each of the paintings used for inspiration, as well as an image of the first few bars of the sheet music. Still, it would have been interesting to have some comments from the composers themselves about how the paintings inspired them, but perhaps all that can be determined from just listening to the music.

The group has been performing these works worldwide, and will have a concert at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York City on May 2, 2018.

Rothko in Jazz collects ten unique musical portraits, presenting the colors and emotions of Rothko’s paintings in music. Though all are by different composers, they form a cohesive whole, a colorful spectrum created from the many individual aspects of Rothko’s works. The Māris Briežkalns Quintet, with their jazz arrangements of the works of an all-star array of Latvian composers, has, in their performances, successfully captured the essence of many of the paintings of Rothko.

For further information, please visit the Māris Briežkalns Quintet Facebook page.