Ciurlionis (1875 - 1911)

[jayne lee wilson]

Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis In the Forest (1901); The Sea (1907).
Lithuanian State SO/Gintaras Rinkevičius. KING RECORD JAPAN CD, rec 1991.

Lithuanian National SO/Juozas Domarkas. NORTHERN FLOWERS CD 2011.

Slovak PO/Domarkas. Marco Polo lossless download (eclassical), rec. 1993 (?).

Serendipity.... Only aware of this composer from the Svetlanov The Sea anthology (Debussy, Glazunov, Ciurlionis), I had ordered the Fedoseyev CD of these remarkable works but when I opened the packet I found the Rinkevičius had been sent, an issue I'd ignored due to the high price and my ignorance of its quality. Then I noticed the timing for The Sea: 37' rather than the more typical 27' - 29'. Also, "Original version"appeared next to it.... I had no idea there were two versions of this late-romantic masterpiece - but perhaps it was simply very slow? Three unexpected cymbal clashes in the first climax soon cleared that up - not to mention the organ of the Church of St John, Vilnius founding the hugely extended central climax on its groundswell. A 37-minute continuous stretch of visionary, dreamlike evocations, somewhere between the Scriabin of the first 3 symphonies and the Schoenberg of Pelleas or Gurrelieder.
Forest is shorter and more delicate, its Wagnerian-murmurs precedent obvious, but gorgeously wrought in Čiurlionis' own voice.

All of these recordings are recommendable, but the later Lithuanian Domarkas has the better sound: very distinctively rich and velvety where the widely-available Marco Polo release offers a less sensuous, less evocative clarity of line. But both of these are the (still very enjoyable) heavily Balsys-edited sub-30' version, (organ far less prominent - not even sure it's there on all the recordings I've heard - with less of the reflective, quieter episodes between shorter, though still thunderous climaxes) as is the Fedoseyev (preferred in 1991 in Gramophone to the Marco Polo). The KING release is unique in offering the extraordinary original, prepared in 1990 for these very performances, and I feel it has the more natural idiomatic feel for the shaping of each phrase, the natural building up of the elaborate paragraphs.
(Stunning sound too, With prices to match, I'm afraid...)

But what an experience it offers... do have a look at Čiurlionis' wonderful paintings too, often with Musical Titles e.g. "Funeral Symphony"..

[ahinton]

Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis In the Forest (1901); The Sea (1907).
Lithuanian State SO/Gintaras Rinkevičius. KING RECORD JAPAN CD, rec 1991.

Lithuanian National SO/Juozas Domarkas. NORTHERN FLOWERS CD 2011.

Slovak PO/Domarkas. Marco Polo lossless download (eclassical), rec. 1993 (?).

Serendipity.... Only aware of this composer from the Svetlanov The Sea anthology (Debussy, Glazunov, Ciurlionis), I had ordered the Fedoseyev CD of these remarkable works but when I opened the packet I found the Rinkevičius had been sent, an issue I'd ignored due to the high price and my ignorance of its quality. Then I noticed the timing for The Sea: 37' rather than the more typical 27' - 29'. Also, "Original version"appeared next to it.... I had no idea there were two versions of this late-romantic masterpiece - but perhaps it was simply very slow? Three unexpected cymbal clashes in the first climax soon cleared that up - not to mention the organ of the Church of St John, Vilnius founding the hugely extended central climax on its groundswell. A 37-minute continuous stretch of visionary, dreamlike evocations, somewhere between the Scriabin of the first 3 symphonies and the Schoenberg of Pelleas or Gurrelieder.
Forest is shorter and more delicate, its Wagnerian-murmurs precedent obvious, but gorgeously wrought in Čiurlionis' own voice.

All of these recordings are recommendable, but the later Lithuanian Domarkas has the better sound: very distinctively rich and velvety where the widely-available Marco Polo release offers a less sensuous, less evocative clarity of line. But both of these are the (still very enjoyable) heavily Balsys-edited sub-30' version, (without the organ and with less of the reflective, quieter episodes between shorter, though still thunderous climaxes) as is the Fedoseyev (preferred in 1991 in Gramophone to the Marco Polo). The KING release is unique in offering the extraordinary original, prepared in 1990 for these very performances, and I feel it has the more natural idiomatic feel for the shaping of each phrase, the natural building up of the elaborate paragraphs.
(Stunning sound too, With prices to match, I'm afraid...)

But what an experience it offers... do have a look at Čiurlionis' wonderful paintings too, often with Musical Titles e.g. "Funeral Symphony"..

Jayne, thank you so much for drawing attention to this!

Ask Jonathan Powell about this composer!

[jayne lee wilson]

The Missing link... (perils of copy & paste)

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=mikalojus+konstantinas+%C4%8Diurlionis+157+paintings&client=safari&rls=en&biw=1427&bih=812&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiN_aeJkP7QAhUlB8AKHTZkDGIQ_AUIBigB

[Serial_Apologist]

A composer completely new to me. Wiki doesn't say anything about his musical style, so thanks for the precis jayne, but if you Google, there's a site displaying a large number of his paintings. As always the url is just too long for me to reproduce accurately.

Ah - just caught your #3

[LeMartinPecheur]

Wouldn't quite call myself an enthusiast yet, but I did mention my first audio encounter on the Charity Shops thread last summer:

"For those with well-off-beaten-track tastes, one LP I did buy in said Haltwhistle shop was a Melodiya of piano works by Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis (1875-1909), apparently played by those legendary pianists A.Dvarionaite and V. BacenasI'd heard of MKC but AFAIK never previously heard a note.

