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. 

Anna Veismane: Wings

With the past few posts being consistently full of Lithuanian composers, you would be forgiven to think I am only going to discuss Lithuanians. Now GAIDA has finished, I thought this would be a great opportunity to discuss a recent Latvian gem I have uncovered.

The composer in question is Anna Veismane (1976*) a composer who I am surprised it took me so long to discover her. A pupil of Peteris Vasks and Romualds Kalsons, to name just two of her teachers. Her music and herself don't need too much of an introduction, due mostly to the wonderful clarity in her work. But to show her off a bit, she has worked with ensembles and musicians all over the world like the North/South Chamber Orchestra (USA), Latvian Radio Choir, William Schimmel, and The Concorde Contemporary Music Ensemble, to name but a few. I have never really been fond of just quoting someone's biography, but for me it simply highlights how many composers who are pretty busy writing for ensembles worldwide go under the radar, especially in the sheltered musical environment of Britain.

But I digress, today's post is merely an introduction to one piece for cello and accordion called Wings. The work was written and performed by TWOgether duo, at the Latvian Music Days 2014. The second work by Veismane with the title, the first being a piece for solo flute. The duo is pretty captivating, starting with timid flashes and flutters of sound. Hearing the gestures pass from cello to accordion and vice versa is always fascinating, due to the quite dynamic separating the two instruments becomes almost impossible. Then suddenly a strong gesture from the cello bursts from the music into a beautiful frenzy, with small circling motifs combined with clusters in the accordion. The energy is slowly released, and the duo shimmer and die away into nothing.

The work isn't overtly grand or revolutionary, but it is just a nice fresh piece of music. Every gesture and idea is refreshing to listen to and is something I have been listening to on loop for a fair while now. Its also always nice to just come across a gripping miniature. Sometimes the most gripping pieces of music are tiny, just look at Farben from Schoenberg's Five Pieces for Orchestra, or Webern's symphony. 

Enjoy the piece here, but I also recommend people check out her website here. Some recordings of her works are present and they are definitely pieces I will want to discuss in future posts. Until next time! 

GAIDA Festival: Finale and a quick look back at the highlights.

Last night saw the conclusion of the GAIDA Festival, with a performance by the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra. The concert featured Louis Andriessen's The Hague Hacking for two pianos and orchestra, two new works by Mykolas Natalevicius and Gediminas Gelgotas, and Ogni gesto d'amore by Francesco Filidei for cello and orchestra. The festival finished with Squarepusher, but the combination of running on little sleep, unpredictable buses, and hunger steered me away from it.

I have always had a soft spot for Louis Andriessen, and it was nice to see him featured in the festival. The Hague Hacking is a fun work, but doesn't have the same grit and oomph that you can find in his earlier works. It was nicely performed by the soloists Ruta Riktere and Zbignevas Ibelhauptas.

Mykolas Natalevicius is a composer who has been on the periphery of my viewing in Lithuania, so it was nice to have the chance to finally hear him. Karachay for orchestra and electronics depicts a lake in Chelbyabinsk, which due to the pollution from the Soviet era is the most polluted place in the world. This kind of dystopian imagery goes hand in hand with electronics and orchestra with all the twisted colours and sheer magnitude that can be achieved by an orchestra, let alone when combined with electronics. Sadly the piece didn't quite live up to this. The violent gestures in the brass and percussion were ultimately naive, I am a bit sceptical of composer's using brass only to depict violence anyways, but when the sheer potential of the instruments aren't exploited it feels even more childish. The electronics were either under used or didn't balance with the orchestra, and the harmonic dissonances are sounds we have heard since when Varese was learning to walk. The potential is there in Natalevicius, but he has a long way to go.

The next composer Gediminas Gelgotas has been a name I have heard uttered under peoples breath like characters in Harry Potter trying not to mention 'he who shall not be named'. I have a kind of soft spot for infamous characters, because some of the best composers throughout history were surrounded by a dash of infamy. The work by Gelgotas Mountains.Waters.(Freedom) upon reading the programme note left me in a bit of a critical mood:

...use of music material creates the posture of composition that reminds one of today and rethinks the concepts of repetition and minimalism... - Gelgotas.

This kind of claim coming from a composer always gives the impression that the author has a half baked view of the musical world around them. Especially when you think La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and Bronius Kutavicius are considered minimalists but beyond repetition have little in common. But for the sake of being a well balanced critic, I forgot my predispositions and listened. Listening through the piece I was just bored by it. Simplicity when done well can be truly profound, look at Part, Howard Skempton, and Henryk Gorecki. But Gelgotas just had no impetus behind his music, beyond fifths being a mountain.

