Lithuanian composers winning prizes

On the 10th November, the Lithuanian Composers' Union had their awards again. For those who have been reading the blog long enough, will probably remember my thoughts about the previous ceremony. There were many interesting changes of circumstances this time. Firstly from my own point of view, I had the joy of witnessing almost all the shortlisted works, and the works which won I did see their premieres. This was also the first award ceremony under the new leadership of Mykolas Natalevicius. So I was particularly fascinated to see how this would influence the choice of winners.

This year, there were three winners Juste Janulyte, Vytautas Germanavicius, and Dominykas Digimas. I have to say I was overall thrilled by the choices. There is a diversity and in general I was overjoyed to see the composers getting the recognition they deserve.

Juste Janulyte's Harp Is A Chord was awarded for the Chamber category. As I mentioned in my review from the premiere, the work was astounding. I loved the interaction between the disparate instruments and both performers Goska Isphording (Harpsichord) and Maciej Frackiewicz (Accordion) seemed naturally built for such a performance. Well done to all involved!

Dominykas Digimas's no sense was awarded in the 'Youth' or 'Young Composer' (depending on how literal or archaic you are when you translate) category. This was another premiere I got to witness. I was, and still am extremely eager about the work. The sense of focus, and compositional construction was very well written, especially for a student. The performance by the St. Christopher's Orchestra, under the well crafted arm of Donatas Katkus was astounding. With this particular category, I was intrigued by how they went about deciding the winner. Ultimately if it was based purely on the string orchestra concert I would have hated to have been on that panel. All three works by Dominykas, Karolina Kapustaite, and Gabrielius Simas Sapiega were works of an extremely high quality. So all parties were equally deserving, but regardless. Many congratulations to Dominykas Digimas!

The final choice Vytautas Germanavicius, his Povandeninė geometrija for saxophone and orchestra was premiered in the opening night of Gaida Festival 2016. I was overjoyed in the night, due to it being my birthday, witnessing a concert with Kurtag in, and it was the start of a festival that I find extremely exciting. I sadly was not sold on Germanavicius's piece. Which is a shame, considering how strong his chamber compositions are. Admittedly, I hardly expected to truly agree with every piece in an awards ceremony, but I am very pleased by the 2/3 this time around.

I'd be amiss not to mention the pieces I wished were more positively celebrated. Two premieres I was particularly enthusiastic about were Ramunas Motiekaitis's X Cikliai for accordion, strings, and percussion. The murmurs and shimmers of the work was divine and the atmosphere was inspired. Arguably my favourite work by an under celebrated composer. The other work I wish gained more recognition here was Commentum by Vyktinas Baltakas. The work was an adaptation of a cello and piano duo of the same name. The newly orchestrated version was not just a simple orchestration. The work explored and expanded on the ideas within the duo and coloured beautifully within the orchestra. The premiere performed by Francesco Dillon was particularly brilliant and the orchestra managed to bring out the conversational charm of the music. Enjoy the wonderfully produced video of the premiere below. 

To conclude, very well done to all winners, and best of luck to future competitors!

GAIDA 2017: The Snippets I heard

The time has essentially been and gone, GAIDA Festival 2017 stormed into Vilnius bringing a huge variety of new music as well as genuinely fascinating performances. For those who've seen my posts in previous years, know I approached this festival like a kid in a sweetshop. Flying from one event to another, manically typing and wittering in a sugar-fuelled trip. Annoyingly this year, I was rather distant, namely 1000 miles distant and merely seeing the wonderful reporting of Paulina Nalivaikaite and other social media discussion.

This being said, thanks to having people in the right places, and composers sharing their wonderful work I have had the chance to listen to two particular premieres. The first being a new work for piano and strings by Zibuokle Martinaityte called Chiaroscuro Triology. The work performed by Gabrielius Alekna (piano) and Robertas Servenikas (conductor) did initially give me alarm bells when I saw the title. Not because I was concerned about the quality of work, but more names like Chiaroscuro or Metamorphesis or Meditation or Sound Study have become overdone. Maybe I am just a cynic having been over indulged on such titles. However, once Zibuokle shared the recording on Soundcloud I obviously, had to listen instantly. And to be simple and direct. I was stunned. The moment the opening chord lands everything just feels right. The three movement work plays on different metaphors of light against dark, and it is explored to exquisite brilliance. This kind of duality opens up a fantastic conversational dynamic. Which is exploited well by the use of soloist. Gabrielius Alekna performs with such elegance it is almost like he was born for the sole purpose of performing this piece. I can only imagine within the concert hall setting the atmosphere must have been divine. Stunned into silence while the light and shadow dance their eternal dance right in our very ears.

The second work was shared to me personally by the composer. When I had initially heard Justina Repeckaite had been commissioned for an orchestral piece, I could have jumped for joy. It was so wonderful to see the festival had such faith in her to ask for an orchestral piece from the young prodigy. Having worked a lot over the year with Justina, there have been times I have rather felt like her shadow; constantly following and observing every inch of her creative process. Cosmatesque was not an exception. Having had the luxury of seeing the score shortly after completion I was struck by the skill and nuance within the piece. The organic control of timbre and pitch, the subtle flutters of percussion, and sheer directness of construction really struck me and I knew the performance would be a truly special event indeed. The performance, under the baton of Christopher Lyndon-Gee, was inspired. What particularly hit me about the performance was the conductor's tenacity and ability to craft the performance to his design. Often when conductors approach a work focused around a mass of sound, they almost get washed adrift by the sheer immensity of it. However Lyndon-Gee managed to really highlight and exploit the subtleties within the piece. The result was almost like witnessing and extended conversation across the orchestra, with a simple counterpoint of two melodies is spread across the technicolour spectrum of the orchestra. Each note and iteration sounding like a continuation of a never-ending melody. This is definitely the first time I have found myself almost suggesting Justina Repeckaite has a slight hint of Wagnerian flair in her work. But in reality the greater comparison is with Per Norgard's Voyage into the Golden Screen where the second movement his constructed on his infinity series. The constant rolling of sound and melodic figures carries you on quite the journey leaving you curious to see where the ending will take you. Just a joy to listen to.

Having listened to these two pieces alone, I can tell GAIDA 2017 was a huge success, I am just sad I missed it all. I was particularly curious to see how the other events went down. Either way, I sincerely hope I can return to the festival in 2018. 

