Gaidas un korālis (Expectation and Chorale) (1999)

Imants Zemzaris (b. 1951) — Gaidas un korālis (Expectation and Chorale) (1999) for organ

“Gaidas un korālis” (Expectation and Chorale) (1999) unfolds as a dialogue between the two kinds of music reflected in the title. In the “expectation” music that begins the piece, isolated gestures appear over extended tonal cluster sonorities that “hang in the air.” The “chorale” music that follows is lyrical and expressive. After a return to the “expectation” music, the work closes with a pastorale.

Latvian composer Imants Zemzaris (b. 1951) was born in Riga to a family of artists and academics. (His grandfather, the linguist Jānis Endzelīns, was the co-developer of the modern Latvian alphabet.) He was educated at the Emīls Dārziņš Music College and the Latvian State Conservatory where his primary teachers were Ādolfs Skulte and Pēteris Plakidis. Zemzaris has been particularly active as a music critic and essayist and was the editor of the music division of the weekly journal Literatūra un Māksla from 1988 to 1994. Since 1976, Zemzaris has taught composition at the Emīls Dārziņš Music College. He has composed music in various musical genres and is as particularly sought-after composer of music for the theater.

Published by Musica Baltica