Songs of Plains (Symphony No.5)

LP Mel C10-26079-007, 1987
CD Lithuanian Music Information and Publishing Centre LMIPCCD010, 2000
CD Lithuanian Music in Context II. Landscapes of Minimalism. - Vilnius, Lithuanian Music Information and Publishing Centre LMIPCCD067-068, 2011

It was Miroslav Buček, Professor at the Department of Music of Brno University, a choirmaster and organist, who proposed an idea to write a composition for girls’ choir and chamber orchestra. First of all I was drawn by the combination of performers he had proposed. Then I had an aural image of the whole timbral palette, a ‘universe of colours’ for my future composition, according to which I selected the onomatopoeic words from the ancient Lithuanian folk songs [sutartinės].

What I particularly admired during my stay in Czechoslovakia was the scenic alpine landscape. I am from the plains of Northern Lithuania, so why can’t I think about plains while looking at the mountains? I tried to evoke that ‘plain-like’ image in music, without any conspicuous tidal waves and dramatic climaxes. When writing this composition I felt spiritual affinity to the nature and history of my homeland.

Julius Juzeliūnas