Lithuanian music

[mikehopf]

Why was this blocked anyway?

Karnavicius falls well within our framework and his music is both folkloric and mostly romantic.

[Syrelius]

Maybe there has been a confusion re him and his son? The son has the same name and was born in 1912.

[Alan Howe]

This is our policy:
Please do not post about composers or compositions which clearly fall outside our definition of "romantic". Your post will not be approved. If you are in any doubt, and in any event if the music was written after 1918, please email or PM a moderator before posting.
http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,3681.0.html

In the case of music for which there is no evidence of its style, we must reluctantly refuse permission to post about it. What we need in respect of Karnavicius's opera "Radvila", therefore, is evidence before we can proceed. It would also help us if we were contacted first - as our guidelines set out.

[mikehopf]

My message simply announced the the impending broadcast of an opera by Karnavicius.

Christopher had sent a previous message about this composer which had been approved by you.

As I obviously had not heard the opera before it was broadcast how could I possibly be expected to " provide evidence" about it.

Besides, on the same day you accepted my notification of the Pingoud work.

Please explain!

[Alan Howe]

As I obviously had not heard the opera before it was broadcast how could I possibly be expected to " provide evidence" about it

You couldn't - but that's the whole point. In any case, you are neglecting the need to inform us before posting. That's the rule - otherwise we are in a continual battle to make guesses as to whether to allow particular posts. Now back to the topic of this thread, please...

[Christopher]

If I upload a 4-minute aria from one of Karnavicius's other operas here, could people then take a view?  It's from a youtube like that no longer works - I converted it to an mp3 4 years ago.  It is Grazina's aria, from the opera Grazina, sung by Gražina Apanavičiūtė (soprano).  It is unquestionably late-romantic in style. Or are you in unmovable mode Alan?

[eschiss1]

You could just use "send user" and message him the link as you should have done in the first place, yes?...

[Mark Thomas]

Just send the link to Alan, or semloh or me, Christopher. We'll take it from there as we have done quite a few times in the past..

[Christopher]

You could just use "send user" and message him the link as you should have done in the first place, yes?...

As who should have done in which first place Eric? A propos of what?   I am referring to an mp3 version of a youtube link which I drew people's attention to in this thread on Monday 17 March 2014 at 00:11 (it's the first post in this thread).  No one complained at that time that it was inappropriate, so this is somewhat going over ground already covered.  The rules of this Forum are good, and the regular posters to this Forum as far as I can tell respect them. In return can they be accorded some respect, such that if they do post something it is most likely to abide by the rules of this Forum?  Let's stop regarding their wish to share unsung pieces that they feel other members might appreciate as a nuisance, rather something to be grateful for.  I for one am very grateful to Mikehopf for drawing my attention to Radvila Perkunas and I will endeavour to track the recording down.  And will share it, if there are no copyright issues, with whomever is interested.  Thank you Mike.   

The aria from Karnavicius's opera Grazina can be heard here - https://www.pakartot.lt/album/lietuviu-kompozitoriu-operu-arijos - track 2.  Track 3 is another opera from the same opera. I really hope that any rancour or stubbornness from this thread can be put aside and that you will enjoy it, it is truly a lovely piece.
(Patarkot is an official Lithuanian portal with all types of music on it - you can't download but you can listen in streaming, so rather like Spotify.)

https://www.pakartot.lt/album/lietuviu-kompozitoriu-operu-arijos/pirmoji-grazinos-arija-grazina-1-v2

[Christopher]

On the subject of Lithuanian music, here's a two-minute belter of an aria by Tallat-Kelpša (1889-1949) (whose Overture on Themes from Lithuanian Folksongs I posted up on 17 January 2018 in Downloads) called "My Soul Rejoices Today ("Mano sieloj šiandien šventė") - also sung by Gražina Apanavičiūtė (as with the aria in the post above).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj3Hmk32DO8

[Alan Howe]

Let me be frank: the moderators actually have lives to live outside the forum, often with distractions which divert our attention from what's going on here. In my case at present it's coping with a 91-year old mother who has falls at home and is waiting for a knee operation. As a consequence I'm going to miss things. It's inevitable.

In return can they be accorded some respect, such that if they do post something it is most likely to abide by the rules of this Forum?

I'm afraid experience tells us that this won't work. We must therefore respectfully ask members to continue to stick to the rules about consulting the moderators before posting about any unfamiliar music written post-1918; in this way all problems would be solved before they arose.

[Christopher]

I have a similar family situation at the moment and I genuinely genuinely sympathise. On this issue, I am re-iterating that I posted about the aria in question 4 years ago and wasn't chastised for it then.

[Mark Thomas]

Understood, Christopher. I'm accessing the forum on my 'phone right now, but will go back and listen to the aria as soon as I get to my PC later this evening,

[Mark Thomas]

Now that I have heard them, on the question of the two arias from Karnavičius' Gražina there's no problem, both demonstrate a work of eastern European late-romanticism. Indeed, both have a rather haunting quality which I find rather attractive. So, no problem with Gražina, then. However, the issue there always is once one strays into the 20th century is that the style in which composers wrote can often change quite radically during their lives. Someone who wrote mellifluous, lyrical works in his youth could well be writing extremely spikey atonal music in his maturity. That's why it's dangerous (from a moderation point of view) to make assumptions based on just one work, and why we ask that you ask before posting if the work was written, for the want of a better date, after 1918 - I'm not going to get into the rights and wrongs of that issue again now. There doesn't seem to be much other music by Karnavičius out there to which we can listen to, so we're guessing. I take mikehopf's point that he couldn't provide evidence when he hadn't heard anything of Radvilla but, as Alan says, that's the point: if Mike had contacted one of the moderator's we could make the decision. The worst that would have happened in the event of a "no" would be that Mike would have emailed or PM'd Christopher direct. If Radvilla proved to be as attractive as Gražina seems to be then I for one would be very happy to admit to erring on the side of caution. 

Policing a boundary is never easy and almost always unpopular. As moderators we do try to do this in as gentle and concensus-based a way as we can. So, in that spirit, can I ask that we now move on, please?

[mikehopf]

When all is said and done, Radvila turned out to be a most attractive romantic opera more like Moussorgsky and Dvorak than Szymanowski.

BTW, Christopher, I've got a complete recording of A. Kapp's oratorio "Job" if you want it.