Composers > Arturs Maskats

Arturs Maskats

“Every performance, every new work of art and creative expression is a leap into the unknown. If that is not the case, I fall into a routine and copy what I have already created.
I do not think that something falls from the sky and the composer simply catches it. If I am working on a specific work, I am deeply involved in it. From there, the road to illumination and how to proceed is made clear.”

Arturs Maskats


BIOGRAPHY

Arturs Maskats was born on December 20th, 1957 in Valmiera. He studied at the Jāzeps Mediņš Music School, where among his teachers were Jānis Līcītis (harmony) and Marija Mediņa (the musical form, instrumentation) – a representative of a notable family of Latvian composers and the spiritual motivator of Arturs Maskats’s further progress. He finished the composition class with Valentīns Utkins (1982) at the Latvian State Conservatory, and, during his years of study, he received the top award at the All Nations Young Composer Festival (1981) in Yerevan, Armenia.

The focus of the composer’s creative life is the theatre. As the Music Director at the Rainis Dailes Theatre (1982–1997) he composed original music for almost one hundred productions, among them the distinguished Reawakening Period production Mūžības skartie (Those Touched by Eternity) (1987) by Aleksandrs Čaks, which poet Jānis Peters called that era’s purification. Arturs Maskats composed for other theatres’ productions too. He was the chairman of the executive board of the Latvian Composer’s Union (1993–1996), and as of 1996 is the artistic director of the Latvian National Opera.

Arturs Maskats has been awarded the Lielā mūzikas balva (Great Music Award) in 1996, 2001, 2002 and 2011. His work Tango was performed at the final of the 3rd international symphonic composition competition Masterprize in London (2003).

An intensive musical thinking and expressiveness of thought characterize the works of Arturs Maskats. This also has required choosing an appropriate form of expression. These musically created impulses are not infrequently drawn from a particular sensitiveness (Ojārs Vācietis) or in the lyrically noblesse word. Since his youth, he has been captivated by French poetry and Latin culture (Paul Verlaine, Michelangelo, Pier Paolo Pasolini). He also draws from the world of dance. In his work Salve Regina, notable in the musical text is the expressive sonic mildness of the cello, the performance’s carriage at times behind the fingerboard. At the same time the music is advisedly organized. The rhythm of the gold section can be discerned in the compositional form of his Concerto grosso. It will resolve in the concerto’s intensified emotional space. One of the composer’s works – Tango for symphony orchestra – seems to vibrate on a hot pole. One is able to speak about a contemporary romantic interpretation, especially in the dramaturgical aspect, in the music of Arturs Maskats.


DISCOGRAPHY

CD

Lacrimosa / Choir Sacrum, Chamber Orchestra Rīgas kamermūziķi, Aivars Kalējs (organ), conductor Andris Veismanis – 7′00″ / Pavasara mūzika / Choir Sacrum, conductor Andris Veismanis – 3′55″ // Latviešu mūsdienu kora mūzika (Latvian Choir Music of Today). Chamber Choir Sacrum – 1995, RS 009

Pavasara mūzika (Spring Music) (Uldis Bērziņš and Latvian folk songs) / Mixed Choir of the Jāzeps Mediņš Music College of Riga, conductor Jānis Baltiņš – 3′53″ / 126. Dāvida dziesma (David’s Song 126) / Mixed Choir of the Jāzeps Mediņš Music College of Riga, conductor Jānis Lindenbergs – 3′49″ // Jāzepa Mediņa Rīgas Mūzikas koledžas jauktais koris (Mixed Choir of the Jāzeps Mediņš Music College of Riga) – 1995, RS 003

Pavasara mūzika (Spring Music) (Uldis Bērziņš and Latvian folk songs) / Chamber Choir Muklājs, conductor Sandra Šmate – 4′24″ // Mūzai. XXII Vispārējo Latviešu Dziesmu svētku dziesmas dzied labākie Latvijas kori – 1998, ADF 001

Agnus Dei from the Mass / Latvian Radio Choir, Aivars Kalējs (organ), conductor Sigvards Kļava – 4′53″ // Latvijas Radio koris. Latvian Music in Riga (The Latvian Radio Choir. Latvian Music in Riga) – 1999, LRCD 031

Concerto grosso / Sandis Šteinbergs (violin), Reinis Birznieks (cello), Edgars Saksons (percussion), Chamber Orchestra Rīgas kamermūziķi, conductor Normunds Šnē – 21′39″ / Concerto for Cello and Orchestra / Reinis Birznieks (cello), Chamber Orchestra Rīgas kamermūziķi, conductor Normunds Šnē – 17′12″ / Lacrimosa / Latvian Radio Choir, Chamber Orchestra Rīgas kamermūziķi, Aivars Kalējs (organ), conductor Sigvards Kļava – 7′04″ / Salve Regina / Antra Bigača, mezzo-soprano, Agnese Rugēvica (cello), Chamber Orchestra Rīgas kamermūziķi, conductor Normunds Šnē – 8′11″ / Trīs Pola Verlēna dzejoļi (Three Poems by Paul Verlaine) / Latvian Radio Choir, Normunds Šnē (oboe), Reinis Birznieks (cello) – 13′09″ // Arturs Maskats – 2002, BIS Records AB, BIS-CD-1146