100 60 70 90 40 26 80 50 - GAIDA Festival Preview

After a much needed breather, I am ready to manically type once again. And what a time it is too! GAIDA Festival starts in just one week. For those who didn't see my excitable wittering about the festival last year, GAIDA is one of Lithuania's most significant festivals. This annual festival is particularly important because it is a great platform of cultural exchange. Every year many wonderful musicians from across the globe come to Vilnius to show their art, and in return the festival presents many fine natives on a level grounding as their international counterparts. Last year's festival was a great smorgasbord of contemporary music, with pretty much everything from Francesco Filidei to Terry Riley. I don't want to dwell too much on last year's festival as I am eager to discuss this year's events, but for those who want to see more look here. 

This year looks like an intriguing one for two major reasons. Firstly the sheer quantity of composer anniversaries that are being celebrated is astronomical! Celebrating Julius Juzeliunas's centenary, Gyorgy Kurtag's 90th, Steve Reich's 80th, Peteris Vasks and what would have been Gerard Grisey's 80th, Luce Francesconi's, Michael Gordon's and Thierry De May's 60th, Liza Lim and Zita Bruzaite's 50th as well as many people's 40th Birthdays! Each of these composers could easily have a week dedicated to each of them, so you can imagine how manic the week is going to be with pieces from all of these composers. On a side note, in the press conference yesterday, Remigijus Merkelys argued the reason they were celebrating GAIDA's 26th anniversary was because of the multitude of significant anniversaries that coincide with it; the only reason I point this out is I am rather chuffed to be celebrating my 26th on the exact same day as GAIDA! 

And back to the festival, there are many fine concerts that I will be attending, denying myself sleep and food to see these fine events. But here are some of my highlights! 

Where better to start than the beginning? The opening concert looks like a fine occassion indeed with works by Liza Lim, Vykintas Baltakas, Vytautas Germanavicius, and Gyorgy Kurtag. The inclusion of Baltakas's commentum for cello and orchestra will be a lovely thing to witness. Gyorgy Kurtag's Double Concerto also looks like a fine display for the senses. Have a sneaky peak at commentum for cello and piano below:

As always, the Lietuvos Ansambliu Tinklas (Lithuanian Ensemble Network) will be a wonderful event to see. The mix of repertoire is extremely distant from their concert last year, so I am curious to see how the ensemble tackles it. There are also two premieres by Vytautas V. Jurgutis and Anatolijus Senderovas, so it will be fascinating to see what they have to offer.

The next concert that fascinates me is the duo of Goska Isphording and Maciej Frackiewicz. The accordion and harpsichord duo, yes you heard, accordion and harpsichord. So part of my fascination with this particular concert is the curiosity of witnessing such a mismatched pair of instruments perform together. To further the curiosity the mix of repertoire seems to be as mixed up as the instrumentation with works by Grisey, Vasks, Steen-Anderson, and Janulyte. A really curious mix indeed.

The next day sees Pierre-Laurent Aimard coming to Vilnius, I am not going to waste your time and tell you what you all already know. Pierre-Laurent is amazing, and the concert will be astonishing. On the same day is the Slovak Quasars Ensemble, the repertoire looks like something I'd enjoy sinking my teeth into.

The following day is a concert simply named Quartettisimo, and when you see there are four quartets involved, the title becomes incredibly apt. The programming from the outside seems the most succinct with works by Juzeliunas, Zibuokle Martinaitye, Ramunas Motiekaitis, Vasks, Sodeika, Ruta Vitkauskaite, and Simon Steen-Anderson. The three premieres will be intriguing to witness. 

The appearance of Kronos Quartet, Philip Glass, and Steve Reich, needs no introduction. We know what we are going to hear and the musicians are a fine mix indeed. On the same day Reich makes his mark, the young whippersnappers Ensemble Synaethesis, will stamp their feet and dig in their heels and place themselves on par with these elder giants. The mix of repertoire is curious, I am curious to see if they can deliver, I know the have the energy and drive to, time will surely tell.

On the 29th will see the National Symphony Orchestra performing, with works by Philippe Manoury, Luca Francesconi, Zita Bruzaite, and Michael Gordon. I am curious to hear how this particular concert will pan out. Once again there are piano duos playing alongside the orchestra, so in theory this could be quite a bombastic affair.

So overall, as you can plainly see, I am very excited about this years platter of performances. Hopefully they will live up to my enthusiastic excitability, and if not I will still probably enjoy myself greatly. Once again, I am glad to see there is a huge variety in the pieces and composers on display. The organisers have managed not to fall into the trap of a 'festival sound' and show a wonderfully wide spectrum of pieces. You can see more detail about the concerts here on the festival's website.

Onute Narbutaite: A symphony and a melody from the Garden of Olives

Following on from the theme of discussing composers mentioned in BBC Music Magazine's article on Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla, I bring one of my favourite and arguably one of the most striking symphonies to come from the Baltic state.


Onute Narbutaite (1956*) is a fascinating and thought provoking composer. Her work is expansive and as she gets older shows no sign of slowing down or becoming tamer. Starting off with far more modest works which show high sensitivity and minute nuances, after the turn of the millennium her works seem to have taken on a larger grandeur and magnitude. As it stands, Narbutaite is the single most recorded Lithuanian composer, with possibly the exception of Ciurlionis, but this knowledge alone means it is no surprise she has a large international appeal. I first came across her works thanks to the large variety of recordings produced by Naxos and Finlandia, these CDs give a real taste the sheer spectrum of her work.


 Her fame and popularity as composer does have a small amount of fate on her side, as after the fall of the U.S.S.R. Western European nations took a massive interest in Baltic nations mostly to find other composers like Arvo Part and Henryk Gorecki. What this did was both positive and negative as fine composers like Peteris Vasks, Lepo Sumera, Toivo Tulev, Onute Narbutaite, Osvaldas Balakauskas, and Erkki-Sven Tuur to name a few gained a larger international appeal; it ultimately stereotyped the states as 'new simplicity' or 'deeply spiritual composers', which in some cases is true, but as my blog is intending to show is only a narrow stretch of the picture. Not to detract from the skill and prowess of Onute Narbutaite, but if it wasn't for this turn out of events she could have faced a life of obscurity outside of Lithuania; like many of her contemporaries suffer today.


One of her most famous and monumental works is her second symphony (2001). This two movement symphony is full of intensity, drama, and colour. The first and larger movement, titled 'symphony', has intense dramatic drive from the offset. The sheer power hits you and hits you hard. Like in Gorecki's second symphony the intensity is profound, but also beautiful and reassuring. The harmonic movements are unsettling and calming. The sensation is very similar to Schoenberg's Chamber Symphony No. 1, where it is familiar and tonal, travels a great distance, but is moving so quickly that the ride is bumpy and full of danger, due simply to the pace of movement. The orchestration is sublime throughout the first movement and always shows a composer with extremely fine craft and to end the opening movement on such an eerie calm is elegant.

