With the exception of Viatore (which means “Wanderer”), all of this music has been recorded before, and very well. That doesn’t make this disc any less attractive, but if you collect Vasks’ music I can’t honestly recommend that you rush out and purchase these performances just to have another 12-minute work for string orchestra, however lovely. On the other hand, Viatore is a beautiful piece of writing, with imaginatively voiced string textures, a creative use of glissando, and the haunting, modally inflected tunes that we know so well from Vasks’ other pieces.
Both the Violin Concerto and Musica Dolorosa also receive performances that quite frankly are as good as any available, while the sonics sweep the field. Katarina Andreasson, the leader of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, may not have the star appeal of, say, Gidon Kremer in the Violin Concerto (on Nonesuch), but for my money she just plays better. So if you haven’t heard any of this music, and it’s all worth hearing (though not all at once!), then go ahead and purchase this disc with confidence.
