Saint Christopher's Orchestra in Druskomanija 2017

It was that time of year again, where Donatas Katkus and his band of merry string players perform contemporary pieces and perform premieres of students from the Lithuanian Academy of Music. Once again this year the concert was held in the National Gallery, staring out at the river and riverbank, in the sunny evening sun. 

After the usual introductory spiel, came Ieva Budriunaite's Genau. The composer noted her inspiration from Switzerland as well as discussing the multiple motifs that led to the construction of the work. My heart did sink when I saw the names of the listed bands she had taken quotations from; which included Florence and the Machine, Coldplay, Chopin, David Lang, and Doves to name a few. But this being said my fears were dumbfounded. Oh frabjous day, calloh callay! The opening was still and serene, with every entry being surprisingly delicate and crystalline. As the work grew the variety of motifs were handled with increasing skill and nuance, and above all else, amazingly tastefully. Overall the work was modest and rather content in and of itself. Yes, the timbral palette could have been extended some what, and the harmonic language despite showing real ingenuity within tonal language, could have been made more interesting by broadening it. This being said, the work was simply self sustaining. Despite the areas that could have been improved the work, worked. The motifs were handled perfectly and Ieva managed to overcome the nightmarish problem of interacting with the 'pop world'. So well done, and I am curious to see how she continues to grow as a composer.

Following a bit of shuffling, and stern words from Donatas Katkus to the nearby restaurant/cafe area, came the second piece Lietuvos liaudies muzika (1990) by Mindaugas Urbaitis. This work very simply does what it says on the tin. It builds a huge collage or web of varying Dzuku folk melodies and watches how they interact with each other. The whole atmosphere of the piece is very curious indeed. The string orchestra were able to come out of their shell a bit, and every single player managed to make their own melodies sound like the most important part of the piece thus giving a much greater life to the work as a whole. 

Then came Monika Sokaite's Sigitas. The three movement work was dedicated to the Lithuanian cultural figure of legend Sigitas Geda. Without knowing how personally Geda influenced Monika, it is very easy to see why he could be a source of inspiration. The three movements draw reference to quotations from various works by the poet and musically everything interacts with them. The first movement opened with harmonies gathering slowly, as if like clouds in a storm. As the energy built within the movement, it was very clear to hear something has clicked within Monika's work. There was a sensation that she has thrown everything she has got at the piece, and it has ultimately paid off. The gesturing, the harmonic contrasts and colours, combined with moments of modesty serenity really show she was desperate to say something in the work. The gesturing and harmonic language throughout the three movements reminded me somewhat of Dobrinka Tabakova or early works of Erkki-Sven Tuur. I always like it when composers surprise me as much at this. There is no need to say much more other than very well done Monika, this was a glorious piece indeed.

The finale came in the form of Perskelta Tyla (2004) by Arvydas Malcys. The huge work for strings really shows off the full strength and fragility of a string ensemble, and Katkus was definitely the man to bring this work to life again. The power and modesty were handled with equal brilliance, and the orchestra constantly showed their dedication to making this work sing. With the finale being what it was, I must congratulate the festival on such a well rounded programme. It is surprisingly rare to see a concert of contemporary music stand so neatly and give a sensation of narrative across the four works. Thinking back to the early incident, a nod or at least a note must be given about Donatas Katkus. With the noise coming from the eating area, many performers would have just carried on begrudgingly, not Katkus. His sheer fervour and dedication to performance really shone when he corrected the situation, before continuing with the wonderful concert. There is definitely only one Donatas Katkus in this world, and what a musician he is.

Electromagnets and Young Lithuanians

Last night saw the premiere of a collection of new works by young composers written for piano, prepared with electromagnets. I was lucky enough to be included in the concert so I can briefly talk about how magnets work and then go on to witter about the wonderful young Lithuanian's being performed.

As you can see, magnets were suspended above the string of the piano. Then when turned on, the magnets would periodically attract and repel the string, this would create a pulsing sensation from the string in question. Then to add variety, the speed in which it attracted and repelled could be altered producing different sensations of ringing; on top of this using the piano pedal could have the string humming harmoniously, or leaving the pedal produced an intensive percussive sound.


For all the composers involved, these pieces were like doing the leap of faith in Indiana Jones. But to start off the concert came a timeless classic for the piano, Fur Alina, by Arvo Part. This work does not need any introduction as it is so widely known across the world. This performance was intriguing as the magnets were highlighting the tintinnabuli notes, adding a new level of magic to Arvo Part. The pianist Paulius Pancekauskas had a really beautiful ability with tone and stillness, my only issue was it simply was too quick. The very simple piece becomes dramatically intense when its extended by playing it very slowly. Ralph van Raat's recording of the work for Naxos is the epitome of how it should be performed.