The second movement, nicknamed the Melody in the Garden of Olives, shows a fantastic juxtaposition of extreme simplicity and jarring harmonic complexity in a truly magnificent interplay. After the flourish of strings they suddenly release, and almost like chanting monks, sing their melody. The melody circles on itself constantly with mild adjustments so it is never just exact repetition. The interjections from the rest of the orchestra come in the form of a distorted but shining chorale. The unresolved harmonies never quite finding any peace or release, and with every appearance almost feel like they grow stronger, almost vanquishing the melody. The very simple gesture is just genius. And for a composer, particularly after such large momentous gestures in the first movement, to cut the work down to such raw material is a brave and daring step. The result, almost ironically, is far more powerful than the first movement. The drama slowly unwinds and grows into something truly hypnotising, then suddenly, the trumpet appears. The moment it arrives is like something out of this world almost divine.


The work is unsurprisingly popular, it shows a composer with an extremely fine craft and also a composer who leaves musicologists and commentators like myself wondering how on earth do we define her? Throughout her work, she is full of romantic ideologies but never sounding regressive or conservative. She strives for a Mahlerian magnificence which never sounds like a pale imitation but actually something she is almost defining herself. It poses many fascinating questions indeed, many are quick to label her as 'neo-romantic' but this is very short sighted for many reasons. Firstly as neo-romanticism is Western Europe is used to define composer either started in a complex field then went romantic a la Penderecki, or alternatively are writing very romantic despite the national trend being heavily experimental. This view point doesn't really work for any nation from the former Soviet Union as the state sanctioned 'style' was for social realism, which ultimately translated into continuing romantic music without a break from it. This meant that many fine composers carried it on, and ultimately show us what romanticism in Western Europe could have been like with the outbreak of World War II. What this ultimately means for Onute Narbutaite, Lithuania never truly cut its ties with romanticism, meaning she is just a romantic composer. But what this needs to be understood as, is she is a twenty-first century romantic. Which she is without shame or worry, and ultimately makes her one of the striking composers alive today.


Listen to the glorious recording of her Symphony No. 2 here on Spotify!

Eduardas Balsys: Violin Concerto No. 1

After a week flitting off to Yerevan, I am back in Europe, and back to blog. Today I saw a wonderful article by BBC Music Magazine on the wonderful conductor Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla. In it, a little side column shows four Lithuanian composers Mirga particularly appreciates, so my next four posts will discuss these figures! But today I need to discuss a composer I have been meaning to discuss for ages now, Eduardas Balsys. After weeks and weeks of having lessons in the room in academy dedicated to him, with his stern face staring at me and my compositions, I feel ashamed to not have mentioned him sooner. 

Eduardas Balsys (1919-1984) is an extremely significant figure in Lithuania as he, alongside Julius Juzeliunas, spearheaded Lithuanian music in the newly formed Soviet state; and came to particular prominence in the years of artistic resurgence after the passing of Joseph Stalin. This manifested itself in many different ways, either by being a popular proponent of 'Social Realism' with his works like 'March of Young Leninists' (1976). Or in the way he helped reopen explorations into modern musical languages like serial music or aleatoricism in works like 'Journey to Tilsit' (1980). He also constantly showed a desire to tap into local folklore and traditions like in his ballet 'Egle Queen of the Grass Snakes' (1960). Within all these areas Balsys managed to retain an elegance and sense of craft which is very apparent within his work, he is also an interesting example of how composers coped with the confines of Soviet censorship; as he was, like many others, able to sneak quite intense intellectual music under the radar of the regime. He also has the great accolade of being one of the most significant tutors within Lithuania's musical history, having taught many of Lithuania's leading composers today. 


Eduardas Balsys's violin concerto no. 1 (1954) is a curious work. In its three movements, the work manages to evoke many wonderful sensations, as well as starting off with moments of blaring dissonances. The work has many moments akin to Prokofiev, Bartok, but also many moments is very similar to Gustav Holst, which I think is probably the best composer to compare Balsys to for many reasons. Firstly the political influence in Holst's music meant he thrived on writing for amateurs and for the masses in his works for Brass Band, Wind Band, and Choir. Admittedly Balsys came about this less willingly, but the two came to similar results. On top of this, the two had a great desire to tap into folk traditions, with Holst reinvigorating British folk music and Balsys exploring his ancient folk melodies and themes. 


The first movement of Balsys's concerto is living and driving, starting with a bang, and profound procession, before the violinist goes for a run. The solo line is full of elegance, agility and grace. The soloist and orchestra fight it out for the entire movement, before eventually it seems the orchestra manage to subdue the soloist, even if only ever momentarily. 


The second movement starts with whispers and murmurs. The rolling chorale-like procession is lead by the clarinet which is mournful and sombre. The soloist enters with a beautifully melismatic line which rolls and sings so beautifully. Slow but surely the movement builds closer and closer to life, but still maintains a distinct sadness or nostalgia for something lost. 


The finale is a real showstopper. The music bounces and dances, the violinist navigates a really virtuosic solo line, but always holding importance over the orchestra. Despite being so virtuosic, the soloist lines always maintains a melodic nature, almost like how in the Brandenburg concerti how the soloists are melodic, but still extravagant. The nimble violin line keeps bouncing and the orchestra is equally agile throughout the movement. The rhythmic nuance is really elegant and the music is just damn fun to listen to. 


The concerto as a whole is marvelous, and it is a shock that it is not better known across the world. A part of me feels because Eduardas Balsys spent the majority of his working life on the other side of the Iron Curtain, he is simply ignored for being on the wrong side of the barrier. Too many composers are ignored and I feel gems like this show how nonsensical our ignorance of the music of former Soviet states is. 


Until next time, here is a glorious recording of Balsys's Violin Concerto No. 1 (1954)

Lithuanian Composer's Union awards

Last night was the Lithuanian Composer's Union awards where prizes were given to the panels favourite premieres of 2015. I sadly was unable to be there in person as I was on my way back from Vienna and ever so slightly brain dead once I finally arrived in Vilnius. This being said, I had spies in the audience, and the official announcement of the winners is on the Lithuanian Music Information Centre's website, however there isn't an English translation of it, which is an issue for another day.

Having been here in person since September, I have had to luxury of witnessing most of the pieces shortlisted. The rest of the shortlist here has full recordings of everything, so it was interesting to check out what I missed. 

