Triptychon (Vasks - Bach - Liszt) Iveta Apkalna

• Pēteris Vasks (b. 1946):
• 1Vasks: Hymnus13:09
• 2Vasks: Baltā ainava (White Scenery. Winter)10:29
• 3Vasks: Musica seria17:14
• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750): Toccata, Adagio and Fugue, BWV 564:
• 4Bach: Toccata, Adagio and Fugue, BWV 564: I. Toccata06:26
• 5Bach: Toccata, Adagio and Fugue, BWV 564: II. Adagio04:44
• 6Bach: Toccata, Adagio and Fugue, BWV 564: III. Fugue04:44
• Johann Sebastian Bach: Trio Sonata, BWV 527:
• 7Bach: Trio Sonata, BWV 527: I. Andante05:39
• 8Bach: Trio Sonata, BWV 527: II. Adagio e dolce06:22
• 9Bach: Trio Sonata, BWV 527: III. Vivace03:50
• Johann Sebastian Bach: Schübler Chorales:
• 10Bach: Schübler Chorales: 1. Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 64504:36
• 11Bach: Schübler Chorales: 2. Wo soll ich fliehen hin, BWV 64601:53
• 12Bach: Schübler Chorales: 3. Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten, BWV 64704:02
• 13Bach: Schübler Chorales: 4. Meine Seele erhebt den Herren, BWV 64802:42
• 14Bach: Schübler Chorales: 5. Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 64902:26
• 15Bach: Schübler Chorales: 6. Kommst du nun, Jesu, vom Himmel herunter auf Erden, BWV 65003:39
• Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886): Prelude and Fugue on the Theme B-A-C-H, S.260:
• 16Liszt: Prelude and Fugue on the Theme B-A-C-H, S.260: Prelude04:39
• 17Liszt: Prelude and Fugue on the Theme B-A-C-H, S.260: Fugue09:19
• Franz Liszt:
• 18Liszt: Nun danket alle Gott, S.6107:17
• Franz Liszt: Fantasy and Fugue on the chorale "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam", S.259:
• 19Liszt: Fantasy and Fugue on the chorale "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam", S.259: Fantasy22:03
• 20Liszt: Fantasy and Fugue on the chorale "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam", S.259: Fugue10:35
• Total Runtime02:25:48

Info for Triptychon (Vasks - Bach - Liszt)

Having garnered the ultimate accolades from a host of arts review pages for her premiere recording on the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie’s organ and on the double organ of the Taiwanese Kaohsiung Center for the Arts, concert organist Iveta Apkalna now presents her third release on the Berlin Classics label as a triple album. 'Triptychon' spans three centuries and three religious confessions on one single organ: Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Liszt and Pēteris Vasks can be heard on this, the first release of a recording played in Neubrandenburg’s Concert Church on the organ which she helped to develop and inaugurated.

Apkalna opens the first altar panel with three works by her compatriot and personal friend: alongside Arvo Pärt, Pēteris Vasks is the best known and most often played Baltic composer. “Latvia is Pēteris Vasks and Pēteris Vasks is Latvia,” explains the organist. “I hear the landscape of Latvia in his music, the far horizons of our flat country, the meadows and forests, birdsong and the sea. Pēteris Vasks is undoubtedly a truly Latvian character, though he also breathes the ‘global air’. Otherwise people all around the world would not love his music.”

Johann Sebastian Bach is at the heart of Iveta Apkalna’s triptych – just as he is central to the career of any organist. For her, his 'Toccata', 'Adagio' and 'Fugue in C major BWV564', the 'Trio Sonata in D minor BWV527' and the 'six Schübler Chorales BWV645–650' represent the greatest possible stylistic, compositional and tonal variety backed up by personal motives. “I believe this is truly a phenomenon: Bach’s music touches everyone, really everyone, and leaves its mark on the lives of every human being, even those who normally have nothing to do with music.”

Franz Liszt, who achieved worldwide fame as a travelling virtuoso and visionary composer, was also a formidable organist who, towards the end of his career, took holy orders. His oeuvre too is close to Iveta Apkalna’s heart; indeed, she defines as a sort of calling card the 'Prelude and Fugue on B-A-C-H' or the Chorale arrangement of 'Nun danket alle Gott', which has a link with Apkalna’s “home organ” in Riga Cathedral, since Franz Liszt contributed the work for the inauguration of the instrument.

