Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, Gabrielius Alekna - Saudade (2021)

Ondine’s releases on Baltic composers continue with a new exciting release featuring recent orchestral compositions by New York-based Lithuanian composer Žibuoklė Martinaitytė (born 1973) composed within a span of six years.

Martinaitytė was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2020. Among her output are impressive orchestral compositions with evocative titles and beautiful orchestral textures with precision to detail. The most recent of the works, Saudade (2019) symbolizes the stratum of multiple yearnings: sadness for missing and happiness for experiencing the past. Millefleur (2018) is a work that the composer has described as “acoustic hedonism, a search for acoustic pleasures”. Martinaitytė’s Chiaroscuro Trilogy (2017) is a three-movement work for piano and strings, reflecting the very essence of our existence; the various grades of darkness and light. Horizons (2013) was written in New York and Lithuania and was inspired by two movies, Cloud Atlas and The Hours as well as Italo Calvino’s novel If on a winter’s night a traveler. In this work the listener travels through one story to another.
Tracklist
01. Saudade
02. Millefleur
03. Horizons
04. Chiaroscuro Trilogy: I. Tunnel
05. Chiaroscuro Trilogy: II. Meteors
06. Chiaroscuro Trilogy: III. Darkness of Light