Lithuanian

Arvo Pärt’s compositions were and are often inspired by external circumstances. Evidence of this can be seen in the selection of works for and with piano, which Onutė Gražinytė chose for her debut recording. The “Lamentate” was inspired by Anish Kapoor’s sculpture “Marsyas”; in 1977 he dedicated the Variations for the healing of Arinushka” to his daughter; “Pari intervallo” was inspired by the ensemble “Hortus Musicus”, and the list goes on… “Für Alina” is of particular importance to the Lithuanian pianist as she knows the mother of the piece’s dedicatee. Onutė Gražinytė was astounded by the simple notation. “First you ask yourself: What is this?” Her playing reveals that she has understood.

Valentin Silvestrov’s elusive post-modern style is rich in nostalgia for the lost music of a barely remembered past filled with beauty and spiritual aspiration. "Ode to a Nightingale is a masterly response to Keats’ unsentimental reflection on human mortality, contrasting with the beauty and affecting intimacy of the Cantata No. 4 and the resonant emotional world of its companion piece, the Concertino. Starkness set against elegiac melancholy are the shared features of Moments of Poetry and Music and the Seventh Symphony—an embodiment of Silvestrov’s dual musical nature of anguish and tenderness.

Exceptional Italian pianist Pina Napolitano presents the sequel to “Brahms the Progressive Volume 1”, looking at Brahms from the perspective of the modern Viennese, and looking at the Second Viennese School from the perspective of Brahmsian romanticism. Whereas Brahms the Progressive Volume 1 focussed on solo piano repertoire, Volume 2 expands into the realm of the concerto. Pina Napolitano is joined by the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra and conductor Modestas Pitrėnas for the sparkling, kaleidoscopic Concerto, Op. 24 by Webern and the expansive, delectable Piano Concerto No. 2 by Brahms.