Annual List of Works : Lithuanian Music Information and Publishing Centre
 ~685K |
Composer
Algirdas Martinaitis, 1950, Lithuanian, Ciurlionio 7/1-30, LT-03104 Vilnius, Lithuania
Title
Alleluia
Genre
Hymn
Instrumentation
mixed choir a cappella
Year of composition
1996
Duration
4 min
Place of premiere performance
Bernardines’ Church, Vilnius
Date of premiere performance
1996
Performers
Choir of the Bernardines’ Church, cond. Rita Krauceviciute
Score
Publisher: Lithuanian Music Information and Publishing Centre,
A.Mickeviciaus 29, LT-08117 Vilnius, Lithuania
URL: www.mxl.lt / www.mic.lt
E-mail: info@mic.lt
Edition-No.: MILC 058
Price: 4 €
Recording
Record company: Harmonia Mundi, B.P. 20150, 13631 Arles cedex, France
URL: www.harmoniamundi.com
E-mail: international@harmoniamundi.com
Edition-No.: HMU 907391 (CD), HMU 807391 (SACD)
Performers: Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, cond. Paul Hillier
Price: 18 €
Motivation
Alleluia by Algirdas Martinaitis is one of the most successful new Lithuanian choral works (especially after the 2005 CD release Baltic Voices 3, recorded by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, under Paul Hillier), suitable both for the concert repertoire and the church ceremony, and accessible to amateur choirs as well.
Programme note
The lively sprung rhythms of the Alleluia are typical of Martinaitis’ style, which combines folk influence, sound poetry, theatre music, and an approach to composition which he calls “writing by hand”.
Note by Paul Hillier
It is often said that I am a “literary composer”, that my compositions are like literary works. In music to be performed in church, however, word is indeed primary. Afterwards comes breathing, and later – sound, music. On the other hand, I have already said that I can write sacral music without any words, based on breathing alone. For me these are very concrete things, astonishing but beyond explanation, just like the relation of the Creator with the word and the sound.
Note by the composer
Composer Biography
Algirdas Martinaitis (b. 1950) studied composition with Prof. Eduardas Balsys at the Lithuanian Academy of Music, graduating in 1978. In 1987-90 Martinaitis worked at the Russian Drama Theatre, and in 1995-98 served as a music director at the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre. He was among the first Lithuanian composers to receive the highest national artistic distinction - the Lithuanian National Arts and Culture Prize - in 1989. In 1997, he was hailed the Best Theatre Composer of the Year in Lithuania. In 2004, his multimedia performance "The Prayer of the Faithful Word" was announced the best electro-acoustic composition at the composers' competition organized by the Lithuanian Composers' Union. His music is heard regularly at the new music festivals in Lithuania and abroad, including Baltic Music Festival in Stokholm (1992), Vale of Glamorgan Festival (1996, Great Britain), Probaltica'97 (Poland), MaerzMusik (2003, Germany).