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    With this double album I introduce myself as a performer of contemporary classical music, which, I believe, might come as a surprise for listeners who are familiar only with my work in the fields of improvised music and avant-garde jazz. However, various genres of music as diverse as classical and jazz, free improvisation and contemporary classical were always there along the way, playing a significant role in shaping my approach to musical performance as an improviser and a musician in general – an approach that blurs distinctions not only between different genres but also between improvised and composed music, improvisation and interpretation.

    In addition to leading my own bands and working on my own projects, I consider myself very lucky to have had many fortunate opportunities to appear as a soloist and a section member with major symphony and chamber orchestras, both locally and further afield, as well as to collaborate with fantastic chamber ensembles and creative improv and jazz bands, which have notably included the Gaida Ensemble and the Lithuanian Ensemble Network, the Chordos and Čiurlionis string quartets, the Copenhagen Art Ensemble, the Barry Guy Ensemble, the Andrew Hill Jazzpar Octet, the Marc Ducret Ensemble for Lady M, the New Jungle Orchestra, the Konvoj Art Ensemble featuring Evan Parker and Sten Sandell, Vladimir Tarasov and the Lithuanian Art Orchestra, and the Improdimensija Orchestra. Some of these wonderful orchestras and musicians continue to keep me company in live concerts and on these two discs.

    Over the years I’ve also had a chance to work with many talented composers who have written fascinating music specifically for me or who would ingeniously adapt to my abilities and inclinations as an improviser by giving me the freedom of self-expression in their otherwise strictly written compositions. Out of several dozen such works I have selected ten compositions by eight (mostly Lithuanian) composers and wrapped it all up under a title adopted from one of my all-time favourite Lithuanian concert pieces for solo saxophone, Polylogue by Osvaldas Balakauskas. All of the pieces were recorded – some live, some in the studio – over a period of fifteen years, from 2005 to 2020, which retraces a substantial chapter in my professional career as an improvising multi-reed player and composer.

    CD 1 opens with the title track and features contemporary Lithuanian music for solo saxophone and orchestra. CD 2 sets off with the track Social, which marks the beginning of my ‘socializing’ with the Chordos Quartet. All works for solo saxophone and string quartet committed to this disc have been recorded with the same constellation of musicians (except for the closing piece where percussionist Arkady Gotesman and accordionist Raimondas Sviackevičius joined us), which may be called a band as we’ve been playing music by different composers and experimenting with my own music involving a lot of improvisation based on graphic scores and other alternative forms of notation for almost two decades now. I have also seized the opportunity to pay homage to my first clarinet teacher, the brilliant musician Algirdas Doveika, by including my take on a solo clarinet piece by Vykintas Baltakas, which Algirdas used to play beautifully himself.

    Wishing you lots of exciting musical discoveries!

    Liudas Mockūnas
    January 13, 2021, Kernavė, Lithuania

    Includes unlimited streaming of Liudas Mockūnas "Polylogues" (2xCD) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.     ... more
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  • Full Digital Discography

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about

ARVYDAS MALCYS (*1957)
Concerto for soprano saxophone and symphony orchestra (2004)

This work draws on countless ideas, sketches and memories that aroused my imagination. While writing the concerto, I was constantly reminded of Hector Berlioz’s Harold in Italy and its main protagonist, Childe Harold, who encounters multifaceted characters and experiences a series of exciting adventures. The blithe spirit of adventure, the excitement of discovery, was what I aimed to convey in my music, which made my step across the threshold between ‘serious’ and ‘light’ music altogether irrelevant.

In the first movement (Scherzo), the four-note motif, borrowed from my music for a puppet show for children called Ragana ir Lukošiukas (The Witch and Little Luke), is used as a theme for variations, which lead, through a succession of triumphant climaxes, to a dazzling solo cadenza and conclude with a short tutti coda. The second movement (“Meditation”) depicts a smoke-filled bar where the daydreaming hero becomes immersed in a blissful euphony. At the beginning of the third movement (Allegro), the soloist introduces two themes one after the other: the first reminiscent of a brisk folk dance, gradually taken up by the whole orchestra, and the second loosely based on a mellifluous Lithuanian folk melody. A fragment from my orchestral piece Impetus intervenes between the interweaving of the two contrasting melodies and further development of the three themes until a euphoric climax that sets the stage for yet another ultra-virtuoso solo cadenza.

Arvydas Malcys

This is the recording of my very first concerto appearance as a soloist with an orchestra. It came about by accident because the concerto was originally written for and dedicated to Petras Vyšniauskas, a famous Lithuanian saxophonist who happened to go on tour at the same time as the world premiere was scheduled in Vilnius. Petras was very kind to pass the opportunity to perform this music to me and I’m deeply indebted to him for that, since it has opened up many possibilities and led to numerous other collaborations with Lithuanian composers and ensembles.

Liudas Mockūnas

credits

from Liudas Mock​ū​nas "Polylogues" (2xCD), released March 21, 2021
ARVYDAS MALCYS (*1957)
Concerto for soprano saxophone and symphony orchestra (2004)

Part II. "Meditation"

Liudas Mockūnas (soprano saxophone),
Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, conductor Juozas Domarkas

Recorded live in 2007 at the Main Auditorium of the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Hall in Vilnius by Gediminas Zujus.

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Liudas Mockūnas Vilnius, Lithuania

Lithuanian saxophonist and clarnetist (born 1976)focused on improvised, avantgarde jazz, experimental and conteporary classical music. Among his stage partenrs were and are Andrew Hill, Copenhagen Art Ensemble, Mikko Innanen, Stefan Pasborg, Barry Guy, Agusti Fernandez, Marc Ducret, Mats Gustafsson, Evan Parker, Peter Evans, Nate Wooley, Ottomo Yoshihide, Kazutoky Umezu, Vladimir Tarasov ... more

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