Bronius Kutavičius - Magic Squares

Featuring:

Musicians on the recording

LENsemble Vilnius -

Ieva Sipaitytė (violin I)
Dainius Puodžiukas (violin II)
Robertas Bliškevičius (viola)
Vita Šiugždinienė (cello)
Giedrius Gelgotas (
flute)
Justė Gelgotaitė (oboe)
Andrius Žiūra (clarinet)
Andrius Puplauskis (bassoon)
Paulius Lukauskas (horn)
Laurynas Lapė (trumpet)
trumpet Marius Balčytis (trombone) Rima Chačaturian (piano)
Tomas Kulikauskas (percussion) Arnoldas Gurinavičius (double bass)

Chordos String Quartet - 

Ieva Sipaitytė (violin I), Dainius Puodžiukas (violin II), Robertas Bliškevičius (viola),
Vita Šiugždinienė (cello)

Vocal Ensemble - 

Andrius Bartkus (tenor) Egidijus Kaveckas (tenor) Dainius Balsys (baritone) Donatas Zakaras (base)

Recording track list

 
1. LENsemble - B.Kutavičius - Clocks of the Past II (2000) for ensemble                                   17:03
2. Chordos String Quartet - B.Kutavičius - String Quartet No 1 - I                                              3:19
3. Chordos String Quartet - B.Kutavičius - String Quartet No 1 - II                                             4:19 
4. Chordos String Quartet - B.Kutavičius - String Quartet No 1 - III                                            3:58  
5. B.Kutavičius - Pantheistic Oratorio (1970) for soloists and ensemble                                     18:45  
6. Chordos String Quartet - B.Kutavičius - Anno Cum Tettigonia | String Quartet No 2 (1980)   15:57
7. B.Kutavičius - Magic Squares ( 2012) for soloists and ensemble                                            10:18

 

NoBusiness Records NBCC 9
Release year - 2022

Credits and release info

BRONIUS KUTAVIČIUS (b. 1932) is considered one of the most important Lithuanian composers of the second half of XX century. Yet in his early music pieces the composer has applied various avant-garde techniques and modern principles such as serialism, sonorism, aleatoric and collage. But according to Kutavičius, he started writing some of his valuable compositions quite late, in the 1970s. At that time the Baltic music was marked with the search for national identity, individual musical language and style. Kutavičius’ music during the 1970’s provoked something of a cultural shock in the Lithuanian public and his compositions Pantheistic oratorio (1970), Dzukian Variations (1974), The Small Spectacle (1975), Last Pagan Rites and Two Birds in the Shadows of the Woods (both written in 1978), the Second string quartet Anno cum tettigonia (Year with the Grasshopper, 1980) became exceptional events in Lithuanian music of the time. It can be said that Kutavičius discovered his own musical language that was combined with the asceticism, multilayered structures, repetitions and archaism of Lithuanian folk music intonations, forms and texture and covered with the extensive cultural domain. Eventually Kutavičius’ creation purified the specific features such as unique temporal-spatial relationships and interpretation, theatrical effect and resemblance to a ritual in his music, ability to create emotional tension by spare vehicles and repetitive minimalism that is associated with the principles of Lithuanian folklore.