Francesco Filidei's music in the festival has been wonderful throughout and Ogni gesto d'amore was no exception. The wonderous cellist Francesco Dillon bought out all the musicality of every gesture, even the moment of tuning the lowest string down. The faint whistles and ripples of colour were hypnotic and the moments of clarity were truly touching. It has been a delight having so much of his music featured in the festival.

The GAIDA Festival has been a wonderful event this year, with such a wide variety of music featured. For me having Francesco Filidei as a featured composer was a stroke of genius from the organisers of the festival, from speaking to students who witnessed his works; Francesco has left his imprint on musical life here in Vilnius, it is only a matter of time till Lithuania produces composers of that ilk. This also highlights the importance of the festival, not only is it a great platform for Lithuanian composers, but has been a great door opener to the rest of the world. The wide selection of music, and avoiding a 'festival sound' is something many other festival should learn, it has given the festival its freshness and offers something to all listeners.

My other highlights have been witnessing the premieres of works by Ricardas Kabelis, Tomas Kutavicius, and Juste Janulyte. As well as performances of Vykintas Baltakas and Justina Repeckaite. If I were to pick a favourite concert it would be the Jauna Muzika concert featuring the works of Arvo Part and Juste Janulyte, it has still left me stunned. I definitely look forward to next year's festival, but for the mean time II need to catch up on sleep.

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!

GAIDA Festival: Klaipeda Chamber Orchestra

The festival has been going a mile a minute over the weekend, with two concerts every night. Due to a combination of sleep deprivation and choice of repertoire I have avoided writing a blog till today. The repertoire choices have been stunning, but it has mostly consisted of French, Italian, and American music. Ultimately I don't want this blog to sound like 'Lithuania is great, they play Italian music'.

But to fly through those concerts, firstly was Ensemble 2E2M with a concert of Francesco Filidei, Michael Levinas, and Philippe Hurel. The pieces were very strong throughout, getting the chance to hear Levinas's music live is a wonderful experience, the powerful gestures combined with some wackier techniques makes for a wonderful performance. Philippe Hurel's Pour Luigi is a fun piece, but loses the drive quite quickly. Which is a shame because when he is good its wonderful, his work Flashback is just a wonder to behold. Francesco Filidei once again was the star of the concert, I was particularly touched by his Finito Ogni Gesto the combination of musical colour and  descent was simple but powerfully refined.

From there came Repertorio Zero from Italy, their concert was just powerful, and the 15 year old inside me was jumping for joy throughout. What made their concert quite so affecting was the process in how they performed it. They almost completely did a way with the 'classical' model, and just played a set, which was juxtaposed with electronic interludes while the musicians prepared for the next piece. Fausto Romitelli's Professor Bad Trip, is just a remarkable experience. The shifts into distortion which then subside into wonderful clarity was just astounding. The other highlight in the concert was Riccardo Nova's Yage Howl which the composer dedicated to Fausto Romitelli. The complex tunings and colours was just mystifying.

The next major highlight for me was last night's performance by the Klaipeda Chamber Orchestra. The concert consisted of four works for the orchestra, Kaija Saariaho's Nymphea reflection, David Lang's Pierced for cello, piano, percussion, and strings, Ricardas Kabelis Bloe LT, and Egidija Medeksaite's Akasha. The two works by Lithuanian composers were world premieres.

The concert started with Egidija Medeksaite's Akasha. The work is inspired by Swami Vivekananda's books Raja-Yoga and Patanjali's Yoga Aphorisms. In short, Akasha is one of the two materials that creates the whole universe, it is the essence which brings form, everything then comes from Akasha and returns to Akasha. The work started with faint whispers while the string bowed their tail pieces. Slowly from the whispers pitches began to appear, and from there a richer sound grew which then fluctuated to bigger gestures. Structurally the piece worked, and the extended techniques fitted, but where was the essence that made Egidija Medeksaite sound like Egidija Medeskaite? All the gestures have been used in many other circumstances including Helmut Lachenmann's Tocattina for solo violin, Kaija Saariaho's Nymphea, and to a lesser extent Ligeti's Lontano. Listening to Akasha I couldn't escape the similarities these bigger figures. Beyond that, there was a lot of naivety in the work, gestures felt predictable and harmonies were rich but harmonies that have been heard before. As she continues to develop and mature Egidija Medeksaite has the potential to become a very potent composer. But, particularly when a composer is attempting to delve into new territories, a composer needs to know everything around them. Without that, she runs the risk of constantly sounding like a pale comparison.

