Midsummer Song

Commissioned by the Kronberg Academy, Germany

Released recordings:

CD Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla. Going for the Impossible - A Portrait. - Deutsche Grammophon, 00289 483 7761, 2019

Premiere:

18 September 2009, Braunschweig Stadthalle, Germany
Kremerata Baltica (artistic director Gidon Kremer)

Awards and honourable mentions:

Coup de Coeur des Jeunes Musiciens, Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco, 2011

Listed in the category of recommended works at the 58th International Rostrum of Composers in Vienna, 2011

Programme note

Midsummer solstice, the time of longest day and shortest night, has its magic rites and beliefs from long ago. For me, the midsummer time is also filled with a mystery and a thrill of waiting for a coming morning.

I composed my piece as a kind of pantheistic song, where initial melodies, coming from separate notes, little by little spread out into a variety of colours and shapes (the melodies sound quite like recitatives, arias and choruses). Finally, after an ecstatic climax, the song gradually fades away into meditative morning music of 'endless summer.'

The piece was commissioned by Kronberg Academy (Germany). Special thanks are due to Maestro Gidon Kremer and his Kremerata Baltica Orchestra, for their offer to compose this piece and for their friendly and practical help.

Raminta Šerkšnytė