Next after some harmonious electronic music from the sphere came '---' by Julius Aglinskas. It has been a joy to come across quite so many performances of him recently. The work started in a characteristically still manner. Chords hung in space. The simple moving melody had magnets highlight certain elements adding an beautiful to and fro between the keyboard and strings. As the piece progressed the droning magnets rang like distant little bells and the calm modest and peaceful melody moved its way to a soft and calm close. Even though musically it isn't too distant from other pieces I have heard from the composer, this context is a place where that kind of music is very strong. That being said, I imagine if he pushed the melodic line to Feldman-like sparsity it would have been remarkable.


Next came my little ditty Lotus and Lightning. Noone wants me to dwell on this, but one thing that did make me smile was the little typo in the programme notes 'Lotus and Lighting' I kept thinking it was a sign I could have seen in IKEA.


After my nonsense got out of the way, came Goda Marija Guzauskaite. Her work Vakaro Plytejimas started with a simple but charming melody. The magnets appeared and coloured everything. Lauryna Lankutyte performed the piano part wonderfully, never missing a beat of a segment of detail. Goda has a lot of potential, my only two thoughts when listening to the piece was the piano part was so pianistic and  full of rich textures for the instrument, were the magnets completely necessary? Secondly I am curious what she would sound like if she pushed the harmonic complexity a little further, tap into some richer harmonies. There is a good potential in this composer, I'll be keeping an eye on how she develops.


Next came an improvisation from Kristupas Bubnelis. I was curious to see how he would play with the magnets and also I was curious to see how he improvised in comparison to the other pieces of his I have heard. First it started with pulsating makes, grappling at the string, a small glimpse of a low note and high note appeared and disappeared as soon as they arrived. Kristupas had managed to evoke quite a dramatic atmosphere in a very minute  gesture. The dramatic intensity continued, always depriving us of developing into something. Introducing rich harmonic material and melodic lines, then snatching them away before we can quench our thirst. I was very impressed by his improvising, and the interaction with the electromagnets was extremely resourceful. The one thought I had, when comparing this performance to his other pieces I have heard, he is a very bright and promising student but desperately needs to leap into the dark. The pieces I have heard are far to restrained and polite, the improvisation showed the potential of a composer who could grab you by the scruff of the neck and beat you with musical intensity. I wonder if he'll jump.


After the improvisation came Martynas Vilpisauskas performing a song Use me and leave. His song started with setting up loops and riffs to underpin him, the magnets chimed modestly and really added to the mood. Even though the song was far closer to indie than avant-garde it still fitted within the concert, and was full of a lot of intriguing invention and musical gesturing. I had a bit of a soft spot for it, a part of me wished music like this was saturating the pop charts instead of its current line of filth. The only issue I had with the was with all the looping, the magnets, and him singing the traditional playing of the keyboard sounded out of place, and almost unnecessary, that being said it was still fun to listen to and the Martynas had a wonderfully sweet and dulcet tone to add to the whole occasion.


Then came a redo of Monika Sokaite's Bizonai which was originally for baritone and piano. Those of you who have read this blog regularly know I was unconvinced by the song and found it a bit lackluster. I was intrigued to see what the magnets would add to the work. Sadly the magnets took more away from the work than they gave. The fact they were static on one chord, meant they were regularly and persistently against the singer and piano. It produced quite an unnerving cognitive dissonance, this combined with the pauses to allow the magnets to speak on their own only destroyed any momentum the piece tried to create. The original version was at least well self contained, if a bit twee.


The phrase saving the best till last was almost like a mantra for this concert. The finale came in the form of Karolina Kapustaite's No Title for piano performed by three people and magnets. The work gripped and stunned me from the very start. The subtle scraps and intensive clangs of magnets produced a whole orchestral world of sound. The whole piece was intensive, ingenious, and remarkably colourful. Her ability to craft a musical dialogue in such a landscape was profound, with clambering dissonances appearing then fading into harmonious ringing. The whole work was an elegant ritual for four performers and I sincerely hope it gets multiple performances. The ending of the work was also extremely striking, a singular magnet humming while out of thumps and bumps appeared the most beautiful and serene harmonic. Pristine. This composer will stun the world soon.