In short, I feel I am at complete odds with the Composer's union's choices. With the exception of the public prize, I was particularly unimpressed with the winners. I am not in a position to comment on the public prize, as it was up to the public, so well done Ruta Vitkauskaite. My only worry is the fact that most of the composers in the shortlist aren't the most savvy at social media, so it can be argued they didn't necessarily have an equal opportunity to win it. But as I said the public has spoken and with over 700 votes, people definitely believed in Ruta's Confessions.

There were four other sections of prizes:uz stiliaus grynuma - purest style (or purity of style, depending on how you want to translate it)

uz ambicinga ideja - most ambitious style

uz orkestro vaizdinguma - best orchestral colour (or best orchestral imagery) 

jaunojo kompozitoriaus - Young composer

These four sections are quite open meaning composers in the youngest generation get to lock horns with the oldest. But on the other hand, groups like purest style are so vague it could be impossible to choose a winner. 

In the 'uz stiliaus grynuma' section, Vidmantas Bartulis won with his Voyage du silence. Admittedly I do have a soft spot for his work, it can often be quite moving and sincere. But Voyage du silence is just a bit dull, or like a weaker version of Eduard Tubin or even Stasys Vainiunas. Simplicity can be beautiful but this work failed. Definitely far from being a victor in my books.

For 'uz ambicinga ideja' the prize went to Egidija Medeksaite for her work Akasha which was premiered in GAIDA 2016. Those of you who can remember that far back, I was unimpressed by the work. I felt that there was too much adoption of bigger composers like Helmut Lachenmann, and not enough of Egidija. I also pointed out it was far surpassed by Ricardas Kabelis's Bole LT which was one of the most original pieces in the entire festival. I can understand why she was chosen, if you have never heard a note of Scelsi, Sciarrino, Lachenmann et al. the sounds the piece made was a bit more original. So maybe the panel just needed to listen to a bit more music first. 

Award ceremonies rarely make me cross, I admit I rarely agree but am never so stunned and shocked by a panel's decision. 'Uz orkestro vaizdinguma' was one of the worst choices I think that could be made. Mykolas Natalevicius's Karaciajus through some hole in the space time continuum defied all logic and won. A prize for best orchestral colour, or best orchestration, should go to a composer with a certain degrees of prowess in orchestration. I witnessed this piece's premiere and ultimately it was naive and half baked. The use of colour was basic, and particularly the use of brass was childish dull. I understand the piece was meant to show the horrors of a post-nuclear landscape, but brass should be menacing, not dull. 

The prize for 'jaunojo kompozitoriaus' went to Elena Sataites for her work Eremos. I have no clue what the criteria is for this group, especially when noone can agree on what constitutes a young composer. Elena's piece was quite sweet, but sadly did fall into a Baltic pastiche. If she was up against other students finishing their undergraduate last year, I know some composers who were more impressive. And if she were up against just young composers in general, I can name a few who outshone this piece. 

If I had influence on the awards this is how I would have gone:
uz stiliaus grynuma - Would have been a hard choice for me, but it would have either gone to Osvaldas Balakauskas for his Mozaika a truly wonderful piece for accordion, and further proof his Dodecatonality is both expansive and brilliant. Alternatively I would have chosen Ramunas Motiekaitis's Sonatina his beautifully unassuming music is by far one of the most original voices Lithuania has ever produced. 

uz ambicinga ideja - Without a doubt has to go to Juste Janulyte for her piece Radiance. I am rarely dumbfounded by a piece and Radiance blew me out of the water. Truly remarkable. 

uz orkestro vaizdinguma - Now there are two possible winners in my book, if I went for skill of orchestration and elegance of the craft, Marius Baranauskas's Palaiminimai is an outright winner. He is a skilled craftsman and even though it wasn't my favourite work by him its purity of craft must be commended. Alternatively if I went just for skill with colour and sheer inventiveness, the prize would have to go to Zibuokle Martynaityte's Ramybes Diptikai. This elegant work for violin and electronics is beautiful, striking and the interaction between the two is modestly remarkable. 

I won't offer my alternative for the jaunojo kompozitoriaus prize as I don't know the full extent of their process. 

I am intrigued by other people's views of the awards, as an outside looking in I wonder if it is just my opinion of the world of if others share my thoughts. Anyways can't ponder too much about the past. Got more fun things to discuss in the near future, like Druskomanija 2016 and a CD I have been meaning to review for a while now!

Zoom In

Last week I waffled about the wonderful Jurgis Maciunas CD I finally managed to get a copy of. This week is similar as I am going to be discussing another CD I received last week, Zoom in 11. The Zoom In... series was set up in 2002 by the Lithuanian Music Information Centre. Every year a CD is produced which features multiple composers from all walks of life in Lithuania. The selected works throughout the years are often pieces that received rewards or major critical acclaim in the year they were written.


I have been slowly gathering these CDs over the years, my current stash includes Zoom in 5,6,7,9,10, and now 11. These have been a wonderful eye opener for me over the years. Many of the giants in the musical landscape have been featured over the years. The production of these CDs are definitely an honourable venture as it promotes the newest pieces of music being written currently. Particularly when it comes to the production of CDs of contemporary music, the releases are often 10 years after the work is finished; or far worse, especially when you hunt for more obscure names.

This year's edition, Zoom in 11, features seven composers with works premiered in 2014. 

First on the disc is the giant Osvaldas Balakauskas (1937), his Prayer for Maidan was composed mostly out of his personal reaction to the unfolding events in Ukraine. Balakauskas's connection to Ukraine is very long standing, mostly from the fact he himself studied composition there. Prayer for Maidan is a powerful and gut churning work for string orchestra. Full of potency and beauty, once again Balakauskas proves why he is so important to the musical landscape here.


The next work is Fragments for symphony orchestra by Julius Aglinskas (1988), I was extremely positive of his solo piano work that was featured in the Gothic Hall Concert last month. This work is also equally impressive. Whereas the last work I commented on was more akin to Feldman, Fragments is remarkably similar to Howard Skempton or early works by Hans Abrahamsen like Walden. The circling piano chords build and grow organically into a really moving and modest work for orchestra. I am now beginning to be curious about what a large scale work by Julius Aglinskas would sound like? I have a sneaking suspicion it will be quite remarkable.


The following recording is by Rita Maciliunaite (1985), this is my first encounter with this composer, her work Autumn.Calendar Leaves is for mezzo-soprano and string trio. The work is based on texts by Kristijonas Donelaitis and Indre Valantinaite. The songs a pretty still and dark, with a great sense of melancholy, the glittering of certain colours against the purity of the vocal melody produces some really beautiful moments. But I find this work falls apart very quickly with sudden sharp gestures breaking the mood, almost just so it can sound 'modern'. Not the most remarkable of works, but there is potential in this composer, I wonder what other works by her sound like.


