Druskomanija 2016 - Day Three

Another day, another concert in the Druskomanija festival. Audience members wandered in from the lovely early summer heat, ensemble Synaesthesis wandered in looking cool and ready to drop something heavy.

Ensemble Synaesthesis is an ensemble built of young daring musicians wanting to do something new in the Lithuanian scene. It is a very noble move indeed, and the ensemble sure do have the energy to give it a bloody good shot. 

Their concert featured four works by composers, including two of the larger stalwart composers of the local scene; Rytis Mazulis and Gintaras Sodeika. The first work, Chrystal Images by George Halloway starting with rich harmonies appearing above a particularly resonant trombone fundamental, sumptuous colours burst from the density. As the piece progressed, the episodic break down of material became a tad cliched and stopped the piece from just sitting in a magical space. Each section was happy to sit still and ponder but then, became pointlessly broken. In short the piece opened up a space that could have been explored hours, allowing a glimpse at something infinitesimal. But instead skimmed the surface of an endless ocean never finding land, or gold.

Following this came Walking Cat Counterpoint by Aleksaj Kalinin. As soon as the piece started it stank with the stench of Steve Reich. The use of repetitive patterns and phasing and other 'minimalist' devices, gave us nothing new. We have heard it all before, maybe if the past 70 years didn't happen, I might have been impressed. To confound the problem, the work lacked the core ideal of American minimalism, a clearly audible structure or going through a process.  What we were given were smatterings of different pastiche Reich ideas which lasted a little while and were replaced by new ones. For a supposedly minimalist piece, there is a lot happening. The ideas weren't explored in a decent way by a minimalist's standards, or by any other kind of composer's standards.


The following work surprised and stunned me. It opened with a bright, brilliant burst of energy, the ensemble were pulsing slowly growing. The work was as charming as it was hypnotic. It was definitely the perfect tonic to cure the ailments of the preceding work. Then the moment that surprised me was the ending, seeing Rytis Mazulis walk up to the front. The work was very similar and very different to anything I have ever heard from Rytis. It had the same dependency and invention of canon that I have known and loved for a long time, but there was something wildly different about it. It was the happiest and most optimistic work I have ever heard by him. I have heard 'modal' pieces by him, like his Canon Solus, but it had a calmer more austere quality, and his more intensive works like Canon Mensurabilis, were brutal heavy handed and dark. I was stunned and surprised, and struck with a gleaming smile on my face. I am curious to see is this a new phase in the Mazulis saga, or is it merely something he needed to get out of his system? Either I do love it went giant figureheads evaluate their work and produce something wonderfully out of sync.


The finally was Dru Ka Ja Mu Di by Gintaras Sodeika. It started with whistles and scraps shuffling in the intimate space. The work continued to grow gradually and evolved into quite a magical ritual for ensemble. As the ritual intensified, the noise grew, leading to roars and growls from electronics. The work descended into an intense but awe inspiring anarchy. Then gradually the work came under control again, almost coming to a complete stop, before the electronics went nuts. The introduction of drum loops and screaming grooves were striking, but sadly felt a bit more comical under the circumstances. It felt more like Gabriel Prokofiev than a nice strong Romitelli. The work was so promising but the ending ultimately shattered the work. If the piece had started with more intense use of drum loops or had hinted at them more strongly I would have been convinced. Its quite a shame really, there are some really great pieces by the composer, this just didn't quite match the previous greats.


Ensemble Synaesthesis were very strong throughout and their conductor Karolis Variakojis was as steady and calm as a rock. When dealing with heavy minimalism I know how mind bending it can be to conduct or page turn for it, so hats off to a skilled conductor. My only issue is the ensemble are extremely talented and are hungry to bite into a good chunk of new music, I am curious with their obsession with minimalism. Mostly in the sense of it is far more mainstream than it used to be, admittedly composers like Laurence Crance, Eliane Radigue, and La Monte Young still scour the edges, but I am sure Synaethesis could tackle something with more grit and oomph. Seeing them try harder minimalists like Eliane Radigue or La Monte Young would be spectacular, or even getting their teeth stuck into some of the more violent avant-garde composers alive today like Iancu Dumitrescu, or Ana Maria-Avram to name just two. They did extremely well, I would just love to see them broaden themselves even further.


Following this came a late night shindig with a mini-moog and three pieces. I was one, I made some noises to start it off, the piece started, grew, then ended. I know noone reads this blog for me to talk about myself.

Alongside myself were two teams of composers, firstly the self proclaimed Voyage Voyage performed their MMVXLEtude. It was quite an intense exploration of the mini-moog and the two performers, Karolina Kapustaite and Dominykas Digimas, had a great interaction and rapour. 

The finale came in the form of Monika Zenkeviciute and Jura Elena Sedyte. Their Trys Saltiniai, was equally as impressive to witness and the two really found some fun areas and sounds to ponder. As their energy grew, they ended with a ring modulated scream and the 'late night' concert came to a close before 10pm. It was a wonderful light hearted event and everyone seemed impressed and content.


Now to bring on tonight's concert with the St. Christopher's Chamber Orchestra!