The next piece in the concert was David Lang's Pierced. A work for solo cello, solo piano, solo percussion, and strings. The piece was typical David Lang, lots of pulsing rhythms, repetitive rhythms, and energetic. But particularly when the bass drum gesture entered, the piece was far to predictable, and ultimately dull. Which is a real shame, because the standard of the orchestra was remarkable, especially when you consider the fact they weren't conducted at all.

The third piece by Ricardas Kabelis is an enigma. Bole LT is on the verge of genius and utter insanity. First it starts, a huge cluster from the electronics and the strings. The room was dark and the strings kept on bowing, always bowing. And watching the screen, always watching the screen. The sensation was like watching an orchestra from an Orwellian nightmare. The blinking screen, the dimmed lights, the constant droning on, was like a scene from 1984. Then after what felt like an eternity came an insane man's epiphany, this chaotic and dystopian meditation came Bolero. The strings kept up their march, Bolero kept playing. Then the work ended. After all that, and even now, I don't know what I think of the piece. The sheer mechanics of the piece were unrelenting and never ending. As in I keep finding in David Lang's music, the repetition is what kills it. But some how Ricardas Kabelis, transcended this. I don't know if I like it, love it, or hate it. The one thing that I remind myself, is art is a way of affecting people. If this is the truth, Bole LT is one of the most solid pieces of art in a long time. I am still even now trying to work out this enigma, still trying to reach that same insane epiphany.

The concert concluded with Kaija Saariaho's Nymphea reflections. A truly beautiful work for string orchestra, born out of her work Nymphea for string quartet and electronics. The sheer elegance of gesture, combined with the brilliance of conception is a wonderful thing to witness. The way melodies float in the space, or the way an ensemble drags you into the chaos moves and affects you. What is also remarkable is this isn't Saariaho's strongest work, her musical power and prowess only grows when she tackles opera.

The Klaipedia Chamber Orchestra, in short were brilliant. What a wonderful debut performance at the festival. Their determination and sheer ability was half the reason the concert was such a profound success. They are an ensemble I hope to see again in the near future.

GAIDA is still moving on, tonight sees the Lithuanian Ensemble Network and the Ukrainian New Era Orchestra performing repertoire full of Lithuanian composers as well as giants like Xenakis. Another day another blog.

GAIDA Festival: Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra

After last week's visit of the Californian Santa Claus like figure (Terry Riley), GAIDA Festival has now gotten into full swing. Last night's concert was a concert of four extremely different works, by four wildly different composers. The four composers were Marius Baranauskas, Onute Narbutaite, James Dillon, and Francesco Filidei. James Dillon needs little introduction, a vibrant composer with lots of grit. This comes together in quite solid ways in his Andromeda for piano and orchestra. The orchestra tackled it strongly, but due to the length of the concert and the acoustic dissipating the clarity of minute piano gestures  the piece did feel like it was lagging.

Francesco Filidei was a wonderful bright breath of fresh air, not just in the context of the concert, but also in the aether of contemporary music. The austerity combined with the audacity of the tonal pages in his Fiori di Fiori was just truly remarkable. GAIDA Festival chose wisely making him one of the focused composers of the festival. I won't go into more detail about Francesco as one he features in more concerts throughout the festival, but I also want to get back to talking about Baltic composers. But before I do that, I highly recommend everyone checks out Francesco Filidei's Website.

Recently in a previous post I discussed Onute Narbutaite's Kornetas and for those with good memories or the time to read the link, I sadly wasn't converted to the opera, despite my love of Narbuatite's work. Her piece in the concert kein gestern, kein morgen is a concert adaption of the aria by the same name from scene 15 in the second act. Concert adaptions of arias from the opera in theory is a very strong move, because musically the work is beautiful and well rounded, and I can imagine singers around the world would love to sink their teeth into the arias. Sadly this piece didn't entirely go to plan. The music was strong, performance was very good, even though at times the light tenor Tomas Pavilionas was drowned out by the thick orchestration. The flaw was simply this concert adaptation was too long. Being familiar with the opera I knew the significance of why the music was extended as long as it was; it was Cornet's final words before his death. Without the dramatic lead up to it, the effectiveness was ultimately lost. Which is a shame, because Narbutaite has so much more up her sleeve. Hopefully I can get back to being very positive about her new work soon.