Then comes a short work by the British based Egidija Medeksaite (1979). She is a composer who has been enjoying a growing success in Lithuania, with appearences in the GAIDA festival and appearing multiple times on the Zoom in.. series. The featured work Sandhi Prakash, like many works by the composer, draws on Indian philosophy and Indian musical language. The rolling string lines move around, growing from a small point moving outwards. Everything line is filled with lots of tremolandi and other extended colours. But like many works by Medeskaite, the connection to the philosophy seems vague at best, and the connection to the tradition always feels more like exoticism than just working with the musical language. Literally every time I listen to a work by her I hear the comments I can only imagine Param Vir would make. Like I said in the performance of her work in GAIDA, she has to go beyond just trying to sound new, she needs to write something that holds up without depending on the philosophy for it to make sense, her craft needs to be the solid foundation of everything, and instead we get hypnotic soundscapes which are a diet Ligeti and just ultimately bore me; when the idea and the language has the potential to truly inspire and leave me in awe.


The fifth work to be featured on the disc is Jurgis Jarasius (1986) Acchor'deo. The keen observers here will know I commented on the purely electronic rendition of the work a few weeks ago and was content with what I heard. The music made sense, it sounds pretty, is modest, direct and works. The rendition featured on Zoom in 11 is the original intended rendition for string orchestra and electronics. The first thing I notice when it is played on the string instruments how much it sounds like Balakauskas. The electronic sounds interacting with the orchestra are very akin to Julian Anderson and some piece of Murail, where the electronics warp the original sound and add lots of colour as to take it beyond what the instrument can achieve. My only thought is in this rendition the electronics could take it so much further. As a string orchestra can comfortably cover the range of a piano, electronics have a hard time being truly necessary. So maybe the electronics could have pushed the harmonic and gestural language to a much greater extreme spectrum of colour and range. That being said, the music is still pretty solid and the modest of the work, does mean it holds together well.


The penultimate feature is Andrius Maslekovas (1985). His Calligraphies of the Last Rays is a charming and colourful work for trio. The subtle interplay of colour between the ensemble is handled very well, and the constant evolution is handled very well. The harmonic language is steady and really allows you to enjoy the subtleties of every note. The real strength in the work is the ability to not only use every instrument to their fullest within such a modest confine, but to also make every instrument quite poignant and vital to the work. A very strong work, and I hope to hear more large scale pieces from him in the future.


The final work on the CD is a piano concerto by Gintaras Sodeika (1961). This intensive work for piano and orchestra is very bold and hits you square in the jaw. The harmonic language and rhythmic interplay is akin to some of the more playful works of Janacek or Tippett. I have to thank Zoom in 11 for featuring this work, as embarrassingly I know considerably little about Sodeika and I really need to get to know him better. The concerto is fun and strong, I am surprised pianists around the world aren't jumping up and down at the chance of performing this wonderful edition to the repertoire.


As I said this CD series in invaluable, and has been a wonderful tool for me. I highly recommend every reader hunts for any edition of this collection as each CD shows the wide spectrum of music within Lithuania currently. The only curious thought I had when reading the little sleeve notes in this CD, is suggesting that there is no more 'grand narrative' within Lithuanian music. I am very picky on this kind of thinking, mostly because there is no musical grand narrative. It is a very old view of historians and musicologists which suggests the history of music happened in fixed stages and shifted as one, when in reality new ideas appeared, some caught on, some didn't, music slowly evolves and spreads a bit like a virus; the more people who catch it the more people know about it. The other issue with the 'grand narrative' thinking is it is extremely biased towards imperial Europe, as it implies any nation not up to their standard were primitive, its very akin to Rudyald Kipling talking about the 'White man's burden'. So having this form of thinking when considering the evolution of Lithuanian music, or any nation for that matter, is counter productive. Ultimately, due to the constraints under the Soviets, the spectrum of music was quite small, due to little information coming and experimentalism was rarely encouraged. Now the Soviets are long gone, the spectrum has been allowed to widen hence why suddenly 'sounding Lithuanian' is become less of symptom of music from Vilnius.


Rant over, to finish below is the recording of Prayer for Maidan simply because it and Balakauskas are amazing and always worth a listen. Enjoy and until next time!

Vidmantas Bartulis: Bolero Pavane Lachrimae

This week I thought it would be fun to look back at a work I discovered long before I moved to Vilnius. Bolero Pavane Lachrimae by Vidmantas Bartulis, I first heard performed in Cardiff in a concert given by the St. Christopher's Orchestra. The concert was part of the Vale of Glamorgan festival that year and the festival is what opened my eyes to the many wonderful composers here in Lithuania.

Vidmantas Bartulis (1954) is quite a curious figure. Often labelled as 'neo-romantic', Bartulis is more than just a conservative composer trying to bring back old traditions. His output can be compared to the likes of Alfred Schnittke with the clever use of polystylism, but also the desire to tackle tradition head on and see what can this tradition bring. In works like 'I Like F. Chopin' and other works in his 'I Like..' series, Bartulis draws on his favourite music like a springboard to jump from into something new, but still deeply connected to his love of music.

In the work Bolero Pavane Lachrimae Bartulis draws on musical ideas from the Lachrimae Pavane by Dowland, mostly the shifts of harmony. The work is quite detached from Dowland  but still holds its gut wrenching quality. The opening stabs are intensive and brutal, made more dramatic by their irregularity. The entrance of the cello is filled with sadness and beauty, before it steps back and the brutal attacks return. 

The main focus of the first movement is heralded by the pulsing chords which underpin the cello obligato. This section is quickly followed by another fragment with the cellist singing above a pulsing percussive line in the violins. Like many sections of the piece, the moment passing quite quickly into a new moving material.

Suddenly the piece explodes into life, with tremolandi in the orchestra. The violence and drama is reminiscent of the opening but is continuous and the soloist flies over it and fights against it all. The drive never seems to end and the cellist fights valiantly on. Before suddenly returning to original progression, like a rushed and relieving return home. The end of the first movement sees the cellist acting as percussion and colour on top of the beautiful melancholic chorale in the orchestra.

The second movement, opens with a beautiful chorale. Setting the scene for a beautiful conclusion, before the cellists return. The sumptuous line of the cello is just a wonderful moment and still strikes me, even after 3 years of listening to it. The movement progresses and eventually draws to a close, fading into nothing. Here is a recording on Youtube:

This was the first piece that drew me to the work of Vidmantas Bartulis, and I have yet to be disappointed by his work. I hope you all enjoy and I will see you next time.