Erkki-Sven Tuur: String Quartet

I had been tossing and turning thinking about what piece to show this week, and I came to the decision that actually its about time I discuss this figure. Erkki-Sven Tuur (1959*) is quite the Estonian giant and is important to Estonia for two major reasons; his musical eclecticism and sheer vibrancy. He first started his musical career in the progressive rock band Spe heavily influenced by Frank Zappa, and Emerson Lake and Palmer. Shortly after this period he dove into 'classical' composition. He studied with Jaan Raats and Lepo Sumera and studied electronics in Karlruhe, Germany.

His music has a great vibrancy and energy and is never afraid to include various musical devices or strategies into pieces like bringing serialist language in combination with minimalistic repetitions and cycles. Even though the string quartet (1985) is not the strongest piece by Erkki-Sven Tuur, I felt compelled to talk about this one first, as it was the first piece of his I found. The colour and clarity of the two movement work really struck me.

The two movements are very direct episodic movements, with the first being about half the length of the second movement. The first movement closely resembles a rondo or ritornello form loosely following this shape:

A - B - C - B1 - C1 - A

A - is a monophonic texture with the quartet musically playing in unison, the harmony is vaguely tonal, but contradicts itself as it is never clearly Bb major or Eb major for example.

B - is a more animated episode with driving arpeggios in the violins while the viola and cello wait before interacting with it.

C - is a still moment, with the cello playing a harmonic glissando to colour the circling notes in the other three instruments.

The directness is treated remarkably as  it never feels predictable.

The second movement is far more extensive in its evolution, but follows a similar basic shape to the first movement. It vaguely references the same kind of shape, but feels more elegant in its construction. The second movement is as follows:

A - B - A1 - B1 - C - B2 - A2 - Reiteration of opening material of 1st movement.

A - is growing tremolandi 

B - is a burst of circling notes, combined with an arpeggiated gesture

C - is a sustained chord of Db, F,G,Ab.

It is a wonderful and approachable work, which made me fall in love with the composer's work. In larger scale works like the symphonies or concerti, the pieces are far more profound and elegant; this is by no means a condescending message for his chamber works like this quartet. It is hard not to love his work. You can hear the string quartet here  and you can find out more about Erkki-Sven Tuur here; alternatively you can find him on twitter.

See you next time, when I am likely to come back to wittering about lovely Lithuanians. 

Rytis Mazulis - Canon Mensurabilis

Before I start my usual ramblings, my brief absence has been the combination of having my first visitor from the UK and being knee deep in other tasks. It has allowed me to spend some time thinking about who on earth do I discuss next. It then suddenly struck me, it has to be Rytis Mazulis next. Having been in Vilnius now for three months, I have been able to see the magnitude of Mazulis's cult status. A quiet man, who is regularly found walking up and down the corridors of the academy, from my own encounters coffee is one of the main motivations for Mazulis's wanderings up around the academy.

Rytis Mazulis (1961*) when he was a student studied with Bronius Kutavicius in the M.K. Ciurlionis School of Arts, then went on to study with Julius Juzeliunas in the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. Mazulis is often described as a 'machinist' composer (not to be misread as 'masochist' composer), for those unfamiliar with the title; 'machinism' supposedly music which ultimately is very mechanic. Ultimately this is kind of true, but tells you nothing about what the music sounds like. I also dislike the title because of its use as an extension of minimalism. This is something that also misses the mark, a significant amount of Mazulis's music is canonic, ultimately a never ending canon, or a perpetually circling canon which is positively medieval, not minimalism.

Rytis Mazulis also often incorporates microintervallic gestures into his music, which is often used to blur the landscape or to simply distort the canon, but always producing hypnotic results. I remember just over a year ago Rytis told me about how when Horatiu Radulescu was in Vilnius, Radulescu kept telling Mazulis off for using microtones in the 'wrong' way.

 I digress, another element of Mazulis's music is the form. Ultimately in Mazulis's works, the form is in one direction, going from start to 'finish'. Inside the music, will be small evolutions and distortions, but never recapitulating in any sort of 'classical' sense. This combined with the hypnotic sounds is one of the many things that drew me to Mazulis's works, they hold you and simply are, there isn't any real extra nonsense on top of it. Any listener can hear the results.

The piece I wanted to show is 'Canon Mensurabilis' written in 2000 for the ensemble 'Ensemble Court-Circuit'. Like the medieval canon, the work is focused on a canon with different voices moving at different speeds. But on top of this Mazulis has some fun fluctuations and distortions running at the same time. Firstly the beat patterns change in patterns of:

(12-6) (10-5) (8-4) (6-3) (4-2) (3-6) (4-8) (5-10) (12-6) (10-5) (8-4) (6-3) (4-2)

This irregular pulsing ultimately distorts all sensation of rhythm as the predictability is constantly distorted. The semi-quaver pulse in the piano feels unrelenting and constant. On top of this the use of microintervals also distorts the soundscape. The piano from C3-B4 are tuned a quarter down. C4-C5 are unchanged, and C#5-C#6 are tuned a quarter up. On top of this the violin and flute (who are with C#5-C#6) play a quarter tone, the clarinet and viola do not play microintervals. The cello (who is within C3-B4) plays a quarter tone up. This combination of microintervals produces 'out of tune' semitonal clashes, which resolve. But always circling. The result is hypnotic and mind boggling, if 60s hippie bands had access to this instead of the sitar they would have had their brains fried.

But enough chit-chat here is the piece:

 Until next time.