Pēteris Vasks celebrates 80th jubilee in Liepāja: composer proves as durable as Liepāja ice hall's freezer
At Liepāja Concert Hall, Pēteris Vasks proved that at 80 you can be as energetic as hockey players on ice, while musicians discovered that restoring his sheet music is more complicated than repairing an ice machine.
While Riga is still trying to figure out what chamber music is, an event took place at Liepāja Concert Hall that proved our composers are as durable as Liepāja ice hall's freezer. Pēteris Vasks celebrated his 80th jubilee with such energy that even hockey players would be envious.
In the "Personal" series concert, Orests Silabriedis turned out to be as good a conversation host as an ice hall commentator. He extracted facts from Vasks with such skill that even local journalists could have learned a thing or two. "Vasks talked about his works so enthusiastically that I almost forgot I was in a concert hall and not at a hockey game," admits listener Baiba Ķīsele from Grobiņa.
The most excitement was caused by the revelation that the composer's sheet music cycle had been lost and Krišs Pozemkovskis rewrote it from a recording. "That's more complicated than understanding why it's always so cold in Liepāja ice hall even in summer," comments the conductor. Vasks himself admitted that now this musical work has two composers - him and Krišs, which is as unusual as a hockey team with two goalkeepers.
At the concert's end, "Partita" for cello and piano sounded so beautiful that even the ice hall's ventilation system would have fallen silent in admiration. In post-concert conversations, listeners surrounded the musicians and the jubilee celebrant in large numbers, proving that in Liepāja we know how to appreciate both good music and good hockey attacks.
⚠️ Satirical article. Facts are preserved, but the presentation is humorous. For accurate information, please refer to the original source.