Diana Cemeryte: Still

This week I am going to introduce a truly wonderful composer. Diana Cemeryte is a wonderful discovery I have made since I moved to Vilnius. A composer whose music is just wonderfully still and hypnotic. A student of Teistutis Makacinas, Rytis Mazulis, and Osvaldas Balakauskas Diana currently resides in Frankfurt.

Due to her study of gregorian chant and desire to not 'chatter' her music is extremely austere. The austerity is not a coldness or lack of sensation, but a chilled beauty like a singular snowflake. A snowflake is quite a wonderful comparison as the stillness is not just an empty space. In composers like Morton Feldman the stillness is frozen music moving extremely slowly, whereas in Anton Webern and Diana Cemeryte the stillness is extremely and elegantly layered. The fixation on gregorian chant and early polyphony means her work flows and moves seamlessly from space to space.

The music draws you in and forces you to focus on a singularity. As soon as you do this, you see how complex and sophisticated the construction is; like zooming in on a snowflake you see the symmetry, the skilled and perfect construction which was invisible from a distance.

The piece that first drew me into her astounding work was Still (2004) for solo piano. A work which in its seven minutes takes you away to something distant and profoundly mystical. The opening is intensely quiet, with lines bouncing around the highest reaches of the instrument. Notes hang in the air as the counterpoint thickens. Despite being so still and silent, the listener is frozen in place. You slowly begin to pick out small instances of the harmonic language, but due to the sparsity and modesty of it all these hints fall into insignificance. The flowing lines steadily pick up momentum and you gain the sensation of a rippling energy under the surface, like a river flowing under the ice.

The sensation of form has disintegrated in this piece, this isn't to say there is no form in actuality the form ceases to matter. The 'climax' around the five minute mark is striking, almost startling, and you calmly return to the meditative stillness and just follow the work to its end. The piece flows, the moment arrives, the moment passes. Once its gone it never returns, hints of a past are dropped every so often, but you just sit and watch the world flow by; like a monk meditating. A thought arrives and a thought leaves.

Such an elegant work indeed, you can listen to it here on soundcloud. I will definitely be on the look out for more work from this stunning composer. 

Young composers in the Gothic Hall.

Last night I was involved in a concert of young composers from various walks of life recent graduates, masters, and bachelors students. The performance took place in the magical Gothic Hall in the Vilnius Art Academy. The concert was overflowing with people, to the point that often I was just outside listening to the pieces being performed.

The first piece was by Jurgis Jarasius. His work Acchor'deo was a reconstruction of a work by the same name. The original was composed for strings and electronics, the version we heard last night was purely electronic. The work focused on a sustained sounds which slowly circled itself. The work was nice and still and quite colourful. Nothing ground breaking but just a nice piece. My only query is why the string parts were only recreated with virtual instruments? With the infinite opportunities with electronics could the string lines be redo with whole new timbres we have never heard before? Just a question really. I'll be curious to compare to the original when I finally get a chance to listen to Zoom in 11. I recommend you have a look at Jurgis's Soundcloud to make your own discoveries about him.

Following this was Andrius Siurys. A composer who I have been able to watch grow and change for the past 2 years. The work last night Atspirties Taskas was for violin and piano, and ultimately a wonderful leap in Siurys's craft. The work was full of energy and violence, and Diemante Merkeviciute handled it all with power and grace. The focus on motivic development showed a greater skill in his construction, but I feel the harmonic potential was not quite tapped into fully. The violent chords were strong, but the still moments felt disconnected, the previous harmonies if used skillfully could have been the way to hold it all together. If he addresses harmony a bit more, mostly finding purpose in the choice of harmony, Andrius has a growing potential to become very potent. For those curious, check other recordings of him here on Soundcloud.

The third piece in the concert I had the pleasure of knowing extremely well because I was conducting it. Which adds the most curious twist I have had to deal with when writing any sort of review. Karolina Kapustaite's work Matrikacakra, draws on the imagery and philosophical stance of Chakras; namely certain areas of the body have a specific form of resonance and energy which is linked to all other sorts of resonances and energies throughout the universe. In Tibetan and Tantric Buddhism this is quite a fascinating topic, but many new age people have misappropriated it sadly. Anyways back to the piece. Matrikacakra was composed for a mixed quintet of flute, clarinet, violin, viola, and cello. In its seven minutes the work shimmers and glistens. The sense of timing is wonderful, never rushed, new sounds drift in adding or taking away from the present texture. The piece is extremely strong, Karolina Kapustaite has a bright future ahead of her if she keeps producing wonderful works of this strength. The players in the ensemble were extremely solid and really brought the piece to life. And noone wants to hear about my conducting. I strongly recommend everyone to listen to Karolina's other works here.

The penultimate piece before the break was a string quartet by Marius Civilis. The work 

-mona- was very straight forward, the quartet moved as one, very close to one another, but not quite together in a collection of quite dissonant waves. The shape of the work was fine, if a bit laboured due to its predictability. The harmonic language was dull and tedious. The circling lines were a bit like Bartok's Music for String Percussion and Celeste and if my ear is correct its climax was almost identical. Sounding like Bartok can be great, but sadly in this piece it sounded more like Bartok was hammered on absinthe. The microtonal harmonies were unnecessary, or at least made little to no sense in the work. Its almost like he wanted to make sure he sounded 'modern'. Now don't get me wrong, works that treat the string quartet as one mass moving together can be extremely powerful look at Scelsi and Radulescu's fourth quartet, as well as sans pause by Rytis Mazulis. But they succeeded due to skillful craft. Once you take away the fact that the piece wasn't original what does it have left to stand on? I sadly couldn't find Marius Civilis on soundcloud, I would have given a link so you can make up your own mind on it all.

The final piece in the first half was a piano work by Kristupas Bubnelis called Plaktukai be fortepijono. The work was full of character and charm, the flowing lines of the piano were a lovely break from the previous piece. The piece at times I found mildly reminiscent of Georgs Pelecis's Concerto Bianco. The use of Balakauskas's trademark Dodekatonality was very heavy, even at times I found it to be a tad pastiche when suddenly from the free flowing lines to 'jazzy' chords. For such a young student is craft is very strong, I feel he just needs to step out into something more Bubnelis and less Balakauskas. I think if he came across composers like Peter Schat, Per Norgard, or Hans Abrahamsen would help broaden him and push into something very strong. Have a listen to his works here.

