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Contemporary chamber strings

Inspired and guided by Pēteris Vasks’ Voices, we set out to capture the sound, styles, and the spirit of the piece—with all its unique techniques and textures. Working directly with Vasks, we recorded small sections and first chair soloists from Sinfonietta Riga at St. John’s church in Riga, Latvia.

And the results are breathtaking: A fully-detailed chamber ensemble with a unique character and color. Like the music that inspired them, these strings organically fuse dissonance and beauty to inspire you and your compositions.

Highlights

Fully-detailed chamber strings ensemble
Violins, violas, celli, and basses: Small sections and first chair soloists
Unique ‘gestures’ articulations including whispered sustains, harmonics, atonal and harmonic glissandi
3 legato styles for the solo instruments
3 dynamic layers—con sordino dynamics management
6 mic positions
Performed by the acclaimed Sinfonietta Riga
Recorded at St. John’s Church in Riga, Latvia
Created in direct collaboration with composer Pēteris Vasks

About the sound

Vasks’s work is known to combine organic and melodic devices with experimental and atonal playing techniques—many pioneered by Vasks. Talking about the first movement of Voices, Vasks has said: “The symphony speaks of my essential, most meaningful themes. About life. About eternity. About conscience.” We set out to capture some of this spirit in our recordings.

The general sound is one of intimate reverence: Small ensembles playing with little vibrato in a large, reverberant space. This setup in this space already delivers a rich intensity and a unique set of character strings, but delve into the details and you’ll find experimental and atonal articulations—we call these ‘gestures’. Use these gestures to add nuance and tension, and make musical statements beyond the ordinary.

Playability and realism

These strings also offer a new approach to dynamics—we recorded the lower dynamic layers with mutes (con sordino), and removed the mutes gradually for the louder layers. The result: A beautifully colored sound with a unique character.

The solo instruments perform well as a quartet or quintet, or you can use them to add detail and focus to the sections. These first chairs offer 3 legato styles: Lyrical, expressive, and sul tasto. This approach gives you the optimum in playability and realism.

About Pēteris Vasks and Voices

“My intention is to provide food for the soul, and this is what I preach in my works.”
— Pēteris Vasks

Pēteris Vasks’ career as a composer has long since transcended the boundaries of his native Latvia, and his influence on contemporary music is undeniable. His first symphony, Voices (1991), was his international breakthrough, and featured a beautifully organic and natural fusion of styles and emotions—from poignant folk melodies to unsettling dissonances.

Recurring themes in his work are nature, spirituality, and the human condition—notably the inherent conflict present in the interaction of those themes—at the same time concerned and hopeful. Specifically, Voices deals with the struggles of the Latvian people as they fought for independence from Soviet rule—and it’s an adept and masterful musical interpretation of the violence and hardship, just as well as the successful and joyful resolution.

Sections and first chairs

6first violins
5second violins
4violas
4celli
3basses
2first chair solo violins
1first chair viola
1first chair cello
1first chair bass

Mic merging
Preserve your system resources: Fine-tune your mix using multiple mic positions, then merge into a single channel within the player.

Greater usability
SINE is designed to complement the compositional workflow. Create on the fly with auto keyswitch options, and easy remapping tools.

Download à la carte
Choose only the instruments and mic positions that you currently need—no need to download the entire collection at once.

Title

Orchestral Perspectives

Peteris Vasks Strings

Chamber strings and first chairs

Studio

St. Johns Church, Riga

549,00 € +VAT

Not licensed
Licensed
  • Whales under Starlight by Claire Wickes
    Peteris Vasks Strings
  • Venus by Sascha Knorr
    Peteris Vasks Strings
  • Sigulda by Emmanuel Jacob
    Peteris Vasks Strings
  • From the Ashes by Benny Oschmann
    Peteris Vasks Strings
  • Unravel by Jakob Olofsson
    Peteris Vasks Strings
  • Heavy Silence by Liina Sumera
    Peteris Vasks Strings
  • Dunamis by Alex Lamy
    Peteris Vasks Strings
  • Sunlit Fields by Ben Botkin
    Peteris Vasks Strings
  • Behind the Boundaries by Rihards Zalupe
    Peteris Vasks Strings
  • Light Blue Spring by Hanna Sophie Lueke
    Peteris Vasks Strings
  • Akvansis by Franziska Pohlmann
    Peteris Vasks Strings
  • Luminescence by Friedrich Gattermann
    Peteris Vasks Strings
  • The Majestic by Timo Loosli
    Peteris Vasks Strings

Specifications

  • Works with Orchestral Tools’ SINE Player—NOTE: Very latest version required!
  • 234 GB of samples (96.7 GB SINEarc compressed)
  • 24 bit / 48 KHz patches
  • SINE system requirements:
  • Mac: macOS 10.13 or higher | Intel Core i5 or similar | Apple M1 chipset supported | At least 8 GB RAM (16 GB+ recommended)
  • Windows: Windows 10 | Intel Core i5 or similar | At least 8 GB RAM (16 GB+ recommended)
  • Formats supported: Standalone, VST, VST3, AU, AAX

Important

If you want to buy the Kontakt version of this collection, please note:

  • This is not the latest version of this collection - the SINE version might offer additional features not available here
  • We don't maintain and update the older Kontakt versions of our collections
  • You can upgrade this Kontakt version to the SINE version later for an additional upgrade fee*

*= Upgrade fee is around 10% of the regular collection price. This is due to doubled costs for downloads and licensing.