Vortex (2004) from Vortex by Raminta Šerkšnytė

'Vortex' for violin solo and large ensemble (2004)

This work was composed as a commission from the Gaida Festival and premiered at the Klagspuren festival in Austria the same year. Like in the earlier 'Oriental Elegy', the soloist's part here displays references to the avant-garde rhetoric and advanced string techniques (the composer felt free to express what she intended, knowing that the renowned violin virtuoso Irvine Arditti is going to perform the soloist's part at the work's premiere). In contrast to the soloist's material, the ensemble's music is based on third harmonies, spiralling endlessly downwards and whirling in sometimes extremely dense textures, whereas the violin solo part is bound to one note as a starting point, making countless and each time more strenuous attempts to escape its power of attraction. As a result, the relationship of the soloist and the ensemble in this concertante work is variable and highly conflicting: the violin bursts into fearful monologue on the background of the ensemble's relentless 'tread of fate' and makes repeated attempts at reconciliation, until the ensemble undermines the violin's efforts and overwhelms it completely. In this struggle the fate appears to defeat every endeavour of a striving and floundering individual.

Linas Paulauskis

A niche label, covering the diversity of Lithuanian art music, ranging from extreme experiments to contemporary classical innovations and practices.

mic.lt
musiclithuania.com
Instagram
Facebook