After the break was the work Bizonai by Monika Sokaite. The work opened with a simple circling of harmonies in the piano which served as a backdrop to the vocal melody. The team of Vaidrius Smilinskas and Paulius Pancekauskas was beyond remarkable. A beautiful voice like melted butter in the fluffiest baked potato, and a piano support which was strong and supportive allowing the singer to be brilliant. I was in awe. But the awe kind of ended with the quality of the performance, because the work did nothing and said nothing. Ultimately it was a blank sheet of paper which allowed the performers to craft it into something worth listening to. This song by no means compares to works like Erlkonig or  Die Doppelganger. Simplicity can be really profound just look at Howard Skempton or Arvo Part. But simplicity needs purpose and intent otherwise it is just naive or bland. This being said do have a listen to her music on Soundcloud, I am by no mean gospel.

Following this came a real highlight for me. Pradzioje Taskas - Pabaigoje Pradzia by Julis Aglinskas blew me away. The opening chord caught me like a rabbit in headlights. The stillness was beautiful and never let me go. It is obvious composers like Feldman are an influence, but it was by no means a pale imitation of him. The static chords and the chill of the harmonics on the piano just mesmerised. I really hope I get to hear this piece again! I definitely recommend you all see his recordings on Soundcloud.

The penultimate work of the whole concert was a charismatic little flute miniature by Vilte Zakeviciute. The piece Siaures vejo gusis was well crafted and full of character. A young student can take pride in the piece. I will be curious to see how she develops as a composer, there is something there.

The final piece, Isochronous by Dominykas Digimas was strong. The space was reminiscent of Georg Fredrich Haas's In Vain, waiting in the dark before things moved. The visual display was very hypnotic and Dominykas really made sure his music fitted the character of the visual elements. The sparse electronics were hypnotic and the saxophones were magical and full of evocative colours. The only issue I found was piece depended too much on the visual element. If we take opera, Mozart et al were lead by the visual and dramatic elements but the works are still well crafted. Cross-collaborations cannot transcend music, so the music needs to be as skillfully crafted as a 'traditional' concert piece. This being said, with a strong craft and the same kind of nuance and subtlety of composers like Eliane Radigue, Dominykas could be extremely profound. He just needs that extra push. I recommend people check him out on Soundcloud.

Until next time!

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!

Arvydas Malcys: Concerto for Clarinet and Chamber Orchestra

After two of some wonderful Estonians, I think its time to return to a Lithuanian gem I have developed quite a fondness of since uncovering his music. Arvydas Malcys (1957*) is a rather curious composer as he doesn't fall into any camps of composers that can be found here in Lithuania or throughout Europe. His willingness to tackle classic forms and structures like concerto is intriguing as it is truly adhering to the nature of a concerto but never feeling conservative. Also musically there is a strong affinity to composers like Bartok or Honnegger who used modernist 'techniques' as an extension of what has come before and not a rejection of it.

A student of Vytautas Laurusas, Arvydas Malcys studied composition alongside his studies of the cello (under Domas Svirskis). His music has won multiple awards and is full of a huge amount of colour and character, it is a real shame British orchestras haven't heard of him. I imagine Malcsys's work would be extremely well received by the paying public.

The concerto for clarinet and chamber orchestra was written in 2007 and dedicated to the late Algirdas Doveika who was the principal clarinettist of the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra. The concerto was written for Roger Arve Vigulf, a Norwegian clarinettist Arvydas had worked for around three years previous to this concerto. The work is in three movements which a calm declamatory cadenza, before flying off into a pulsating driving sphere. The first movement is short, but never loses its energy, constantly pushing the piece along with a great vibrancy. The simple nature of the first movement is made more elegant by the introduction and expansion of the material throughout the chamber orchestra. The energy is a stark contrast the to beautiful melodic material in the soloist, who floats seamlessly above the ensemble.But as the piece progresses the energy in the orchestra turns to staggering tremolandi and the clarinet flies over the chaos.

The second movement is drastically different and potently beautiful. Much like in the solo clarinet movement of Messiaen's Quatour pour la fin de temps, the movement starts with a sparse clarinet melody leaping beautifully over wide intervals and disappearing into nothingness. The entrance of the strings reiterate the opening of the first movement and give the middle movement a larger depth and broader colouring. The reiterating Es from the clarinet morph into powerful multiphonics stretched against the dense clusters in the strings, before flying off into an allegro passage. The section is a bit more frantic with the aleatoric elements blurring any sensation of pulse and rhythmic direction. Suddenly the frantic energy busts into an almost comical bouncing triplet section which canonically repeats gestures from the clarinet, before it fades away into a peaceful mournful calm.

The final movement is full of cheeky gestures and energy. A fantastical scherzo which really lets the soloist let loose and show off their prowess. The clumsy pulsations from the strings add a sense of comedy in the opening bars of the movement. Then this clumsy cheeky side disappears with a gesturing of tiny fragments flying around the group. The tiny gesture grows and expands and gives the sensation of clockwork as everything ticks along growing and growing. This ticking becomes a bit more maniacal before dissipating into a whole new section with screaming glissandi from the soloist. This leads onto an area with lots of drive, being pushed by flying scales which disappearing and morph into flickering gestures which fade and eventually disappear with the final Gershwin-esque gliss.

The work can be heard here on spotify. It is a fun work and a great show piece for clarinettists the world over. I'd be curious to see how other soloists would shape this kind of piece, as there is so much room for a soloist to add their own personal input.

Anyways until next week, where I might either discuss Bacevicius or Lithuanian music on the whole, looking at where it is in comparison to a generation ago. Until then!

GAIDA Festival: Three Concerts in Two Days

The past few days of GAIDA Festival have been intensive, a real tour de force of Baltic music. With premieres and performances of works by Tomas Kutavicius, Jurgis Juozopaitis, Justina Repeckaite, Albertas Navickas, Vykintas Baltakas, Ignas Krunglevicius, Arvo Part, and Juste Janulyte. I was asked by the GAIDA Festival to write a review of the concerts given by the Lietuvos Ansambliu Tinklas and New Era Orchestra, a full review of these concerts can be seen here.

This blog today will cover only Baltic composers, particularly the highlights for me. The first highlight I want to discuss is the work Mano seegantis langas by Tomas Kutavicius. The work was a premiere and performed by the New Era Orchestra. It was a profound work, starting with a circling passacaglia-like material, which was hypnotic and beautiful. The second half of the piece was far more energetic and rhythmical and really brought out highlights from the string orchestra. For me the real joy was seeing Tomas Kutavicius was not in the shadow of his father. The music was completely Tomas and had a wonderful almost whimsical nature to it. I sincerely hope the work is performed again in the near future and I get to hear more performances of his works.

