Articles

https://www.7md.lt/muzika/2023-01-20/Laisves-viltis-neisbles-niekada

On 14 January, the concert “The Light of Freedom over the Baltic Sea” held at the headquarters of the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society presented a secular view of the painful and dear-to-us topics.  The colours of the event were more fragile and lighter than expected, but no less memorable. At the beginning, as the lights dimmed, a Ukrainian folk song arranged by Viktoras Rekala was played by the evening’s soloist, violinist Dalia Kuznecovaitė, and the National Symphony Orchestra was conducted by Estonian Erki Pehkas. The violinist then performed Pēteris Vasks’ Concerto for Violin and Orchestra “Distant Light”. This work, which was actually inspired by Gidon Kremer, hides the content of the personal experiences of the two musicians (childhood memories, books, shared education, etc.), but let us not be overly literary and consider what the composition conveyed through musical language instead.

The sombrely coloured opus began with a slow, recitative Andante introduction. The first cadenza hesitantly revealed the drama to come. The cantabile introduced a wistful melody in dark tones, gradually and emotionally evolving into Mosso’s restless, agitated, dance-like theme. The second cadenza was significantly broader and more melodious, moving into the Cantabile agitato. The same thematic and tonal material took on even more propulsive rhythms, punctuated by poignant flageolets and a slow episode full of tragic lyricism. It was again replaced by a restless, dramatic mise-en-scene leading into the third cadenza - again with technical challenges for the soloist. The most developed cadenza evolved into a macabre waltz, which led to an Andante and a plunge into the previous mood. The violinist played this expressive work with concentration, will and rationality.

Ms Kuznecovaitė also performed Ülo Krigul’s concerto for violin and orchestra “The Creation of Clouds”, dedicated to her. This music was not lacking in sonic effects and nuances either: while listening to it, one stays for a long time in an indeterminate state, as if playing - the orchestra’s role is very important here, the soloist’s part is only part of the overall plan. The chopped, “scratchy” episodes, and the repetitive rhythmic formulas reveal the premonitions of war. The cadenza is characteristic of the concerto. The opus ends with a climax – the image of a flood, which disappears as if observed from a bird’s eye view.

The second part of the concert featured the premiere of Arvydas Malcius’ 25-minute Symphony No. 5 “Yesterday’s World”. This was the highlight of the evening. The works of one of the most talented composers of our time are regularly included in the commemoration of important national dates. For a good reason. Malcys is not only a highly prolific composer who has developed his own style, but also the cellist of the National Symphony Orchestra, in the words of Rūta Prusevičienė, “the residing composer”. This allows him to see the orchestra’s work at close quarters, to perfect the orchestration and technical possibilities. But, I think, it is not only this that determines the popularity and appreciation of his works. Malcys is concerned with the global, civilisational level, and this symphony reflects what he calls the crisis of the world, the premonition of catastrophe.

The first movement of the symphony is Moderato tranquillo. Misterioso is an intriguing introduction full of threats, with piano and harp parts, and timpani, like a storm brewing. Here a fantastic musical scene unfolds, with instruments acting as dancing characters. These means of musical expression help to reveal the fury of hell and dark forces, and, according to the composer, are like the meat grinder of hell and the boiling cauldron of hatred and rage... The bacchanalian scene is replaced by the glow of birds and dawn - you can see the colourful birds fluttering from one branch to another. High registers, string sul ponticello, and fantastic harp glissandos enchant, and the crashing strokes create the impression of fast-paced action and attract attention, moving on to other rhythms, and picturesque brass performances. The exotic paintings and the showy imagery could even imply the realities of climate change, as they evoke the world of the jungle. But this is truly a jungle of human feelings and experiences, seductive and apparently disappearing. The composer has a stylistic command of states, a peculiar palette of colours, of tides, and his music is filled with emotion. Strings (sul ponticello, flageolets), harp, marimba, piano, and triangle in the high register, according to the composer, are like a silent shimmering, something very distant, barely audible, only perceptible, like something unreal, a paradise.

After the heavenly (paradise) episode, we return to the earthly struggle, symbolised by the orchestra's low voices and passages. The latter have two lines: woodwinds and strings. On top of this material is laid a rhythmic percussion plan (four tam-tams, timpani, four bongos, gran cassa, cymbals), two trumpets con surdini, frulato. This episode builds to a climax, a bruscamente, when the whole orchestra plays the sixteenth notes in a rough, rhythmic manner. Then follows the furioso - each group of the orchestra starts differently, playing virtuosic, upward passages - and the movement ends with a chaos of clusters that, with ever-ascending registers, diminuendo and ritenuto, ends with the lowest voices of the orchestra: tuba, bass clarinet, bassoons, cellos and double basses. The Adagio sostenuto, Misterioso, is a suggestive summing up of thought. The theme of the first movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, played on the piano (Marija Grikevičiūtė), sounds like an ideal reflection of the past, which is gradually deadened by the chaos of the strings. It is a very eloquent tonal dissonance between the piano part and the orchestra, a mismatch that expresses a state of civilisational rupture. The symphony is complex, with a lot of polyrhythmia and polytonality. The compelling work and its elegantly rendered idea made a great impression.

The whole concert programme very evocatively revealed the mood of change, anxiety, and mysterious transformations. As the programme included three contemporary works that have never been heard before, three authors with different styles, it was not easy to control the whole. But the conductor Erki Pehk and the orchestra, which understood him, expertly brought it all together into a coherent whole.