Articles

https://www.7md.lt/muzika/2021-06-18/Ikveptas-Beethoveno

On 22 June, you are to premiere your latest symphonic piece of work The Message, which is devoted to Ludwig van Beethoven, at the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society as part of Vilnius Festival. The concert of the festival serves as the continuation of the 250^th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven which was celebrated worldwide last year. Beethoven has inspired numerous modern creators, such as Mauricio Kagel, Michael Gordon, Vidmantas Bartulis, Raminta Šerkšnytė, Christopher Rouse – the works of the latter are related specifically to the famous Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony (Fate Symphony). It will be played in the same concert of the festival as your new piece of work. What exactly inspired you to create your opus – Beethoven’s works or facts of his life?

I guess, the Beethoven phenomenon has touched every artist. For everyone, Beethoven is the symbol of classical music. After the French Revolution, Europe was in turmoil and chaos for 20 years. Napoleon had wars with various coalitions of European nations.  All Europeans were affected by this, and Beethoven, too, was affected by it, first admiring Napoleon and then becoming disillusioned with him. The depressive mood, the conciliatory attitude of the Europeans, the justification of aggression and brutality prevailed – the situation of that period is very similar to what we have today ... When I am listening to Beethoven’s Fifth, I can feel the atmosphere of the early 19th century in the air...

During World War II, the first bars of the Fifth Symphony (the “fate motif”) were used as signals of BBC programmes for Europe, which was occupied by the Nazi. Beethoven’s works were used equally by the Romantics, the Symbolists, the Nazis, the Soviets, and today's Modernists and Pop artists. Today Beethoven’s works have been massively commercialised – you can hear his music on every TV channel, in films and advertisements, it is used as mobile phone call sound and alarm ring signal.

An artist’s life – both creative and social one – is intertwined with the fragility of the existence of an individual. You can find a little bit of everything in it: some optimism, some pessimism, some fatalism, and some grotesque. While listening to Beethoven’s music, you think back to what you know about him, his complex character, his relationship with his brothers, his tragic despondency, but also his stubbornness, his intransigence, his refusal to reconcile, his belief in common human values.

What about the reflections on his personality and the context: how have you dealt with them in terms of compositional technique: are there any quotations from Beethoven’s works, or do you use any drastic techniques? What means do you use to convey your relationship with Beethoven?

Nowadays, the language of art has become very individual. Every author has their vocabulary and language. It was the legendary words by Beethoven about the Fifth Symphony “This is the sound of Fate knocking at the door” that was a denominator and a stimulus that still moves me today, when the world is so insecure and vulnerable. The initial cell of The Message was a modified rhythmic and melodic motif from the Fifth Symphony. That cell, that rhythmic and melodic (minor thirds) refrain is repeated throughout the work, developed and varied as the orchestral texture thickens. The pulse of anxiety is encoded in the percussion and continues throughout the work, disappearing only briefly in the Adagio episode, where, as if out of a dream, out of a mist, memories of a past life emerge, of the safe, rich and comfortable golden age of the European classical, humanist and Reformation heyday. In this episode, I use a few quotes from Beethoven, taken from the Adagio of the Ninth Symphony.

Did you strive to go hand in hand with a similar classical style when writing music inspired by, for instance, Mozart (MozART Games)?

When I was writing MozART Games, I was trying to imagine Mozart today, what music he would be writing and what emotions he would be trying to convey to a listener. I imagined that music has to be full of vitality, playfulness, lightness and elegance. However, there are no quotations of Mozart in this piece of composition. By the way, this work will be played in Moscow in a few weeks where it will be performed by the prestigious National Russian Symphony Orchestra in one of their concerts at summer festival.

Let’s talk about your life recently: how have you managed to cope with the lockdown?

In my view, the lockdown has had no impact on my creative work. An artist works alone, detached from the surrounding environment, immersed in his own ideas and dreams, so he continues to create under any conditions. In part, I think that the lockdown has even been beneficial: it has stopped the rush, it has given time for the things for which people could not find time before. They started to communicate more, to look back at themselves, their relatives, their children, their grandchildren, they were surprised to see what was going on in their immediate surroundings, they finally got back to reading books.

I would also add that creation of new works did not stop. Except, of course, it’s difficult to perform them because of the cancelled concerts, and there are difficulties in relation to arrangement of rehearsals, etc. Which of your works have fallen into this predicament and what their stories are?

Yes, I must admit I have suffered the hunger of performance. I hope this will end soon. Actually, 2020 had to be an interesting year for me. However, performance of all my works was postponed for an indefinite period of time... Of the major works that didn’t happen, I would mention the performance of the Piano Concerto in Italy and Costa Rica, the performance of the Accordion Concerto in Russia, the performance of the Concerto Grosso in Hungary, the performance of Above Us Only the Sky in England, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. But what I’m most looking forward to is performing the new works so that I can hear if I have succeeded in my ideas. The premiere of the Violin Concerto has been postponed several times because of the pandemic and today I still don’t know when it will be performed. So far, only a recording of the work has been agreed upon (to be recorded by the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, soloist Rūta Lipinaitytė, conductor Vilmantas Kaliūnas).

The symphony The World of Yesterday, a large-scale opus for a large symphony orchestra, is still waiting to be performed, but it is not yet in a firm position in the schedule and awaits its turn. The vocal-instrumental cycle Glacier Lithuania, based on the text of Sigitas Geda, is also awaiting its premiere. I hope the audience will be able to hear this work next year. So, of my latest large-format works, The Message is the lucky one – listeners will be able to hear it next week at Vilnius Festival.

Thank you for the interview.