The next highlight for me was the inclusion of Justina Repeckaite. She is quite a remarkable composer, and for me reviewing the concert was a bit of a daunting task, due mostly to the fact the young composer quoted me in her biography! The two works featured with Tapisserie and Rapid Eye Movements, both written for chamber ensembles and both highly focused pieces. Even though the performances weren't immaculate, the whole musicality of the pieces shone through. I highly recommend people check out her recordings here on her personal soundcloud, Tapisserie  is included on the page.

For regular follows of this blog, Vykintas Baltakas is a composer I have a lot of time for. It was wonderful to hear his music in a concert setting, and not just relying on the stash of recordings I have gathered. His ensemble, Lietuvos Ansambliu Tinklas, performed two pieces of his Redditio and Redditio 2. As I mentioned in the previous post about him, Baltakas is an intriguing composer in the way he reflects on his own music. Always pulling previous ideas apart, to reconstruct them into whole new works. These two works really highlighted this skill. Redditio is for mixed ensemble laid spatially around the hall, here as Redditio 2 is a wonderful work for wind quintet, with the same bursts of energy and colour. 

Last night was for me the highlight of the festival so far. A concert featuring only two composers Arvo Part and Juste Janulyte. I have featured both these composers before on this blog here and here. I already loved their music so much, I knew I was in for a treat when they were performed alongside each other. The pieces of Arvo Part that were performed were Da Pacem Domine, Summa, Magnificat, The woman with the Alabaster box, and Ode to Caesar. All wonderful pieces for choir, and performed beautifully by the Jauna Muzika ensemble. My only complaints were that Summa wasn't quite quick enough for my own liking and Magnificat was a bit too quick. Two wonderful pieces performed fantastically. To date, this is probably my favourite rendition of Part's Magnificat:

Last night's concert concluded with a new work by Juste Janulyte, Radiance. The new work was for choir and electronics, which were wonderfully manned by Michele Tadini and Antonello Raggi. The piece was reflection on two contrasting interpretation of radiance. The first focused on the radiance and brilliance of the sun, the other was radiating. The work was written as a commemoration to the 70th anniversary since the horrific acts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The piece for me was as powerful and reflective as Morton Feldman's Rothko Chapel where the reflection and sheer stillness of sound mesmerises you. But the climax of this work was one of the most powerful things I think I have ever witnessed. To be in a trance for so long, to lose connection to the world around you and to forget time itself was astounding. Then sounds like bombs dropped, and gunfire surrounded the audience, to be awoken so violently from a trance left me speechless. This has to be a magnum opus of sorts for Juste, it was wonderful to see a composer not only really refine their art, but to make it reach new heights previously unimaginable. It would be one of the biggest mistakes ever for this work not to be performed again. 

Tomorrow night is the finale of GAIDA with performances of works by Louis Andriessen, Francesco Filidei, Mykolas Natalevicius, and Gedminas Gelgotas. Then I can get some hard earned sleep. Till next time!

'MKP Premjeros' Concert, a snippet of things to come?

This past week has been dominated by the annual conference led by the Lithuanian Composer's Union. The conference is an international musicology conference and nine different nations were represented this year, including UK, Greece, Austria, Poland, Russia, and Sweden. The overall theme of the conference was focused on the phenomena of melody, the variety of talks spanned from ways of analysing melody, what aesthetically is melody?, and how has melody been used by major composers. It has been a thought provoking week, and to be brutally honest, I am a bit brain dead now.

Alongside this were two concerts, the first was a concert dedicated to the work of M. K. Ciurlionis ( a composer I will intensely cover in the near future) to mark the 140th birthday. The second was a concert was chamber concert which included student composers alongside the stalwart figure of LMTA, Rimantas Janeliauskas (another composer I will cover in better deal in a future post).  This post will focus on the younger composers featured in it.

The first composer featured after Janeliauskas was Julija Vezelyte, her piece Variniu Trio was a charming work, and had a similar campy feeling you'd find with works like Poulenc. Very nice, and I will hopefully be able to talk about her more in the future, sadly I could not find a soundcloud account for her. Hopefully I can rectify that soon.

The next composer, Gaile Griciute, for me is a tad perplexing. The quartet for trumpet, alto trombone, tenor trombone, and tuba, lacked something for me. The experimental desires in the work Slenksciai didn't affect me. The combinations of whistling, percussive effects on the brass, and general predictive unpredictability made the piece feel a bit bland. But perplexingly when listening to works on her soundcloud (found here) I came across a piece called Ostinato. The directness, the brutality of it, and sheer energy impressed and astounded me. If she carries on producing works of the same brilliance and unforgiving nature, she could become quite a formidable composer indeed.

The next composer featured was Jonas Jurkunas, a member of staff at LMTA. After having technology lessons with him it was refreshing to hear acoustic Jurkunas. A trio for the two trombones and tuba, was a wonderful lighthearted novelty, I don't mean this in a derogatory manner; but the piece never felt too serious of self pious. The upbeat opening was an intriguing contrast to still moments which centered on very slow changes of brass muting, and power brought out of the piece by the Variniu ansamblis really made the piece feel more than a piece just being played by the notes. Jonas Jurkunas has many recordings on his soundcloud, which I would highly recommend people checking.

The penultimate young composer featured was Andrius Siurys, a composer I have had many encounters with over the past year. His trio (is) Ra(u)stos juostos was for me quite a sign for Andrius. His experimental drive and energy to incorporate more and ever changing ideas, made his pieces quite anarchistic but in this work, the concentrated focus was beginning to take hold. This trio drew every listener in and, despite a few moments where certain sonic experiments felt mildly comical, made a well rounded and strong piece. If Andrius continues to develop in this way he has the potential to land on something truly unique and beautiful. Check out his soundcloud here.

The final young composer, and finale of the whole concert was Artuas Mikoliunas. For me the strongest piece by the younger composers featured and listening to his soundcloud has been a pure joy. Like with Jurkunas, the lighthearted nature of his music is just refreshing and wonderful. The optimistic charm and bouncy nature of the work is almost similar to the Estonian composer Raimo Kangro, it is just hard not to love it. I am extremely intrigued by how he would tackle something larger both in ensemble size and length, would it lose the optimism? Would it lead to something else? I am just intrigued to see where it shall go.

A special mention has to go to the young composer Andrius Maslekovas, one of the main organisers of the whole conference, and a composer who is on an intriguing path. His combination of sonoristic sounds and urge to keep a tight hold of melody make for a fascinating, but often very heartfelt result. Despite not featuring in this concert, it would be a disservice not to include him in this discussion. His soundcloud is here and I would highly recommend people check out his work, as the potential in his music is rather huge.

Next blog will be me wittering about the Gaida Festival. I am very excited about it all. So until then, viso gero!