Our new album features the piano music of Georgs Pelēcis (1947) dedicated to the theme of the seasons. There are six (!) of these seasons, and, as a loose cycle of compositions, they were created over a longer period of time, from 1977 until 2021, and perhaps even later, during the recording process itself… From the perspective of Latvian music, Pelēcis’ creative universe reveals itself as unusually vast, almost unfathomable. And yet, it contains one common concept, one basic feature that serves as a key to his worldview, and that is an intelligent, clear, balanced and euphonic musical solution. This element is so effective, so consistent, so attractive, that even early on, Pelēcis’ music was described – by others as well as the composer himself – as the new simplicity, the new consonant music, the new consonantism. And above all this, integrally embedded in his music, is the notion of EUPHONY: sounds that are pleasing to the ear, consonance, harmony, balance. From concrete concepts of elementary music theory regarding the opposites of consonance vs. dissonance to the universal comprehension and sense of the world as a whole (balance, order, peace, stability, also joy and pleasure…).

When taking a closer look at the works Pelēcis has composed, the presence of specific natural objects emerges quite quickly as one of the permanent, independent lines found in his oeuvre. For example, jasmine, lilacs, rhododendrons, lilies (classic lilies, but perhaps also water lilies or simply one of the many bell-shaped flowers in the meadow, or any unspecified, indecipherable flower), dandelions, lilies-of-the-valley, peonies, irises, calla lilies, roses… Or the different phases of the day. Or the aforementioned circle of seasons. Here we find very few traditional sonoric features, except perhaps the occasional association with Baroque music or the polonaise. No, there are almost none of these. Instead, the listener is immersed in a kind of stream of consciousness, the pulse of which (or lack thereof) unfolds according to its own rules (or completely without any clearly perceptible rules) and changes as elusively as the day
dawns or the night falls.

Jānis Torgāns