December

Osvaldas Grinius
www.kamane.lt 2007 12 13

Asta Krikščiūnaitė

In brief: “Musical Dipoly” – the concert under such a name invited Kaunas residents to Mykolas Žilinskas Art Gallery on December 8. Čiurlionis and Kaunas String Quartets attempted to express the idea of the union of Vilnius and Kaunas cities in this way by meeting in one musical project. An interesting and contemporary programme was offered to the audience. One main idea became prominent in the concert – the triumph of vocal music.

The selection of music pieces is significant for every concert. The project of “Musical Dipoly” was exceptional for the integral slightly melancholic mood which did not suppress the joy of life. Music sounded as one big cycle creating the nostalgic and fragile atmosphere leading to catharsis.

The poem of Ottorino Respighio for soprano and string quartet “Il Tramonto” (Sunset) prepared the audience for further musical events. Contrastive music of rather dark shades involved everybody into the sad story of a young couple sung in the poem. Even though not everybody could understand the Italian text sung by A.Krikščiūnaitė and played by Čiurlionis Quartet, the translation of it read before the concert by the leader of the concert Ramunė Baltušninkaitė helped to understand the main idea.

The problem of text disappeared when the second work – vocal cycle with the fortepiano by Gabriel Fauré “Poeme d‘un jour” (Poem of One Day) started to sound. The cycle in three parts became the most lucid episode of the concert. It was evident after the first phrases that the duet of the piano player Audronė Kisieliūtė and singer A.Krikščiūnaitė was one of the strongest creative duets of chamber vocal music in Lithuania at the moment.

The only insert of instrumental music during the concert was the music piece by Vidmantas Bartulis “I like Marlene Dietrich (Lily Marlene)”. Vocal sounded here as well – the popular song of the World War II “Lily Marlene” performed by the actress and singer Marlene Dietrich sounded in the recording along with the music of string instruments. Such an original combination of sound spheres was really interesting and suited the mood of the concert well. The music played by Kaunas String Quartet and the pianist A.Kisieliūtė received a positive evaluation of the audience.

The last work of the concert was the vocal cycle “Where Grief Slumbers” of the American composer of Korean origin Earl Kim for a soprano, two string quartets and a harp. This music piece rather than the idea of the dipoly became the major axis of the concert programme. The cycle encompasses seven songs created using contemporary means of expression and demanding the demonstration of all capabilities of performers.

The quartets and the harp player Joana Daunytė had to work hard analysing the complicated score. However, the biggest load was that of A.Krikščiūnaitė. Her soprano shined by lyrical and dramatic colours, the most complicated interval leaps were performed fluently, the singing sounded persuasive and emotional. The intonation of the singer was precise as a Swiss clock.

In summary, such interesting and professionally performed programmes could be presented in Kaunas more often. Perhaps music lovers would gather in greater numbers in such concerts understanding that contemporary music marked by lyrical colours may be attractive, tempting and interesting.