Vykintas Baltakas' new album will arouse interest by analytical and also programmatical listeners. The piece Pasaka retells the mythological version of genesis and (co)ro(na) represents a fully composed fermata. Baltakas is successful in turning enigmas of musical aesthetics into tones and creates a musical experience which is both diversified and homogeneous at the same time.
Kairos’ new CD features 8 works by Vykintas Baltakas, recorded by artists such as the Tokyo Sinfonietta, Lithuanian Ensemble Network, Chordos Quartet, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln and Emilio Pomárico.
You can download the full booklet and order your copy in the Kairos web store.
Members of the Ensemble Wiener Collage present a portrait concert of Vykintas Baltakas on 12 December at the Kunstverein Alte Schmiede in Vienna: cellist Roland Schueler, pianist Jaime Wolfson and violinist Bojidara Kouzmanova will perform works from the composer’s oeuvre. Vykintas Baltakas will be present at the concert.
Commentum
for violoncello and piano | 10'
Roland Schueler, vc; Jaime Wolfson, pno
Eine kleine Nachtmusik
for violin solo | 6'
Bojidara Kouzmanova, vln
(how does the silver cloud s)ou(nd?)
for piano | 5'
Jaime Wolfson, pno
Das Lied
for piano and tape | 5'
Jaime Wolfson, pno
Congratulations to Vykintas Baltakas, who has taken up an offer by the Maastricht Academy of Music to teach composition, starting in September.
Listen to three works by Vykintas Baltakas on the Late Night Lab at radio Klara tonight at 22:00.
On the programme: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (Takao Hyakutome, vln), (co)ro(na) (musikFabrik, cond. Etienne Siebens) and Pasaka (Stephane Ginsburgh, pno).
Baltakas is an enormous talent; he knows exactly what he wants and what he can justify musically - and he doesn't succumb to convention. (Reinhard Schulz, NMZ)
As a contribution to the discourse on opera's future, Cantio definitely has its qualities. (Gerhard Rohde, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)
The recording of Vykintas Baltakas’ chamber opera Cantio from the festival Ultraschall in 2013 is now available as CD and accessible via all major online distributors. The CD was recorded in January 2013 at the Konzerthaus Berlin.
“Horizons” summarizes the most interesting events held by the Lithuanian Ensemble Network between 2009 and 2014 and documents its best recordings, including Lied and O, King by Luciano Berio, Nichtstück and Eine kleine Nachtmusik by Vykintas Baltakas and Am Horizont by Wolfgang Rihm.
Find out more on the website of the Lithuanian Ensemble Network.
Can sound alone grasp the feeling of a city?
Vykintas Baltakas’ Lift to Dubai, which was composed in 2009 in the frame of the music project into…, will have its Hungarian première on 16 October at the Budapest Music Center. The première will take place as a part of a fringe event of the Anno 2004… concert, which celebrates ten years of the Péter Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation.
The concert is preceded by a public meeting with Peter Eötvös, Vykintas Baltakas, Genoël von Lilienstern and Dai Fujikura. A newly revised version of the work for ensemble and electronics will be performed.
View the newly revised score of Lift to Dubai and read an introduction by the composer.
Vykintas Baltakas: Lift to Dubai
for ensemble and electronics | 28'
Hungarian prem. 16.10.2014, Budapest Music Center, Budapest; UMZE Kammerorchester, Dir. Ulrich Pöhl
On 29 May Japanese violinist Takao Hyakutome presented his first solo CD, which features exclusively new music, including Vykintas Baltakas’ Eine kleine Nachtmusik and works by Edo Frenkel, Hikari Kiyama, Mateu Malondra and Brian Ferneyhough.
Listen to the full recording of Hyakutome’s rendition of Baltakas’ piece on SoundCloud:
The CD has been released on ChampdAction.
Japanese violinist Takao Hyakutome will present his first solo CD on 29 May 2014. The ChampdAction recording features exclusively new music, including Vykintas Baltakas’ Eine kleine Nachtmusik and works by Edo Frenkel, Hikari Kiyama, Mateu Malondra and Brian Ferneyhough. Having performed the Egyptian première of Eine kleine Nachtmusik earlier this year, the violinist is already more than familiar with the piece.
