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SKANi to release complete collection of symphonies & concertos by Imants Kalniņš

22. January, 2021
  • In his 80th birthday year, Latvian label SKANi releases the first ever complete collection of symphonies and concertos by Latvian composer Imants Kalniņš
  • From his Concerto for Cello and Orchestra (1963) to his Symphony No. 7 (2015), the recordings survey Kalniņš’s orchestral output over a career spanning decades and a period of great change for his homeland
  • Recorded by the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra between 2014 and 2020 conducted by Atvars Lakstīgala and Māris Sirmais, the 5 CD set includes his Symphonies 1-7, three concertos and two symphonic miniatures
  • Release date: 22 January 2021

    A Latvian composer, musician and politician whose artistic output ranges from classical to rock, Imants Kalniņš (born 1941) has written seven symphonies, several operas (including arguably the first rock opera written within the Soviet Union, "Ei, jūs tur!" (Hey, you there!)), oratorios, cantatas and music for film and theatre as well as a range of rock music. His Symphony No. 4 (1973) with its rock-inspired rhythms isa defining workin Latvian classical music, considered by many to have been the first rock symphony composed in the Eastern Bloc.

    In what will be the first ever complete collection of his symphonies and concertos, the 5 CD set collection of previously released and brand-new recordings from Latvian label SKANi includes all seven of Kalniņš’s symphonies as well as his concertos for cello (with soloist Marta Sudraba), oboe (with soloist Pēteris Endzelis) and for orchestra, and two symphonic miniatures. The collection includes previously released SKANi recordings of his Symphonies 4, 5, & 7, his concertos for oboe and cello, and Santa Cruz alongside brand new recordings of Symphonies 1, 2, 3 & 6, Concerto for Orchestra and the Finale movement from the sountrack to the film "Pūt, vējiņi".

    Across a career spanning over five decades, Kalniņš has been become a leading, and sometimes controversial, figure in the Latvian music scene whose rock music and “anti-establishment” political activism made him a cultural icon for many during the Soviet occupation.

    Considered to be the first composer of “intellectual rock music” in Latvia, after studying at the Jāzeps Mediņš School of Music Kalniņš became greatly influenced by the imported rock-n-roll of the 1960s and in 1969 founded the band "2xBBM". A sign of his growing popularity, in 1976 the first one-day festival of Kalniņš’s music, Imantdiena, was held. A symbol of youth and rebellion in Latvia, he was brought into contact with Latvia’s Soviet authorities on a number of occasions and in 1982 the festival was banned. In1988 Imants Kalniņš joined the LNNK, the Latvian Nationalist Independence Movement, and was a member of Parliament of the Republic of Latvia in the 1990s.

    Imants Kalniņš: Complete Symphonies & Concertos will be released (CD or download) on 22 January 2021.