Last Pagan Rites: Entrance & Oh, You Green Grasshopper
from Last Pagan Rites. From the Yotvingian Stone by Bronius Kutavičius
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about
BRONIUS KUTAVIČIUS
LAST PAGAN RITES (1978)
Texts by Sigitas Geda
Oratorio for choir, organ and horns
The oratorio Last Pagan Rites is acknowledged as the most important Lithuanian composition of the second half of the 20th century, marking the beginnings of Lithuanian minimalism, even if this is somewhat latent or subconscious.
This piece could not have come into existence without the composer’s collaboration with Sigitas Geda (1943–2008) – a poet very close to Bronius Kutavicius in the attitude of mind, in the search for archaic archetypes and a mysterious, fantastic imagery. The ingredient which marks this oratorio as so unique is the poet’s text. It imitates the Lithuanian sutartinės (an ancient Lithuanian tradition of polyphonic singing), their endless references to the ancient elements of Baltic nature (the grasshopper, the grass snake, the oak and the castle mound). They are the rhythmic, harmonic, melodic and contrapuntal structures, also inherited from the sutartinės; it is also the sutartines-like creation of the whole form from almost unchanging, cyclically repeated material.
LAST PAGAN RITES (1978)
Texts by Sigitas Geda
Oratorio for choir, organ and horns
The oratorio Last Pagan Rites is acknowledged as the most important Lithuanian composition of the second half of the 20th century, marking the beginnings of Lithuanian minimalism, even if this is somewhat latent or subconscious.
This piece could not have come into existence without the composer’s collaboration with Sigitas Geda (1943–2008) – a poet very close to Bronius Kutavicius in the attitude of mind, in the search for archaic archetypes and a mysterious, fantastic imagery. The ingredient which marks this oratorio as so unique is the poet’s text. It imitates the Lithuanian sutartinės (an ancient Lithuanian tradition of polyphonic singing), their endless references to the ancient elements of Baltic nature (the grasshopper, the grass snake, the oak and the castle mound). They are the rhythmic, harmonic, melodic and contrapuntal structures, also inherited from the sutartinės; it is also the sutartines-like creation of the whole form from almost unchanging, cyclically repeated material.
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from Last Pagan Rites. From the Yotvingian Stone,
released December 31, 2019
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miclithuania Vilnius, Lithuania
A niche label, covering the diversity of Lithuanian art music, ranging from extreme experiments to contemporary classical innovations and practices.
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