Anyone here big on Ciurlionis??"

Didn't get a huge response as I recall...

[french frank]

I bought a CD on spec many years ago when I had an enthusiasm for picking up records by unknown composers, especially if recorded by respectable labels. The Chant du Monde disc also has In the Forest and The Sea (almost exactly contemporary with Debussy's La Mer, and 30'31" here with the Radio-Television Symphony Orchestra of the USSR/Fedosseiev), and the incomplete string quartet of which the 4th movement has been lost (Vilnius Quartet.) An altogether fascinating character with his paintings as well.

[Lat-Literal]

Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis In the Forest (1901); The Sea (1907).
Lithuanian State SO/Gintaras Rinkevičius. KING RECORD JAPAN CD, rec 1991.

Lithuanian National SO/Juozas Domarkas. NORTHERN FLOWERS CD 2011.

Slovak PO/Domarkas. Marco Polo lossless download (eclassical), rec. 1993 (?).

Serendipity.... Only aware of this composer from the Svetlanov The Sea anthology (Debussy, Glazunov, Ciurlionis), I had ordered the Fedoseyev CD of these remarkable works but when I opened the packet I found the Rinkevičius had been sent, an issue I'd ignored due to the high price and my ignorance of its quality. Then I noticed the timing for The Sea: 37' rather than the more typical 27' - 29'. Also, "Original version"appeared next to it.... I had no idea there were two versions of this late-romantic masterpiece - but perhaps it was simply very slow? Three unexpected cymbal clashes in the first climax soon cleared that up - not to mention the organ of the Church of St John, Vilnius founding the hugely extended central climax on its groundswell. A 37-minute continuous stretch of visionary, dreamlike evocations, somewhere between the Scriabin of the first 3 symphonies and the Schoenberg of Pelleas or Gurrelieder.
Forest is shorter and more delicate, its Wagnerian-murmurs precedent obvious, but gorgeously wrought in Čiurlionis' own voice.

All of these recordings are recommendable, but the later Lithuanian Domarkas has the better sound: very distinctively rich and velvety where the widely-available Marco Polo release offers a less sensuous, less evocative clarity of line. But both of these are the (still very enjoyable) heavily Balsys-edited sub-30' version, (organ far less prominent - not even sure it's there on all the recordings I've heard - with less of the reflective, quieter episodes between shorter, though still thunderous climaxes) as is the Fedoseyev (preferred in 1991 in Gramophone to the Marco Polo). The KING release is unique in offering the extraordinary original, prepared in 1990 for these very performances, and I feel it has the more natural idiomatic feel for the shaping of each phrase, the natural building up of the elaborate paragraphs.
(Stunning sound too, With prices to match, I'm afraid...)

But what an experience it offers... do have a look at Čiurlionis' wonderful paintings too, often with Musical Titles e.g. "Funeral Symphony"..

Thank you ever so much Jayne. "The small, fantastical oeuvre of the Lithuanian Mikalojus Çiurlionis". That was you on a recent thread. I was not at all familiar with this composer. Now I have listened to "In the Forest" and "The Sea". While I have some doubts about whether I am going to enjoy a large number of composers east of Germany who are new to me, this proved to be the best possible start. It would be wholly in line with my "likes" if I were on Facebook and a bit of associated background reading has been stimulating.

This is the Lithuanian composer, as significant to Lithuanians as Sibelius is to folk in his country. In regard to the first of the two works, which I like the best, I did think of Sibelius and Grieg. I wasn't wholly surprised about that idea in view of his nationality. But in what was a series of surprises, it seems that he was essentially Polish by family background and he didn't even start speaking Lithuanian until four years before his young death. That might help to explain why there have been comparisons with Szymanowski. I understand that his later compositions can be somewhat Wagnerian. But when it comes to the second of these earlier works I see very clearly what you mean when you mention Scriabin.

There is a proviso here. Both "In The Forest" and "The Sea" are indeed fantastical but the first especially is unlikely to appeal to anyone who is horrified by lushness. However, the tone is not one of pastoral lightness. Rather it has a dense quality in the best sense of that word to convey a dark mystery while the second work in parts is restlessly energetic.

During that second I began to think of his art. Ciurlionis was a synesthete. On the wall next to me is a print by the synesthete Kandinsky. I could easily find in my mind a vague link between Kandinsky and Scriabin although mostly I feel that Kandinsky is jazz. Was it to be expected that Ciurlionis would paint like Kandinsky? Having listened to his music, probably not wholly, but when I saw the paintings I was very, very surprised. The artists with whom I drew connections were Bonnard in their colouring and Chagall in their style.

Time to Google. Apparently the latter link had been made before. In "Semiotics of Classical Music: How Mozart, Brahms and Wagner Talk to Us", Eero Tarasti writes "The paradigm of his paintings consist of common, identifiable objects such as trees, stars, clouds, mythical figures, and so on. What is particularly modern in his work is the syntagmatic placement of these paradigmatic elements, a placement which breaks conventional norms of painting (perspective e.g). In this regard, Ciurlionis resembles Marc Chagall". Yes then!

What else is known about him? That it isn't known how many musical compositions he wrote. The asteroid 2420 Čiurlionis is named after him. He may not have been known at all today had a certain Professor Landsbergis not "carried him through" the Soviet Union. And that it cannot be entirely ruled out that he is currently residing in some shape or form in TRAPPIST-1, aurally visual. Fascinating. I will be wanting to listen to more. There is, I fear, about to be some further expenditure. I am, though, grateful to you for the pathway.