The final piece was a work by Marius Baranauskas. He is quite a fascinating composer, a student of Janeliauskas, Marius has been highly focused on the interaction of words and music. This isn't in the traditional sense of words and music, and just writing lots of songs, but more about making an ensemble speak. In works like Talking (2002), the result is a beautiful richness and murmuring, almost like the sensation of chanting a mantra. So I was very excited to see this new work by Marius. The new work in question, Beatitudes, draws inspiration from the Sermon on the mount. As the composer points out in the programme note:

...The blessings refer to the harmonious, fulfilling, and significant humans existence and are very relevant nowadays as people are lacking a life of sense, love, and peace. 

Marius Baranauskas

His spiritual connection to the work at no point becomes sappy, overly sentimental, or pious. And the reiterations of gesture do evoke images and sensations of repeating a prayer. The thick layering of orchestral colour was rich like a good quality 85% dark chocolate, but for me it all felt to familiar. This is Marius at his most comfortable, which is a shame for me. I imagine there are still wonderful places Marius and his music can go, the potential and potency is huge. Sadly this piece simmered, but not in a way that it was boring or uninspiring, but more like after mastering a recipe for a gorgeous roast dinner you only eat this roast dinner for weeks; after a while you lose the initial beauty of the dish because of being overly familiar.

I would still highly recommend people listen to the video below of Marius Baranauskas's Talking. The work blew me away the first time I heard it, and for those who listen it would not surprise them to learn that it won the Takemitsu Prize in 2004.

The next concerts of GAIDA include performances by Ensemble 2E2M, Ensemble Repertorio Zero, Mise-en New York, CRASH Ensemble, and the Klaipeda Chamber Orchestra.



What a fun time to be in Vilnius.

Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre performing Juzeliunas

Last night, in the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre where I study, the academy orchestra gave a concert dedicated the Carl Nielsen's 150th Birthday. For those who don't know, Carl Nielsen is Denmark's national composer and wrote many wonderful works including fantastic symphonies and some stunning concerti. But because this blog is dedicated to the Baltic and not Northern Europe, I will spend this post talking about the other half of the concert.

Alongside the two works of Nielsen (Symphony No.2 and Romance), the academy orchestra performed a relatively early work by the Lithuanian giant, Julius Juzeliunas. In a previous post I discussed his Songs of the Plains (Lygumu Giesmes). The early work is Juzeliunas's symphonic suite 'African Sketches'. The work is a five movement beast for orchestra and incorporates ideas like melodies, folklore, as well as rhythmic and harmonic content from the continent. 

The five movements are drastically different from the last, the first Eisena (procession). And like the title suggests, it starts from a quiet pulsating from the percussion and different instruments are slowly introduced building to a wonderfully energetic climax.

The second movement Irkluotoju daina (rower's song) is a very peaceful movement, with rippling orchestration in the strings and percussion. The alto saxophone sings the quoted song and results in quite an hypnotic moment.

The next movement Mergaiciu sokis (dance of the maidens) is an extremely cheeky and bouncy movement, with ideas flying around and is quite a bombastic moment. The energy never seems to stop in the movement, and it is just thrilling. 

Azandu vaizdelis (Azandu picture) is another quite still movement. But it is still filled with a dramatic pull and inner turmoil. The pulsating of the high strings stops the movement being completely peaceful and just focuses you in further. The flowing lines and rich timbral palette is very evocative. The final climax of the movement is just powerful and moving.

The finale Svente (feast) in short is hysterical! The chaotic bouncing and nonstop energy does conjure up images of a wonderfully riotous occasion. The screaming horns and brutal banging of strings and percussion is a lot of fun and a glorious way to end a large piece.

The performance of the piece by the academy orchestra was very strong, Martynas Staskus (conductor) really brought out the strengths in the orchestra. I was particularly impressed by the brass (admittedly I wanted them to push a little more to really unleash chaos). The strings were beautiful and really mastered their colours. At times the percussion and woodwind had some weaker moments, but they did make up for it in sheer energy and drama.

For those who were unable to see the performance in Vilnius, below is two videos from Youtube which features all five movements. Until next time!

Juzeliuans African Sketches I-II

Juzeliunas African Sketches III-V