Music For An Imaginary Ballet

Featuring:

Musicians on the recording

Arkady Gotesman is widely regarded as one of the most distinctive percussionists and improvisers in Lithuania. With his refined sense of aesthetics, openness to interdisciplinary collaboration, and inexhaustible creative energy, he has carved a unique path across jazz, improvised, academic, and cross-genre music. His art is marked by curiosity, integrity, and deep respect for both music and the listener. For decades, Arkady has stood as a restless seeker: expanding the borders of musical expression, educating audiences, and building bridges between cultures. Music for an Imaginary Ballet is both a creative landmark and a musical diary of Arkady Gotesman long and rich career spanning over three decades. In 2023, Arkady presented his solo project of the same title. This chamber solo performance reflects his entire creative path, bearing the deep imprints of every colleague he has ever worked with, and embracing all the artistic directions that have shaped him.

Recording track list

Credits and release info

1. Stiklo Gabaliukai
Excerpt from A. Šenderov piece “after Chagall”
Recorded at 2023 at MAMAstudios, Vilnius, Lithuania
Arkady Gotesman - Stained glass pieces

2. It’s Coming
Recorded 11^th September, 2000 at Tamsta studija, Vilnius, Lithuania
Liudas Mockūnas - reeds
Arkady Gotesman - drums, percussion

3. Duo 1
Recorded 12^th April, 2023 live at Improdimensija, Vilnius, Lithuania
Mark Sanders - drums, percussion
Arkady Gotesman - drums

4. Trio 1
Trio “Alliance”
Recorded 23^rd May, 2025 live at Vilnius Mama Jazz Festival, Vilnius, Lithuania
Vyacheslav Ganelin - piano, electronics
Petras Vyšniauskas - reeds
Arkady Gotesman - drums, percussion

5. Duo 2
Recorded 29^th April, 2025 live at ”Muzikos Magijos klubas”, Vilnius, Lithuania
Tomas Kutavičus - piano
Arkady Gotesman - drums, percussion

6. Quartet
Quartet “EMIRITUS”
Recorded 13^th November, 2021 live at Vilnius Mama Jazz Festival
Petras Vyšniauskas - reeds, piano
Vytautas Labutis - reeds, piano
Eugenijus Kanevičus - doble bass
Arkady Gotesman - drums, percussion

7. Trio 2
Jan Maksimovich trio
Recorded 24^th April, 2025 live at Jazz club “Jazz cellar 11”, Vilnius, Lithuania
Jan Maksimovič - reeds
Eugenijus Kanevičus - dooble bass
Arkady Gotesman - drums, percussion

8. 7^th Track
Recorded 9^th November, 2012 live at “VDU Jazz Jungtys”, Kaunas, Lithuania
Charles Gayle - reeds
Arkady Gotesman - drums, percussion

9. Duo 3
Recorded 30^th October, 2019 live at festival ”Rhythm Virages”, Šeduva, Lithuania
Nate Wooley - trumpet
Arkady Gotesman - drums, percussion

10. Duo 4
Recorded 6^th November, 2025 live at Improdimensija, Vilnius, Lithuania
Martin Kuchen - reeds
Arkady Gotesman - drums, percussion

11. Trio 3
Recorded 19^th February, 2008 at Riga Philharmonic, Riga, Latvia
Ned Rothenberg - reeds, flute
Vladimir Volkov - dooble bass
Arkady Gotesman - drums, percussion

12. Stiklo Gabaliukai
Excerpt from A. Šenderov piece “after Chagall”
Recorded at 2023 at MAMAstudios, Vilnius, Lithuania

 

All tracks mixed and mastered by Vytautas Bedalis at MAMAstudios
Cover photo by Dmitrijus Matvejevas
Liner notes by Vitalijus Gailius
Design by Neringa Žukauskaitė

 

Reviews and articles

• Ieva Pakalniskyte - All About Jazz
• Ken Waxman - Jazz Word
• Jan Granlie - Salt Peanuts

 

Daniel A. Brown - New York City Jazz Record

Percussionist-interdisciplinary artist Arkady Gotesman pays a poignant and comprehensive homage to past and present collaborators with Music for an Imaginary Ballet. Built upon a twelve-movement suite that was recorded mostly-live over the span of 25 years, the album boasts a diverse cast of featured players, including Charles Gayle (tenor), Nate Wooley (trumpet) and Ned Rothenberg (woodwinds). Following album opener “Stiklo Gabaliukai”, featuring Gotesman solo performing on pieces of stained glass, he is joined on the 11-minute “It’s Coming” by Lithuania reeds player Liudas Mockūnas (on baritone) for a horn-and-drum conversation that chatters, pauses, reflects and streams melodic and rhythmic ideas at the listener. The dark-hued “Quartet” finds Gotesman joined by alto and soprano saxophonists (plus piano) Petras Vyšniauskas and Vytautas Labutis, as well as bassist Eugenijus Kanevičius. The tentative, postmodernist-feeling theme soon unravels into parallel soloing from Vyšniauskas and Labutis, coiled around Kanevičius’ relentless, climbing ostinato, with unpredictable rhythmic punctuation from the percussionist. The variety of each piece’s emotional tonality and assembled players sustains throughout, making Imaginary Ballet a worthy sonic dance.