Lithuanian music

[Christopher]

I am travelling to Lithuania this week.

Having done a bit of forward research, one composer whose music I would very much like to hear more of is Jurgis Karnavičius (1884-1941) - I have discovered two pieces of his online and think they are wonderful:

Gražina's aria, from his opera Gražina - http://youtu.be/nFNFUxdyXmw - Sung by soprano Gražina Apanavičiūtė.

and a fragment from what I am guessing is a symphonic poem or maybe an overture called The Oval Portrait - http://www.mic.lt/en/classical/persons/info/karnavicius?ref=%2Fen%2Fclassical%2Fpersons%2F41

Another Lithuanian composer who has an opera aria on youtube that I am enjoying is Mikas Petrauskas (1873-1937) - Birutė's aria from his opera Birutė - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfuMNGJdi4U  Sung by soprano Asta Kriksciunaite.  Another version here with soprano Gražina Apanavičiūtė - http://youtu.be/WbfATFalqrA

Does anyone have any further (late) romantic-era Lithuanian recommendations for me?

[mbhaub]

I have enjoyed the orchestral works of Ciurlionis (1875-1911) very much over the years. The Sea and In the Forest. I haven't listened to any of the chamber music, which I should someday. The recording I first acquired was on the Seven Seas label from Japan, but the Marco Polo is every bit as good.

[TerraEpon]

There's also a nice disc of piano music of Ciurlionis on Marco Polo/Naxos.

[Alan Howe]

Try this Wikipedia listing:
http://lt.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C4%85ra%C5%A1as:Lietuvos_kompozitoriai

[Christopher]

I have enjoyed the orchestral works of Ciurlionis (1875-1911) very much over the years. The Sea and In the Forest. I haven't listened to any of the chamber music, which I should someday. The recording I first acquired was on the Seven Seas label from Japan, but the Marco Polo is every bit as good.

Am I right in thinking Ciurlionis wrote just 3 orchestral works? The Sea, In the Forest, and De Profundis (chorus and orchestra)?

On the website http://ciurlionis.licejus.lt/Muzika_en.htm#kiti   it says

"Talking about other notable musical works of Ciurlionis first of all one should mention cantata "De profundis" (1899) - this is his most well-known composition for choir. Symphonic overture "Kestutis" (1902) is no less worth remarking (only piano score remained). There are other symphonic compositions but only their sketches remained.

Ciurlionis created not only folk songs' harmonizations but also original compositions for a capella psalms (1898-1902) and poems written by his whife Sofija (1908-1909).

When Ciurlionis reached the peak of his creative and spiritual development (~1907-1909) he was burning with desire to write his greatest work - opera "Jurate". As J.Landsbergyte (Lithuanian musicologist) wrote, it "was supposed to realize his new musical symbolism, to merge the worlds of musical and pictorial spaces". Unfortunately, the opera was never completed."

(By the way, there are free downloads of his music available on that site)

[YankeeMusic]

Balys Dvarionis (1904-1974).

His violin concerto has been recorded by BIS, coupled with the Korngold VC.

Really worth hearing.

[Balapoel]

Am I right in thinking Ciurlionis wrote just 3 orchestral works? The Sea, In the Forest, and De Profundis (chorus and orchestra)?

Well, beyond the 3 you mention, there's
Polonaise for winds (1900)
5 Preludes for string orchestra (on the same album as the symphonic poems)
Dias irae, symphony (1911) - no more word about this one

and sketches:
Symphony in d minor (1902) -sketches for 1 movement
Lithuanian Pastoral symphony (1911) (sketches)
Creation of the world (1907) (sketches)

[eschiss1]

There's also Jazeps Vitols/Joseph Wihtol, some of whose music has been recorded (including his string quartet @ IMSLP, and a number of pieces on LP and CD.)

Unfortunately no recordings I'm aware of offhand, but the same Jurgis Karnavičius you mention composed at least two string quartets that seem interesting. (Actually, Russiancomposers.org.uk lists 5. The first two numbered quartets are digitized and @ IMSLP again.)

It might be nice to hear more by Naujalis or Laurischkus

[scottevan]

Kazimieras Banaitis (1896-1963) fits the bill exactly of a late romantic style composer who is worth exploring. On a radio program surveying Baltic composers I heard one excerpt from an opera of his, "Jurate ir Kastytis" so beautiful that for years I searched for a complete recording. I finally located it through the Lithuanian Opera of Chicago, who had recorded the opera in 1972 and released it as a boxed LP set.

The opera is a Baltic version the Loreley / Undine / Russalka tales of water spirits.  There is a quite thorough online article that sets it in context of other operatic works based on these myths.
http://www.lituanus.org/1996/96_4_01.htm

Outside of Lithuania, it seems that other compositions of Banaitas, even articles on the composer himself, are hard to come by. Yet on the strength of that one work alone I would say he's well worth searching out. Christopher, as you'll be going to Lithuania I'm sure there's a far better chance of discovering the music of Banaitas there than anyplace else!

There is a wikipedia article on the composer, though it would need translation from Lithuanian:
http://lt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazimieras_Viktoras_Banaitis

[Alan Howe]

There's also Jazeps Vitols

He's Latvian. Or was. But hey, that begins with an 'L' too....

[eschiss1]

hrm. Thought I saw him in a list of Lithuanian people, but was getting confused and sleepy and mixing things up. Sorry about that.

[Christopher]

Vitols is most definitely Latvian. But he did write a Rhapsody of Lithuanian Folksongs (unrecorded I believe) - http://imslp.org/wiki/Rhapsody_on_Lithuanian_Folksongs,_Op.39_%28V%C4%ABtols,_J%C4%81zeps%29

[Christopher]

Re Ciurlionis:

http://ciurlionis.eu/en/music/
Čiurlionis' symphonic output is not copious: two symphonic poems In the Forest (1901) and The Sea (1907), Overture for symphony orchestra, the First Symphony (unfinished) and cantata De Profundis for symphony orchestra and mixed choir. His rough draft manuscripts contain sketches of two other symphonic poems (The Creation of the World and Dies irae), the Second Symphony (Lithuanian Pastoral) and several other works (Fantasie, Largo and Prelude).

[JimL]

The way I tell Lithuanian and Latvian names apart is that Lithuanian names mostly sound like they could be Greek, while Latvian names all sound like they could be Russian...with 's' tacked on the end. 

[Alan Howe]

but was getting confused and sleepy and mixing things up. Sorry about that

No apology needed, of course. Vitols is a composer worth remembering anyway.