20 February 2016

Juzeliunas the Birthday Boy

Today is the 100th birthday of the Lithuanian legend, Julius Juzeliunas. For those of you who are unfamiliar, I have written about some of his work here and here. He is a composer who has had such a strong and expansive influence throughout Lithuania.

Yesterday saw three event in the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre to celebrate the great man. The finale of which was a fantastic concert of the St. Christopher's Orchestra performing Juzeliunas's concerto for clarinet and string, his cantata for voice and strings Gėlių kalbėjimas, and his poem-concerto for string orchestra. These three pieces were fantastic discoveries for me and I was particularly impressed by the performance given by the clarinet soloist and orchestra.

Sadly I was unable to find recordings of these pieces, so I will simply show a wonderful recording of Juzeliunas's 2nd Symphony. A wonderful early work full of energy and character. I don't think I need to dwell too long on this piece. Enjoy! And I will write more next week!

And Su Gimtadienu Juliaus Juzeliuno!




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