#4225: With Žibuoklė Martinaitytė
New York-based Lithuanian composer Žibuoklė Martinaitytė creates works that “explore the tensions and longings of identity and place” (Starkland Bandcamp). For this New Sounds, she takes us on the sonic journey through her recent hour-long audiovisual project In Search of Lost Beauty.
Žibuoklė Martinaitytė explained that the work was written during a difficult and strange part of her life. She had been working on a commission in Paris, and had an accident that resulted in a brain concussion and the loss of her memory. This altered how she perceived the architecture of pieces, and how she perceived the passage of time. As a way to re-learn and reacquaint herself with her own music, Martinaitytė used small fragments of her own previous work throughout some of the stretched time and space of In Search of Lost Beauty.
The 'lost beauty' that Martinaitytė alludes to is the diminishing attention spans that many people have these days, due to the overuse of smartphones and electronic devices. She would instead urge a listener to search for beauty by paying attention – and here she gives a listener time – and the chance to pay attention to all of those details throughout the long narrative arc of the piece.
Žibuoklė Martinaitytė intends for In Search of Lost Beauty to be an immersive experience, where if one can give the time to listen to the entire work, “structurally speaking”, the logic starts to reveal itself – how she works with registers, and some extended techniques. Sections of the piece have long sustained cello tones, and while there is a not prepared piano, the pianist does work on the inside of the piano to produce a variety of harmonic overtones on its strings. Listen to some of this long-form work for piano trio, electronics, and video projections that creates its own sonic landscape. - Caryn Havlik
Here is a link to the complete work:
Program #4225: with Žibuoklė Martinaitytė (First aired 4/12/2019)
ARTIST: FortVio
WORK: Žibuoklė Martinaitytė: Prelude (subliminal) [3:26]
RECORDING: In Search of Lost Beauty
SOURCE: Starkland
INFO: starkland.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: FortVio
WORK: Žibuoklė Martinaitytė: Ephermeral [6:26]
RECORDING: In Search of Lost Beauty
SOURCE: Starkland
INFO: starkland.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: FortVio
WORK: Žibuoklė Martinaitytė: Longings in Perpetual Motion [10:21]
RECORDING: In Search of Lost Beauty
SOURCE: Starkland
INFO: starkland.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: FortVio
WORK: Žibuoklė Martinaitytė: Serenity Diptychs [14:53]
RECORDING: In Search of Lost Beauty
SOURCE: Starkland
INFO: starkland.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: FortVio
WORK: Žibuoklė Martinaitytė: Postlude (evanescent) [1:14]
RECORDING: In Search of Lost Beauty
SOURCE: Starkland
INFO: starkland.bandcamp.com