This whole concert would not have been possible without the intriguing thinking and planning from Agne Matuleviciute. It was a daring concert and held together very well. Her musical and technical prowess on the magnets must also be commended, because like all concerts, a performance is only as good as its performers. So very well done to her for her hard work and commitment to this event. Hopefully I'll be able to see the other events in the Mediju Saviate 2016, it looks like a real treat indeed.

JAUNA MUZIKA 16: 5 Composers, 5 Pieces, lots of amplification

Last night was the second performance in the JAUNA MUZIKA 16 festival. The concert featured five brand new works, by five different Lithuanian composers who, funnily enough, I have wittered about on here at some point in the past. The performance in the Menu Spaustuves Black Hall, was of a very high quality and the mood was just right for premieres; full of excitement, nerves, and curiosity.

The first work Delta Cephei by Marius Baranauskas, was for the smallest instrumentation, but you'd have no idea when you listened to it. The piece was inspired by a quadruple star system in Cepheus and various parameters were used to shape the colour, tempi, and motivic development. The work was powerfully austere in the opening, with only a few scraps and brushes to move the music along, but despite this it always felt very rich and full. The cellist, Povilas Jacunskas, played every gesture with beauty and grace and Tomas Kulikauskas on percussion brought out every minute detail of the tam-tam to life. The shape and nuance of the work was profound and striking, this could easily be the strongest piece I have heard by Marius. I distinctly feel Marius enters a new realm when working with a chamber group, having to bring the most out of them to build the richest and most profound music. Who needs an orchestra when you have an amplified tam-tam?

Following this came Julius Aglinskas's '...' for string quartet. Instantly the worked revealed its intentions to challenge the notion of 'quartet' by separating the group into two duos. The lack of direct interaction between the duos was curious indeed, and the electronics went on the colour and blur the sensation of what we heard in front of us. The musicality was modest, and I kept finding myself pondering how much it reminded me of 'Jesus' love never failed me yet' by Gavin Bryars or even 'Lento' by Howard Skempton. However I did find the modesty began to stray too close to predictability, I imagine if it started from even less or was more radical and sparse by stretching it over a longer period of time would have been a far more impressive work.

Then came my other personal highlight of the concert, Diana Cemeryte's Les essais c'est tout II for string quartet, percussion and electronics. With whistles and clicks the music grew. I was so enthralled I struggled to write notes about it during the performance. The musicality was profound and striking. Every note struck to my core, and gripped me. The work had me eagerly wanting more. There was such austere beauty and profound sense of violence from five instruments, the work always advanced never resting and always on the attack. The intense restriction was so strong that when the simple electronic part came to the foreground I was dumbfounded by it. A truly elegant work and it was a real luxury to listen to the premiere.

After some shuffling came a work by Albertas Navickas, called 'tylos'. The piece started being very playful and inviting with the bowed cymbals in a cheeky counterpoint with the visuals on the screen. From this the work grew, building more and more colour, and feeling like it was accelerating, then suddenly the electronics started talking and instantly I was put off by it. The simple flaw in the work is it was almost identical to 'Different Trains' by Steve Reich, and why should I listen to a different work when I could listen to Reich; if I ever wanted to. It did sadden me this fact, because it was dedicated to his Grandma's 95th birthday, which is wonderfully sweet, but the music was just a pale imitation of something else.

And then, the finale came in the form of Monika Sokaite's 'O Tu Illustrata'; a setting of texts by Hildergard von Bingen for Baritone (doubling glockenspeil), string quartet, percussion and electronics. Instantly it could be seen the work was striving to achieve something big. Starting from a very still build up of chords built upon the foundation of the bass drum. The entrance of the baritone was nice, and the melodic line was rather pretty; but the positives were kind of ruined by the fact they were soaked in reverb. The piece moved along and climaxes were rammed down the throat simply because they were loud. At times the interaction between the different entities began to fall apart, as string quartet was often drowned out by the percussion, and due to all the reverb on the baritone he lost all the wonderful clarity in his voice. It was wonderful to see the composer strive for something more, but sadly this didn't achieve much, if this concert taught us anything doing less is far more striking and powerful. Sometimes the most heartfelt and profound gesture is whispered and not shouted.

The musicians in the concert were of a wonderful calibre, five disparate pieces can be a nightmare for any ensemble to do well, but the members of the Art Vio quartet were more than up for the task. Tomas Kulikauskas on percussion showed his clout throughout the concert, and Vaidrius Smilinskas has a bright future as a singer ahead of him, would love to hear him again in the future.

The festival has been very strong this year, and I am glad to see it hasn't fallen into the trap of producing its own 'festival sound' a rarity among festivals I fear. So the organisers of the festival do deserve congratulations for the success of this year.

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!