Descriere

The bassoonist Andris ARNICANS (born 1952) has mastered the basics of professional musical education in his native Riga at the E. Damns Special Music College. Later on he studied at the P. Chaikovsky Moscow State Conservatoire (Prof. Teryokhin class), graduating from it in 1976 and afterwards — until 1979 — atten¬ding a post-graduate course.

During the student years A. Arnicans participates in the activi¬ties of the Moscow Conservatoire Student Symphony Orchestra, being a member of this body also in 1972 when the Muscovites won the first place at the von Karajan International Competition in West Berlin. The young Latvian bassoonist already early in his life is acclaimed as soloist-virtuoso. His gifted manner of playing is noted by the outstanding Soviet pianist S. Richter who offers A. Arnicans partnership in performing P. Hindemith’s Sonata for bassoon and piano, as well as participation in a peculiar ensemble of 13 wind instruments, a violin and a solo piano that performs A. Berg’s concerto written for such an array of instruments. The musicians under S. Rihter’s leadership give concerts not only in the Soviet Union but go on concert tours also to Czechoslovakia, the GDR, Bulgaria, Poland, Greece and France. The international experience of A. Arnicans’ musical development is further enriched by competitions in which this promising representative of the So¬viet bassoon school gets encouraging results: at two «Prague Spring» musical contests the second place was secured (1974, 1977), while at the Kurpinski bassoonist competition in Poland (1976) the first prize was won. The first prize was carried off by him also at the Ail-Union competition of young musicians in Minsk (1979).

A. Arnicans in co-operation with the Latvian pianist Nora Luse — the 1980 prize-winner at an international competition in Italy — has prepared already several solo programmes. Both artists lead an active concert life often performing in Riga. Under the influ¬ence of the bassoonist’s expressive cantilenas and his technically unconstrained, brilliant manner of playing, the Concerto for bas¬soon by Jănis Ķepïtis as well as dedications of Pauls Dambis and other Latvian composers to A. Arnicans have emerged. The gifted bassoonist has also given the first performances of new compo¬sitions presented to him by the Moscow composer Alexander Chaikovsky, the Georgian music-writer Ramaz Kemulariya and other composers.

In the repertoire of the Latvian bassoonist there are also samp¬les of W. A. Mozart’s and A. Vivaldi’s musical heritage. On this record A. Arnicans is heard together with the internationally known Latvian SSR State Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra (conductor Tovijs Lifšics, Honoured Arts Worker of the Latvian SSR) performing four of the 38 bassoon concertos by Antonio Vivaldi (1678—1741), so widely used by generations of bassoonists all over the world.

O. Gravïtis