Remigijus Merkelys puts his faith mostly in rational methods of composing. In over 20 years, he has more than once tried to change or transgress what had become identified as unmistakably his style of writing. As a result, he has usually constructed either complex, or deliberately stripped-down structures. In his early choral compositions the composer, former choir leader, explored articulatory and expressive possibilities of voice as "the least developed of instruments" (
Iter Balticum, 1990,
Liber…, 1991,
Missa l’homme armé, 1991). A list of his works since the end of the 20th century features a growing number of instrumental pieces - studies in ‘physical and metaphysical space’ in earlier works, and manifestations of new pulsating energy in more recent ones. (
Gemma, 1999;
MiKonst, 2000;
Seventh Heaven, 2002;
Compass, 2003;
Evacuation, 2004;
GPS > North, 2009). Remigijus Merkelys: "Alongside things like energy and spatiality, I’m interested in both an extremely complex, as well as effective, language of music."
