Osvaldas BALAKAUSKAS (b. 1937)
Concerto Brio for violin and chamber orchestra (1999)
Concerto for Oboe, Harpsichord and Strings (1981)
Ludus Modorum for cello and chamber orchestra (1972)
Concertino for Piano and Strings (1966 rev. 1994)
St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra
Vilnius conducted by Donatus Katkus
Rusné Mataityté violin, Romualdas Stašjus oboe, Sergejus
Okruško harpsichord,
Edmundas Kulikauskas cello, Margrit Julia Zimmermann piano.
BIS BIS-CD-1058 [DDD
65:18]
Crotchet
Amazon UK Amazon US
A graduate of Kiev Conservatory, Osvaldas Balakauskas is a little known name
in this country although his works have been performed at a number of major
European festivals including Krzysztof Penderecki's festival in Luslawice,
Poland (a 1984 commission, Spengla-Ula for sixteen solo strings),
Prague Spring Festival and closer to home, Huddersfield. He currently occupies
the post of Head of Composition at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and
interestingly held the post of Lithuanian Ambassador to France, Spain and
Portugal from 1992 to 1994, a sign of the esteem in which he is held in his
native country.
Unfortunately however there is little in the music on this disc that I find
particularly memorable, or indeed original. The four concertos span a period
of thirty three years and it is the earliest work, the 1966 Concertino
for Piano and Strings from which I gained the most satisfaction, partly
due to its concision and brevity and partly because its material comes across
with a degree of freshness which the other three works do not possess.
Balakauskas revised the work in 1994 although the booklet notes do not tell
us the extent of the revision. The lively piano part is well written and
performed, the overall impression being mildly jazz influenced, the harmony
a little tougher and more sinewy than in the later works.
The next work chronologically, Ludus Modorum, for cello and chamber
orchestra of 1972, is effectively a chamber concerto of a little under fifteen
minutes in length. The booklet notes tell us that this is the only composition
by Balakauskas that can be regarded as polystylistic, a dangerous word to
use perhaps as it invites comparison with his close contemporary Alfred
Schnittke. Schnittke's polystylism was a rare gift. The ability to take an
old form and magically weave it into something that was uniquely his own
and felt at once fresh and vital. Ludus Modorum, alternates passages
of at times quite dense dissonance, recalling early Penderecki, with periods
of melodic and harmonic relief. Unlike Schnittke the two opposites do not
marry comfortably, the result being that the work does not form a satisfying
whole.
Of the remaining two works, the Concerto for Oboe, Harpsichord and
Strings of 1981, is unremarkable in its material but has an enjoyable
third movement and an aria like slow movement prominently featuring the oboe
and played, albeit rather woodenly in places, by the soloist, Romualdas
Staškus. The most recent work, the Concerto Brio, for violin
and chamber orchestra of 1999 is unable to sustain its twenty three minute
length and I am afraid I found myself switching off after about ten minutes.
As you would expect from BIS, the quality of the recording is excellent,
both vivid in sound and well balanced. The booklet notes however, give only
the briefest synopsis of each work. Overall the music is of little more than
fleeting interest and of the numerous composers to emerge from the former
Soviet Union in recent years there are several, such as Giya Kancheli and
Arvo Pärt, whose music has and will continue to create a far more lasting
impact.
Christopher Thomas
