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Janusz Jabłoński
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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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    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 , .

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about

VYTAUTAS GERMANAVIČIUS (*1969)
UNDERWATER GEOMETRY
for solo bass, soprano saxophones and symphony orchestra (2016)

This work explores the underwater world, seen as an abode for hyperbolic structures, vast expanses and a variety of colours, vestiges of ancient civilizations and pioneering discoveries, a place that still poses plenty of unanswered questions for the future of humanity. The work’s sound design has a certain ‘thrilleresque’ quality, with its dynamic change of contrasting musical gestures and registers, use of pitch structures and overtones, creating an atmosphere of suspense or overt peril, hooted syllables from the poem in cree language (in the first section, the bass saxophone part features syllables from a poem by Canadian poet Louise Bernice Halfe, taken from her book Blue Marrow, 1998), as well as a rapid increase or decrease in the volume and density of sound textures. There’s not much space for the soloist’s improvisation though; instead, he or she is offered to elaborate on the composer’s ideas according to the given sound parameters, modes or instrumental techniques and within a given time bracket.

The piece is written in two sections divided by a gong signal and a short caesura, after which the soprano saxophone and orchestra in high register seem to take the lead. The bass saxophone, however, soon reappears, grunting out quick sextuplets and a variation on an overtone series, later rumbling funky rhythms in unison with the tuba and finally going berserk in free variations accompanied by brass clusters. A moment of respite before the next storm sets the stage for an elaborate soprano cadenza. The work concludes with the beat of tutti clusters and splashing gongs, as if plunging the whole lot back into the depths, in which the soloist’s last air bubble disappears.

Vytautas Germanavičius, Veronika Janatjeva

This piece is an example of the collaborative work between a composer and a performer. Vytautas invited me to contribute some samples of my sound vocabulary, which he later used in writing his score and which in turn made me feel in my own element while performing his piece. It was commissioned by the 2017 Gaida Festival and premiered by the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Jonathan Berman, with me as a soloist and dedicatee of the piece. The album features a live recording of the world premiere performance.

Liudas Mockūnas

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from Liudas Mock​ū​nas "Polylogues" (2xCD), released March 21, 2021
VYTAUTAS GERMANAVIČIUS (*1969)
UNDERWATER GEOMETRY for solo bass, soprano
saxophones and symphony orchestra (2016)

Liudas Mockūnas (soprano and bass saxophones),
Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, conductor Jonathan Berman

Recorded live in 2017 at the Main Auditorium of the Lithuanian National
Philharmonic Hall in Vilnius by Arūnas 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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