The CD presentation will be celebrated with a live performance by Hyakutome.
Vykintas Baltakas about his piece:
This miniature, played on only one-string on the violin, is a lullaby which I’ve been singing to my daughters for several years. My music in this piece was partially inspired by fractal ideas where a large image is created of many small images of the same shape. I couldn't think of a better title than Eine kleine Nachtmusik. However this is the only reference point to Mozart, borrowed with great respect.
Vykintas Baltakas: Eine kleine Nachtmusik
for violin solo | 7'
29.05.2014, ChampdAction, deSingel, Antwerp; Takao Hyakutome, vln
Pianist Jean-Pierre Collot of the ensemble recherché will perform the Israeli première of Vykintas Baltakas’ (how does the silver cloud s)ou(nd?) at the University of Haifa on 18 May.
The composer about the piece:
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The idea of (how does the silver cloud s)ou(nd?) comes from the Ouroboros – Zyklus I. In this cycle I try to take a close look at certain aspects of music in the ouroboros-piece (colours, layers, rhythmic structures, harmony, etc. – one can call them “found objects”) and to go deeper – to discover specific tendencies, develop them and turn them into independent expressions. In this way, I create pieces which I may later combine in the ouroboros-cycle under different aspects as well. The cycle can grow in all possible directions, there is almost no end to its expansion and the development is not limited by my own concepts or presuppositions. I listen to it, discover something interesting, try to understand the way it functions, learn to think in this manner and help it to express itself. Hence is the title: ouroboros is an ancient symbol depicting a snake or dragon swallowing its own tail, constantly creating itself and forming a circle. It often represents self-reflection or cyclicality. |
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The Japanese violinist Takao Hyakutome will perform the Egyptian première of Vykintas Baltakas’ Eine Kleine Nachtmusik together with Luciano Berio’s Sequenza VIII on 13 April at the Cairo Contemporary Music Days 2014 at the Al Falaky Theater in Cairo. The composer about the piece: This miniature, played on only one-string on the violin, is a lullaby which I’ve been singing to my daughters for several years. My music in this piece was partially inspired by fractal ideas where a large image is created of many small images of the same shape. I couldn't think of a more fitting title than Eine kleine Nachtmusik. However this is the only reference point to Mozart, borrowed with great respect. |
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Listen to a live recording of Eine kleine Nachtmusik, performed by Wibert Aerts at the Transit Festival 2013:
Vykintas Baltakas: Eine kleine Nachtmusik
for violin solo | 7'
prem. 13.04.2014, Al Falaky Theater, Cairo; Takao Hyakutome, vln
The recording of the world première of Vykintas Baltakas’ Saxordionphonics for saxophone, accordion and chamber orchestra will be broadcast by WDR 3 on 2 March at 11.05 p.m. Listen live.
Baltakas on Saxordionphonics:
The work is founded on two structural principles. The first is a strictly rhythmical construct of two to three permuting notes which paces through the entire piece, forming a structural basis, with temporal distensions and condensations, dynamic and colorific variations. The other is a freer level which reacts musically to the first. It is especially scored for solo instruments; it is here where the musical development takes place, the relationship between the levels playing a dramaturgical part. They influence each other, the stronger one transforming the weaker one, when they are not actually rivalling.
Read the full work introduction.
View the study score of Saxordionphonics:
UE joins the PLG Young Artists Series 2014 today at the Southbank Centre in London.
Highlights of today’s programme are the world première of Vykintas Baltakas' new work Redditio 2 (see the full score), and a personal appearance by Cristóbal Hallfter, on a rare visit to the country.
Wibert Aerts premières
Vykintas
Baltakas’ Eine kleine Nachtmusik tomorrow, 26 October,
at the Transit Festival (25 to 27 October) in
Leuven.
The composer about the piece for solo violin: “This miniature, played on only one-string on the violin, is a lullaby which I’ve been singing to my daughters for several years. My music in this piece was partially inspired by fractal ideas where a large image is created of many small images of the same shape. I couldn't think of a better title than Eine kleine Nachtmusik. However this is the only reference point to Mozart, borrowed with great respect.”
Vykintas
Baltakas: Eine kleine Nachtmusik
for violin solo | 5'
world prem. 26.10.2013, Leuven; Wibert Aerts, vln