Articles

http://kultura.lrytas.lt/scena/europos-saulelydis-muzikoje-zemyna-uzpusto-smilteles-is-arabijos-ir-afrikos.htm

At the concert of Lithuanian National Symphonic Orchestra on occasion of the International Day of Music (1 October), colourful and festive moods predominated: following the strict and precise gestures of its conductor Modestas Barkauskas, the orchestra conveyed his artistic interpretation of the concert overture “Carnival” by Antonin Dvořák, op. 92/B. 169 and interpretation of the Dance (Danzón) No. 2 by Arturo Márquez. The monumentality of images provided by this contrasting and groovy danzón-style creation by the Mexican composer is aligned with the idea of the work created by the coryphaeus of Czech national music focused on a folk festival and motifs of folklore. The interesting and innovative programme attested the increasingly growing mastership and the professional capacity of the orchestra. Pianist Robertas Lozinskis, the laureate of a number of international competitions, including VII M. K. Čiurlionis competition where he gained the Prize I, a master graduated from Scottish Royal Conservatoire, was presented as a guest and played the Second Concert for a piano c-moll, op. 18 by Sergey Rakhmaninov. The musician that is considered one of most perspective young piano virtuosos both in Lithuania and the United Kingdom performed the complicated piano music work easily and on a high technical level. As an encore, R. Lozinskis performed the improvisation piece „Kara Toprak“ by Turkish pianist and composer Fazil Say that resides in Germany and is popular there. The pianist completed his master studies in July and will improve his skills in Scotland. He has planned already his concerts in Holland, Scotland and Costa Rica. His next concert in Lithuania will be arranged on 19 December at “Vaidila” Theatre.

In the romantic and emotional media, the premiere of “The European Sunset” by Arvydas Malcys turned into an intrigue of the evening. The three-part symphony performed without breaks, was, according to the author, “similar to a novel with a plot and personages.“ In the Part I named „Misterioso. Migla“, the image of the continent of Europe gradually being covered with grains of sand brought by wind from Arabia and Africa is provided. The programme work strives to inform on a danger of fragmentation menacing to the continent upon using the language of music sounds: chromatic slips of the winds towards the lowest registers, trills, full tones on the troublesome background of harsh sounds of the strings, bells, the percussion instruments and the rhythmic uncertainty form the ambience full of anxiety and overhang as a dreary cloud. Rapid episodes provide a image of “locust invasion”. The Part ends by a motif of jarring grotesque marsh.

The Part II named “The Dialogues” starts by a conversation of a bass clarinet and a flute piccolo that represent the grandfather and his grandson. The child listens to a narration of the grandpa about majesty of Europe in the past. This part is a programme allusion of the author to a listener. Sounds of a piano on the silent dissonance-like background of the strings, then the parts of a violoncello solo and a violin uniting into an ensemble illustrate a sunny cultural oasis that is suddenly destroyed by tremolo of timpani. The sense of humour and dramatic imagination of the composer sometimes frightens the audience by sudden sforzando of the percussion instruments. He starts the Part III by rapid running that turns into jarring accords, chromatic slips of the winds and desperate passages.

The finale, Allegro con brio, named “The All-embracing Fire” provides the apocalyptic where an image the oriental episode performed by a flute piccolo distinguishes itself: it probably symbolizes a small (in the meanwhile) but threatful explosion of emigration in the West. The creation ends by gradual diminuendo and minor piano accord – when “the Sun descends” to the bottom of the register of a tuba. The silence after the performance of the symphony attested that effective creation reached its goal – to create a colourful tissue of sounds, a real storm of them. The skillfully formed and originally shocking score that was created before „Brexit“ shows that ideas of literature powerfully and emotionally affect a human and are usable for one of the most important purposes of the music art. Because of this, Director of the Philharmonic Rūta Prūsevičienė told after the concert that “music will save both us and Europe” and resumed the creation to the composer by the sentence: „Now we’ll more appreciate the country where we live”. A. Malcys dedicated the Symphony to the 75-year anniversary of Lithuanian National Symphonic Orchestra.