The contrast could hardly be greater: Vasks, the pastor’s son with a close spiritual affinity to nature, Bach, the monumental Protestant music-maker, and Liszt, the lounge lizard with his adoring groupies who found his vocation in later life. To play all these works by such highly diverse composers on the same organ is not something to be taken on lightly. The former Marienkirche in Neubrandenburg, which was deconsecrated in 2001 and then revived as a secular concert hall, was gifted an organ in 2017 thanks to the generous sponsorship of businessman Günther Weber. The job of building a new organ was entrusted to two long-established organ-building workshops, Klais (Bonn) and Schuke (Berlin). As the two organ builders Philipp Klais and Martin Schwarz explain: “The concert church in Neubrandenburg has its very own, unique acoustic, one that we organ builders greatly appreciate.” The auditorium has an ideal combination of clarity and reverberation time. This acoustic characteristic was the point of departure in deciding on the tonal concept. This was achieved in close cooperation between the organ workshops in coordination with Iveta Apkalna, whom Günther Weber had requested to provide artistic advice. With its 2852 pipes, measuring between 8 millimetres and almost 7 metres high, the organ has 70 stops. There are 65 pipes in the organ case, the visible part of the instrument: 45 metal pipes in front and 20 wooden ones in the sides of the case. All of the visible pipes are sonorous. Iveta Apkalna is impressed: “The organ sounds incredibly warm, velvet-textured and well rounded. And thanks to its clearly defined 70 stops, it provides the organist, whether playing solo or with orchestra, with every opportunity to play works ranging from the early Baroque through the Romantic literature to modern compositions. Thanks to the detailed process involved and the intensive, friendly collaboration with the two organ-builders Philipp Klais and Martin Schwarz and with the organ’s sponsor Günther Weber, this instrument really turned into a personal love story.”

Iveta Apkalna, organ

Iveta Apkalna
Latvian organist Iveta Apkalna is considered one of the leading instrumentalists in the world. Starting from 2017 she serves as the titular organist of the Klais organ at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany – Hamburg's new cultural landmark and one of the most exciting structural projects in Europe. The January 2017 opening offerd two world premieres: Wolfgang Rihm's Triptychon und Spruch in memoriam Hans Henny Jahnn with Thomas Hengelbrock and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and Jörg Widmann's ARCHE with Kent Nagano and the Philharmonic State Orchestra Hamburg.

Iveta has performed with a number of the world's top orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam and the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. She has collaborated with renowned conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Mariss Jansons, Marek Janowski, Kent Nagano, Thomas Hengelbrock, Sir Antonio Pappano and Andris Nelsons and frequently appeared at the Lucerne, Lockenhaus, Bremen, Halle Georg Friedrich Händel, Ludwigsburg Castle, Schwetzinger, and Schleswig-Holstein Festivals.

Recent engagements include a recital in Disney Hall and the debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel, as well as concerts in China's most prestigious halls such as the NCPA Beijing and the Shanghai Symphony Hall.

Throughout her career, Iveta Apkalna has earned international recognition for honours and competitions. She was appointed a cultural ambassador of Latvia by receiving the "Excellence Award in Culture 2015" from the Latvian Ministry of Culture. In March 2018 she received the "Latvian Grand Music Award" as "Musician of the Year" and in the category "Concert of the Year", the most prestigious award in music in Latvia. Iveta Apkalna became the first organist to receive the title of "Best Performing Artist" award at the 2005 ECHO Klassik. French-German TV network ARTE broadcasted in 2008 a documentary about her entitled "Dancing with the Organ". In 2003 she received the first prize and four additional special prizes in the International M. Tariverdiev Organ Competition in Kaliningrad, Russia. In 2002 she advanced to the world finals of the Royal Bank Calgary International Organ Competition in Canada and received the prestigious Johann Sebastian Bach Prize. Iveta studied piano and organ at J. Vitols Latvian Academy of Music and continued her studies at the London Guildhall School of Music and Drama and at the National Academy of Music and Fine Arts in Stuttgart.

She is dedicated to contemporary music and performs works of Naji Hakim, Ēriks Ešenvalds, Arturs Maskats or Thierry Escaich. Together with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam she has presented the world premiere of "Multiversum", a commissioned composition of Péter Eötvös, on an extensive Europe tour.

Born in Rēzekne, Latvia, Iveta has made it her mission to bring the splendour of organ music beyond church walls and into concert halls. She currently lives in Berlin and in Riga.

This album contains no booklet.