Mēs nākam (We are Coming) / Combined mixed choirs, conductor Romāns Vanags – 2′59″ // XXIII Vispārējie Latviešu Dziesmu svētki. Sieviešu un vīru koncerts Teiksma par latvieti I – 2003, Baltic Records Group, BRG CD 159

Da ispravitsja molitva moja for mixed choir / The Latvian Radio Choir, conductor Sigvards Kļava – 9’06” // On Photography. Bryars. Maskats. Silvestrov. Latvian Radio Choir – 2005, GB RECORDS, BCGBCD07

Music for the Daile Theatre production Vācietis. Novembris. Klavierkoncerts (Vācietis. November. Piano Concerto) / The Latvian Radio Choir, soloists Elīna Libauere, Ieva Ezeriete, Inga Martinsone, Gundega Krūmiņa, Ivars Cinkuss, Kaspars Putniņš, Jānis Šipkēvics, Normunds Ķirsis and Ārijs Šķepasts, conductor Sigvards Kļava, Arturs Maskats, Dace Kļava, Juris Kļava, Agnese Egliņa, Lelde Muceniece, Endijs Renemanis and Romāns Vendiņš (piano), Aldis Jurisons (accordion); the poetry of Ojārs Vācietis read by actors Vija Artmane, Lauris Dzelzītis, Gints Grāvelis, Intars Rešetins, Gundars Silakaktiņš, Aldis Siliņš, Lauris Subatnieks and Madars Zariņš, the recording uses recordings of the voice of Ojārs Vācietis // Ojārs Vācietis. Arturs Maskats. Latvijas Radio koris. Klavierkoncerts [CD together with book] – 2006, Valters un Rapa

Romantisks triptihs (Romantic Triptych) / Text - Veronika Strēlerte / Antra Bigača (mezzo-soprano), Ventis Zilberts (piano) – 9’07” // Laikam pāri... Latvian Vocal Chamber Music 1950-2000. Antra Bigača - 2010, Herman Braun Foundation, HBF 009


LITERATURE

Vasiļjeva, I. Garīgā un laicīgā harmonijas meklējumi Artura Maskata 90. gadu vokāli instrumentālajā daiļradē (Searches for Harmony of the Spiritual and Secular in Arturs Maskats’s vocal instrumental creative work in the 90s). Bachelor’s degree thesis, Latvian Academy of Music, 1999 • Zakāmennija, I. Vēstules, muzikants un viņa vijole (Letters, a Musician and his Violin) // Liesma, 1984, No. 8, pp. 21-22 • Pupa, G. Meistars un māceklis (The Master and the Disciple) [about the composers R. Kalsons and A. Maskats] // Literatūra un Māksla, 1985, June 7th • Vanzoviča, G. Zem Čaka zīmes (Under the Sign of Čaks) [interview] // Māksla, 1988, No. 2, pp. 60-61, 64 • Lagzdiņa, I. Variācijas par muzikālu tēmu (Variations on a Musical Theme) // Cīņa, 1989, March 1st • Zemzaris, I. Neesam muzikāla province (We are not a Musical Province) [A. Maskats narrative] // Literatūra un Māksla, 1992, July 17th • Vanzoviča, G. Divu kungu kalps jeb Saruna par mūziku (Servant of Two Lords or Discussions about Music) // Labrīt, 1994, March 29th • Lūsiņa, I. Operas jaunās vīzijas īstenotāji (The Creators of a New Vision of Opera) // Diena, 1996, October 10th • [I. L.,] Arturs Maskats gatavojas lēcienam (Arturs Maskats Prepares to Leap) [interview] // Diena, 1996, November 7th • Pētersone, O. Tev ir acis tā kā vilkam (Your Eyes are Like a Wolf’s) [interview] // Rīgas Balss, 1997, September 19th • Zveja, I. Simfonija saviem mūziķiem (A Symphony for his own Musicians) [interview] // Neatkarīgā Rīta Avīze, 2000 November 16th • [I. Z.,] Concerto grosso panākumi Parīzē (The Achievements of the Concerto Grosso in Paris) // Forums, 2002, June 21st • Pupa, G. Pa ceļam. Atskatoties (On the Way. Looking Back) [interview] // Māksla Plus, 2003, No. 2, pp. 46-48 • Liepiņa, I. Meistarības tango un mīļākais dzejnieks (Mastery of the Tango and the Beloved Poet) [interview] // Neatkarīgā Rīta Avīze, 2003, October 28th • Vaivode, G. Maskata faktors (The Maskats Factor) [about the performance of Tango in London] // Mūzikas Saule, 2003, No.6, pp. 22-23


Lolita Fūrmane
© LMIC