Pranav Ranjit | Julius Juzeliūnas - Symphony No. 5 "Lygumų giesmės"/"Songs of the Plains" (Score Video) @towardthesea_ | Uploaded June 2022 | Updated October 2024, 4 hours ago.
00:00 1. Sėdauto
14:20 2. Kalnuti
Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra conducted by Saulius Sondeckis
Liepaitės Girls' Choir conducted by Liucija Palinauskaitė and Petras Vailionis
This recording is from a 1987 Melodiya LP. Many thanks to Ben Lunn for the score and to the YouTube channel "Obscure Little Beasties" for the original audio (youtube.com/watch?v=a6oETPyEI0Y).
Julius Juzeliūnas (1916-2001) was a Lithuanian composer and teacher, one of the most influential in his country during the 20th century. In the 1960s, Juzeliūnas adapted his style from national romanticism to a more modernist idiom rooted in Lithuanian folk music with elements of minimalism. Many of his most important works, including "Lygumų giesmės" - composed in 1982 - date from this later period.
"It was Miroslav Buček, Professor at the Department of Music of Brno University, a choirmaster and organist, who proposed an idea to write a composition for girls’ choir and chamber orchestra. First of all I was drawn by the combination of performers he had proposed. Then I had an aural image of the whole timbral palette, a ‘universe of colours’ for my future composition, according to which I selected the onomatopoeic words from the ancient Lithuanian folk songs [sutartinės].
What I particularly admired during my stay in Czechoslovakia was the scenic alpine landscape. I am from the plains of Northern Lithuania, so why can’t I think about plains while looking at the mountains? I tried to evoke that ‘plain-like’ image in music, without any conspicuous tidal waves and dramatic climaxes. When writing this composition I felt spiritual affinity to the nature and history of my homeland."
-Julius Juzeliūnas (quote courtesy of Lithuanian Music Information Centre)
00:00 1. Sėdauto
14:20 2. Kalnuti
Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra conducted by Saulius Sondeckis
Liepaitės Girls' Choir conducted by Liucija Palinauskaitė and Petras Vailionis
This recording is from a 1987 Melodiya LP. Many thanks to Ben Lunn for the score and to the YouTube channel "Obscure Little Beasties" for the original audio (youtube.com/watch?v=a6oETPyEI0Y).
Julius Juzeliūnas (1916-2001) was a Lithuanian composer and teacher, one of the most influential in his country during the 20th century. In the 1960s, Juzeliūnas adapted his style from national romanticism to a more modernist idiom rooted in Lithuanian folk music with elements of minimalism. Many of his most important works, including "Lygumų giesmės" - composed in 1982 - date from this later period.
"It was Miroslav Buček, Professor at the Department of Music of Brno University, a choirmaster and organist, who proposed an idea to write a composition for girls’ choir and chamber orchestra. First of all I was drawn by the combination of performers he had proposed. Then I had an aural image of the whole timbral palette, a ‘universe of colours’ for my future composition, according to which I selected the onomatopoeic words from the ancient Lithuanian folk songs [sutartinės].
What I particularly admired during my stay in Czechoslovakia was the scenic alpine landscape. I am from the plains of Northern Lithuania, so why can’t I think about plains while looking at the mountains? I tried to evoke that ‘plain-like’ image in music, without any conspicuous tidal waves and dramatic climaxes. When writing this composition I felt spiritual affinity to the nature and history of my homeland."
-Julius Juzeliūnas (quote courtesy of Lithuanian Music Information Centre)
![Vasily Kalinnikov - Symphony No. 2 (Score Video) [N. Järvi]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/IFu1RxsVUhw/hqdefault.jpg "Vasily Kalinnikov - Symphony No. 2 (Score Video) [N. Järvi]
Performed by the Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Neeme Järvi
00:00 I. Moderato - Allegro non troppo
10:18 II. Andante cantabile
18:25 III. Allegro scherzando
26:32 IV. Andante cantabile - Allegro vivo
Vasily Kalinnikov (1866-1901) was a Russian Romantic composer whose often colorful and energetic music drew from Russian folk melodies. For more on Kalinnikov, see my post about him on my blog: https://unknowncomposers.org/2019/03/25/special-feature-vasily-kalinnikov-the-forgotten-russian-romantic/
Written in 1897 and dedicated to the conductor Aleksandr Vinogradsky, Kalinnikovs second symphony is one of his most important works. Although I personally find the melodies of his first symphony most compelling, the second displays a mastery of form and development while retaining the exuberance and orchestral color so characteristic of his style.
Although they have begun to gain prominence in recent years, Kalinnikovs works remain rarely performed among major orchestras outside the former USSR - I hope this score video will be a small part of changing the status quo. You can find the score on Kalinnikovs IMSLP page (https://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Kalinnikov,_Vasily) under Symphony No. 2 in A Major.")
