Year of Composition: | 1977 |
Duration: | 10 |
Instrumentation: | vn-org-bls |
Samples: | Score Audio |
Programme Note:
Prutena / Sand-covered Village for violin, organ and bells (1977) is a piece wherein the composer stimulates cultural memory through artistic suggestion. Prutena is the title of a book written by Liudvikas Rėza (1776–1840), professor at the University of Königsberg. Užpustytas kaimas (Sand-covered Village) is the title of a poem in the book. The poet recollects his native village on the Curonian Spit, abandoned and eventually buried in the sand dunes. Kutavičius conjures that frightening picture through the soft tones of the organ, the chiming of the bells and the overwhelming dissonant chords: a drifting dune, gradually covering the church and the fishermen’s homesteads, dead trees protruding from the sand. At the end of the piece we hear a sad melody of an erstwhile era – of life in the past which we can revisit only in the imagination and reminiscences.
© 2011 Austė Nakienė
© 2011 translation by Ada Valaitis
Published scores:
Vilnius: Vaga, 1981
Released recordings:
LP Melodiya C10-10595-6, 1978 (Eduardas Digrys – violin, Leopoldas Digrys – organ, Lev Duker – bells)
CD Bronius Kutavičius. The Small Spectacle. – Lithuanian Music Information and Publishing Centre, LMIPC CD 064, 2011 (Eduardas Digrys – violin, Leopoldas Digrys – organ, Lev Duker – bells)