Rytis Mazulis – Form Is Emptiness (2006)

When one of our users asked me if I could possibly lay my hands on the three megadisc releases of Lituanian composer Rytis Mazulis, I was happy to oblige. Here’s the first one.
Had I thought Mazulis would belong to that endless stream of talented, yet slightly predictable Baltic composers in an orthodox vein, I was deeply mistaken…the album is aptly subtitled, “microtonal music”, so expect something similar to Ligeti’s or Penderecki’s acrobatics here. That is, long drawn-out notes, delightfully dissonant (or false indeed, if you like) and scary at times; nowhere it is more clear than in the vocal title track. It’s beautiful piece. But when asked which composition I like most, I think I’ll have to decide for the third one, “Monad”, in which a harpsichord player (only one!) technically attempts to do the same thing as the the singers in the last track. Don’t ask me how on earth he managed to play this, he must have gone through hell practising the piece.
Well then! Be prepared to hear something highly original!

Tracklist

01. Canon Mensurabilis [0:12:18.41]
02. Sans Pause [0:08:52.22]
03. Monad [0:09:09.28]
04. Form Is Emptiness [0:24:04.35]

Performers

Chordos String Quartet (tr. 1)
Ieva Sipaityte – violin (tr. 2)
Robertas Bliskevicius – viola (tr. 2)
Julius Cernius – clarinet (tr. 2)
Valentinas Gelgotas – flute (tr. 2)
Mindaugas Backus – cello (tr. 2,4)
Sergejus Otrusko – piano (tr.2)
Dainius Sverdiolas – harpsichord (tr. 3)
Latvian Radio Chamber Singers (tr. 4), Kaspars Putnins – conductor