I must admit that receiving a proposal to curate a programme of Lithuanian contemporary music to be committed to disc was a great pleasure for me. And what an honour! I quite understand why the Music Information Centre Lithuania invited me to do it – having released an impressive collection of Lithuanian contemporary music, they wanted a ‘different’, an ‘outsider’s’ perspective, a certain way of looking at and reflecting on the Lithuanian music scene. I find it difficult, however, to tell whether my perspective really fits this description...
Twenty years ago, while studying musicology in the Czech Republic, I came to Lithuania for the first time and instantly fell in love with the country. I began to study Lithuanian language and wanted to know as much about the country’s culture as I could. Of course, my primary interest was music. Right from the start of my relationship with Lithuania I made attempts to promote Lithuanian music in the Czech Republic by writing about it in my articles, by including it into my radio broadcasts and programmes devised for concerts and festivals whenever such opportunities occurred. Ever since then, Lithuania has become my second home and Lithuanian music my ‘second musical nationality.’ How far does this make me capable of an outsider’s view...?
The first time I heard new Lithuanian music was at the festival New Music Marathon held in Prague in 2002, where Šarūnas Nakas and his legendary Vilnius New Music Ensemble performed his piece Ziqquratu II, and I was hugely impressed. It left a strong sense of ritual. Only later did I realize that this ritual quality is one of the most distinctive characteristics of Lithuanian music, probably stemming from the pagan times and age-old folklore, and definitely bearing on the work of Bronius Kutavičius. This motivated me to focus on the ritual aspects of music while choosing works for this album.
I must confess that Bronius Kutavičius is one of my favourite composers – and his work was the subject of my doctoral dissertation. So, it was clear to me that an album entitled Between Music and Ritual could not be complete without him. Other works presented here also demonstrate “the ritual quality of music” to a certain extent.
My aim was to create a CD that would not sound like a collection, a compilation of various unrelated works, but rather a coherent album from beginning to end, and also to make listeners experience this album as a ritual (I recommend listening to the last two compositions using headphones).
I wish I had the chance to include many more works by other composers in this album, but it can’t be endless… On the other hand, I endeavoured to make an album that would feature composers across the age spectrum and works across a variety of genres including instrumental and vocal, orchestral and chamber, acoustic and electronic, improvised and folk music combined with contemporary writing. In other words, my intention was to show Lithuanian contemporary music as a diverse, vibrant and stimulating scene, which it truly is.
BRONIUS KUTAVIČIUS (1932-2021) is often described as minimalist but his minimalism stems from the tradition of sutartinės – ancient Lithuanian multipart songs and sometimes instrumental music characteristic of the Aukštaitija ethnographic region where he was born. In fact, his entire oeuvre seems to draw inspiration from the past: the ancient history, traditional culture and folklore of Lithuania and other countries. “What inspires me most in the events of the past is that they are shrouded in mystery. This is my credo as an artist,” he once said. In my opinion, his oratorio Last Pagan Rites (1978) is an absolute milestone of Lithuanian contemporary music. When I chanced upon the recording and graphic score of this oratorio, I just could not take my eyes and ears off it. How simple it was, yet so carefully thought through, powerful and impressive! I craved to get it performed in the Czech Republic. But while listening to the recording and reading the performance notes provided by the composer, I somehow thought it was hardly feasible for us to perform it live. However, Linas Paulauskis from the Music Information Centre Lithuania suggested I contact the leader of the Aidija Choir, Romualdas Gražinis. In 2012, they came to the Hradec Králové Music Forum to perform Last Pagan Rites together with the local children’s choir Jitro. In 2017, the oratorio was performed here once again, this time at the Moravian Autumn Festival in Brno where Aidija appeared together with the local children’s choir Kantiléna. These performances not only made a lasting impression on the public but also presented an extraordinary experience for the Czech children’s choirs.
Aidija’s appearance at the Hradec Králové Music Forum also featured two other oratorios by Kutavičius, namely The Magic Circle of Sanskrit and From the Yotvingian Stone (1983). The latter work in two movements fascinated the audience by the powerful feel of being part of a ritual as much as by the instruments and objects used in the performance, including bottles, stones and Lithuanian folk instruments such as the švilpa (a transverse flute made of willow or aspen bark), the birbynė (reed pipe), ragai (wooden trumpets), skudučiai (pan pipes) and kanklės (Baltic psaltery). The first movement is based on a steady rhythm and features several extant words and sentences in the Yotvingian language (the Yotvingians were a Baltic tribe that became extinct in the 13th century). The second movement displays more lyricism and is based on a folk song written down by the composer, The Wind-blown Oak. I am happy to have the new recording by Aidija on this album.
Vítězslav Mikeš
(Read programme notes for the other works by clicking on their titles on the right.)
Vítězslav Mikeš (b.1977) is a Czech musicologist, music writer and music programmer (dramaturge). For many years he has been artistic director of the Music Forum festival in Hradec Králové and later the Exposition of New Music in Brno, before being appointed programme director of the Brno Philharmonic and the Moravian Autumn Festival in 2012. His interest in Lithuanian music and culture led him to study Lithuanian language and literature at the Charles University in Prague where he subsequently defended his doctoral thesis Music and Text in the Works by Bronius Kutavičius and Sigitas Geda in 2012 (Department of Eastern European Studies, Faculty of Arts). In 2018, for his significant contribution to the dissemination of Lithuanian music in the Czech Republic, he was decorated with the Knight’s Cross of the Order for Merits to Lithuania.
Supported by Lithuanian Council for Culture, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania and Association LATGA.
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