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25 September, 2011. The painter and composer Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1975-1911), considered to be the founder of Lithuanian modern art, left a profound imprint on Lithuanian culture. This year marks the 100th anniversary of Čiurlionis’ death with many organizations in Lithuania and abroad paying tribute to this visionary artist. The British-Lithuanian society marks Čiurlionis’ year with a musical programme dedicated to the piano and chamber music legacy of the composer, performed by the Lithuanian pianist Evelina Puzaitė and Cosima Quintet.

Over a mere decade-long career, Čiurlionis composed nearly four hundred musical compositions, including two large-scale symphonic poems, an overture, two piano sonatas, a string quartet, a cantata for choir and orchestra and a large volume of music for piano. During those same brief years he also created approximately four hundred paintings and etchings, as well as several literary works and poems, while still finding time to experiment with art photography. Notes from his study years at the Warsaw Institute of Music show his interest in geology and history, chemistry and geometry, physics and astronomy, astrology and ancient mythology, dead and modern languages, philosophical ideas of antiquity and modernity, eastern and western religions.

On the other hand, his active involvement in the Lithuanian national movement and his idealist self-sacrifice for the sake of artistic ideals show him as a typical artist in the Romantic mould. During his short life, Čiurlionis managed to be at the heart of the creation of the Lithuanian Artists Union. He actively organized and participated in the first three exhibitions of Lithuanian artists, organized and conducted Lithuanian choirs in Warsaw, Vilnius, and St. Petersburg, and was the first Lithuanian professional composer to take an interest in Lithuanian folk songs, collecting and publishing them.

At the junction of the 19th and the 20th centuries Čiurlionis embodied the aspirations of the national revival movement and linked them with the latest tendencies in European art of the time. He followed the German Symbolists in his paintings, exploring synaesthetic ideas, fashionable at the time, and delved into chromatic and harmonic possibilities of the tonal major-minor system in his music compositions. In these aspirations Čiurlionis stands as the representative European artist at the turn of the 20th century.

Finally, his mature paintings, based on intricate musical compositional techniques, and piano compositions in which tonal writing is blended with proto-serial techniques and the constructive use of short rhythmic, melodic and harmonic patterns, stand as examples of unprecedented visual and aural experiences unique in the history of European art.

This September talented pianists and organists from all over the world will be gathering at the the International M.K. Čiurlionis Piano and Organ Competition, to be held in Vilnius on September 14-23. An international conference “Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875-1911): His Time and Our time” will take place in Vilnius on September 21-24. Čiurlionis’ birthday will be celebrated on September 22.

The concert programme will include Čiurlionis piano music from various periods of his creative life, his only String Quartet in C minor, followed by the Robert Schumann Piano Quintet in E flat major in the second half of the concert. 

Programme

Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875-1911)

Mazurka H minor VL 234 (1902)
Nocturne No. 2 VL 183 (1901)                   
Prelude in B minor VL 269 (1905)
Prelude in B minor VL 270 (1905)
Prelude Canon in B minor VL 271 (1905)
Prelude pastorale D flat major VL187 (1901)
Prelude D minor VL 239 (1903)
Prelude F major VL 188 (1901)
Prelude Impromptu  D minor VL 298 (1906)
Prelude D minor VL 344 (1909)
                                       
String Quartet in C minor VL 83 (1901)
Allegro moderato
Andante
Menuetto

Interval

Robert Schumann (1810-1856)

Piano Quintet in E flat major, Op. 44 (1842)
Allegro Brillante
In modo d'una marcia. Un poco largamente
Scherzo: Molto vivace
Allegro ma non troppo

Introduction by Romas Kinka

Performers

Cosima Piano Quintet

Evelina Puzaitė (piano)
Katerina Mitchell (violin I)
Algirdas Galdikas (violin II)
Jenny Lewisohn (viola)
Angélique Lihou (cello)

More information about the artist: www.ciurlionis.eu

Sunday, September 25, 3pm. David Josefowitz Recital Hall, Royal Academy of Music, Marylebone Road, London NW1 5HT. Tickets £10 (students and under 16s - £5). Ticket price includes post-concert refreshments. To book seats in advance please contact blssecretary@hotmail.com

Illutrations: paintings and etchings by Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis