Jānis Ķepītis: Piano Miniatures from the Manuscripts, Volume Two
The Latvian composer Jānis Ķepītis (1908–89) has a fairly low profile even in his home country, never mind beyond its borders. His output was nonetheless substantial, with no fewer than six symphonies to his name, ten concertos, a number of large-scale choral-orchestral pieces, countless songs and choruses and a voluminous body of chamber music – almost all of it unknown. Ķepītis was himself a gifted pianist, and his hundred or so compositions for piano show a predilection for the miniature. The works here, most of them discovered among his manuscripts, inhabit a world downstream from Skryabin and Rachmaninov, with a gentle hint of Debussy, an occasional wisp of Latvian folk-music,
and, here and there, just a hint of jazz.
Nora Lūse, piano
Jānis Ķepītis, piano (Track 30, rec. 1935)
Listen To This Recording:
Snowflakes (1939) (11:28)
- I. A Little Cloud (1:43)
- II. Flakes Fall (1:04)
- III. Vortex (1:05)
- IV. The Story of the Flakes (1:49)
- V. Christmas Tree Dreams (2:11)
- VI. Waltz (1:10)
- VII. Thaw (1:49)
- VIII. And Spring Again (0:37)
Portraits (1946) (14:17)
- I. Andulis (2:35)
- II. Elvīra (3:06)
- III. Nanny (1:38)
- IV. Vija (1:35)
- V. Biruta (2:43)
- VI. Niko (2:40)
Mood-Paintings (1956) (20:14)
- I. Evening Song (2:10)
- II. Anxiety (1:52)
- III. Sadness (3:32)
- IV. Delight (3:40)
- V. Frolic (3:18)
- VI. Laugh (1:17)
- VII. Solace (4:25)
Mood-Paintings: In the Meadows (1965) (14:14)
- I. A Ray of Sunshine (2:11)
- II. Butterfly and Boy (2:30)
- III. Youthful Delight (3:24)
- IV. The Black Cloud (4:10)
- V. After Rain (1:59)
Impressions of an Evening (1974) (4:28)
- I. Moderato (1:13)
- II. Andante tranquillo (1:12)
- III. In Movimento (2:03)
Līgo Night (1935)
- III. St. John’s Fire (5:59)
First Recordings
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