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Vytautas Montvila (1935-2003) studied at the Juozas Gruodis Music School in Kaunas and at the Lithuanian Academy of Music in Vilnius where he received diplomas in bassoon playing (1959) and composition (under Prof. Julius Juzeliūnas, 1964). For four decades he has worked as a sound engineer, at first at the Lithuanian Radio and Television (1959-75) and then at the Lithuanian Composers' Union.
In the 1960s Vytautas Montvila was regarded as one of the most radical composers in the vanguard of Lithuanian modernism. His oeuvre numbers over 300 symphonic, chamber, vocal and choral compositions as well as harmonizations of Lithuanian folk songs. Among Lithuanian composers, who make use of sutartines (i.e., Lithuanian polyphonic folk songs) in their music, Vytautas Montvila may be singled out for his tendency to enhance the melodic nature of these songs, while others usually point up their rhythmic syncopation and dissonant harmonies. Most of his works demonstrate an original blending of modern techniques - e.g., serialism, pointillism, aleatory - with the elements derived from Lithuanian folk songs.
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