Poetry, Op. 1

Leningrad: Sovetskaja muzyka, 1968
LP Mel 33D-027057, 1968
CD Lithuanian Music in Context I. Lessons of the Avant-garde. - Vilnius, Lithuanian Music Information and Publishing Centre LMIPCCD065-066, 2011

The Poetry is a five movement piano cycle, based on a relatively tonal series in C (C, D-flat, G, A-flat, D, G-flat, F, B, E-flat, A, B-flat, E) and its four derivatives, transpositions, permutations and rhythmic modifications. Each movement begins on C, which is particularly emphasized in the final chord of the cycle – a painfully dissonant cluster of first five tones of the original series. Dramatic action of the piece is generated by the contrasting movements, as well as by the wave-like motion stemming from a more and less scrupulous commitment to the dictates of the serial method. It is particularly well felt in the progression of analogous, parallel chordal units, as well as in passages where sequential and repetitive devices were employed. With this composition I wanted to create the impression of space and freedom, and I attempted to combine it, paradoxically, with the strictness of the technique.

Vytautas Barkauskas