We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.
/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      €2 EUR  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    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
    ships out within 3 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      €15 EUR

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    15
    releases

    Get all 15 Liudas Mockūnas releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of MATS GUSTAFSSON-LIUDAS MOCKŪNAS "Watching a dog. Smiling", Pacemaker, Liudas Mockūnas "Polylogues" (2xCD), Liudas Mockūnas In Residency at Bitches Brew, "Vers la Flamme", NOX, "Improdimensions", Liudas Mockūnas "Hydro 2", and 7 more. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      €126.80 EUR or more (20% OFF)

     

about

ANATOLIJUS ŠENDEROVAS (1945–2019)
DAVID’S SONG for tenor saxophone and string quartet (2006)

Originally written for solo cello and string quartet, David’s Song was commissioned by the Kronberg Academy and dedicated to David Geringas, a world-famous cellist and Šenderovas’ creative ally, on the occasion of his 60th anniversary. The title also refers to the most prominent musician in the Bible, King David, who was renowned for his masterful playing on the lyre and writing psalms. Here the main focus is on the richness of the musical expression, articulation and sound colour spectacularly displayed in a succession of contrasting episodes – some relentless with pulsing energy, some lyrical and intimate or lightly humorous.

A one-movement composition is divided into five sections, each based on different thematic material. It opens with the soloist’s robust monologue that propels the work’s narrative forward. The string quartet joins in the next section where a ruminative development brings the melody in high register reminiscent of both Lithuanian folk tunes and Jewish liturgical chants. The voice of the solo instrument, tuneful and nostalgic, links David’s Song with the ancient tradition of Hebrew cantillation.

At the end of the slow section, all instrumental lines come into unison to prepare a short episode of ensemble tuning, which gradually grows into a fast-paced dance. The boisterous fun of this Klezmer-like dance suddenly runs amok, with performers acting an improvised quarrel scene before the next round of band playing. After a climax that brings some kind of transfiguration, the pensive and wistful mood of the second section returns. The cello drone in the lowest register, fluttering strings and quasi-liturgical chanting in high register create a tingling sensation of mystical depths.

Kamilė Rupeikaitė, Veronika Janatjeva

I personally came into contact with this music in 2009 when Anatolijus was commissioned to write Mystery for the closing ceremony of the Vilnius – European Capital of Culture 2009 programme, which included a fragment of David’s Song, specially arranged for solo saxophone and chamber orchestra. After the composer passed away in 2019, members of the Chordos Quartet and I played a tribute concert in his loving memory. In preparation for the concert, I made a new version of this piece for tenor saxophone and string quartet, from which I removed the final ad libitum episode and added quite a few solo improvisations, not only in the first section that was originally scored for solo cello but also in the second, which I play unaccompanied.

Liudas Mockūnas

credits

from Liudas Mock​ū​nas "Polylogues" (2xCD), released March 21, 2021
ANATOLIJUS ŠENDEROVAS (1945–2019)
DAVID’S SONG for tenor saxophone and string quartet (2006)

Liudas Mockūnas (tenor saxophone),
Chordos String Quartet: Ieva Sipaitytė (1st violin), Vaida Paukštienė
(2nd violin), Robertas Bliškevičius (viola), Povilas Jacunskas (cello)

Recorded in 2020 at the MAMA Studios in Vilnius by Vytautas Bedalis

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Liudas Mockūnas image

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

contact / help

Contact Liudas Mockūnas

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Report this track or account

If you like Liudas Mockūnas, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Seafood Sam joins the show to discuss his newest album, " Standing On Giant Shoulders".
listen now