Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla knocked it out of the park in her DG debut of Weinberg symphonies, and the good folks at UMG know it. Here's a quick follow up. It's an all-Lithuanian ladies special, with works by the composer Raminta Šerkšnytė, and with not just the estimable MGT waving a stick, but also the even younger Giedrė Šlekytė getting her shot at Yellow Label glory.
The recording has three works, MGT leading the first two with the Kremerata Baltica, and Šlekytė leading the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, with choir, in the disc closer.
Vasarvidžio giesmė, or
Midsummer Song, from 2009, for string orchestra and slight percussion, is up first. Yet another woman's name pops into mind while listening, and that's Gloria Coates, because of the extensive use of glissando. That written, Šerkšnytė's piece is more my speed in its uncompromising modernisn, with no real tunes or center, but rather a sort of textural and colorful unfolding of musical ideas through the roughly thirteen minute length. MGT and her strings do the work full justice, and it strikes me as a piece perfectly suited to Carlos Kalmar, who routinely programs exactly this type of thing in his concerts. Perhaps I should write him a letter encouraging advocacy of the composer. Pairing it with a healthy sized check might be more potent. Sort of like the
De Profundis, from 1998, that follows. Spikier, more intense, and with some very affecting, even gorgeous passages, especially in the Andante rubato section, Šerkšnytė delivers what might be considered an updated, refined, more modern take of something Honegger would have written. Good stuff.
Saulėlydžio ir aušros giesmės, or
Songs of Sunset and Dawn, from 2007, closes out the recording. A sorta cantata-oratorio (apparently, the composer hates the oratorio form as it is typically understood) based on Indian raga structures and utilizing poetry by Rabindranath Tagore, it opens with
Day, Evening, and one hears a wonderful blend of influences that result in something new. Take the perfumed excess of Szymanowski, the harmonic daring of Debussy, some slight hints of
Wozzeck just before the murder, and an aleatoric feel mixed with solo and choral parts that bring to mind Martinů's
The Epic of Gilgamesh, along with something that comes close to sounding like Mongolian throat singing, and, well ladies and gentlemen, this here's the shit. It's as lush and beautiful as one could hope for, but also simultaneously very post-post-modern and/or avant-garde-y. And that's just the first movement. The second piece,
Night, offers an updated take on "night music" (duh) and introduces updated and refined Ligetian influences. How about that? As nicely as Lina Dambrauskaitė sings her part - and it is
very nice indeed - I couldn't help but wonder what Isabel Bayrakdarian might do with the part, I mean other than reduce me to a puddle of goo. The instrumental introduction to
Morning, Eternal Morning has a Rossinian flair to it - as in
William Tell, of course - though with unabashedly modernist sound, and the final piece itself has that Martinůesque feel to it, and the flute work seduces the ear. The spectral violin writing and delicate percussion adds a sense of staying in a dreamlike state rather than awaking from one. If the name dropping makes the music sound derivative, it is not meant to; rather, it is the easiest way to describe the formidable music Ms Šerkšnytė hath wrought. On the strength of just this piece and recording, Ms Šlekytė emerges as another young talent to watch. And Ms Šerkšnytė joins Vivian Fung as a contemporary female composer of no little interest to me. I
love recordings like this.
I went the hi res download route, and as in MGT's debut, sound is tip top. DG had best not dally in getting something else from their new stars out to the public.
