The album features ten works by Ciurlionis, arranged for cello and piano by Lithuanian cellist Juozas Celkauskas. These arrangements open a new window for experiencing the piano works of Ciurlionis as chamber music, while his pictorially enhanced musical vision remains intact. In addition to the pieces by Ciurlionis, the album introduces three contemporary opuses composed especially for this project by Lithuanian composer Žibuokle Martinaityte, Latvian composer Arturs Maskats and Estonian composer Mihkel Kerem. Each of them, drawing personal inspiration from Ciurlionis, not only wrote a new composition for cello and piano, but also dedicated their creative efforts to the Ciurlionis' anniversary and this duo of performers, thus making this album not only a retrospective, but also a lively, creative dialogue between eras, cultures and personalities. This album is not merely a musical recording. It is a return to the source for the journey, during which the four bars of an unfinished work are transformed into a newly born world.

Arturs Maskats (b. 1957) is an award-winning Latvian composer who has been at the center of Latvian cultural life for decades, especially in the field of theater and opera. Besides operas, incidental music and film music, his catalogue of works includes several orchestral works and concertos, songs and choral works. Maskats’ compositions are tonal, often romantic and cinematic, and marked by deep atmosphere. One of Maskats’ latest creations in the field orchestral music is his Accordion Concerto (2021) here performed by his fellow Latvian, star-accordionist Ksenija Sidorova, one of the brightest names in classical music today. His Tango (2002) for symphony orchestra is Maskats’ internationally most well-known and one of the most often performed orchestral pieces of Latvian music.

REVIEW:

A wonderfully diverse collection of music from this contemporary Latvian composer whose work spans a number of different musical fields. The spirited Tango (2002) pairs well with the very recent Accordion Concerto “What the wind told the sea” and is followed by a further two pieces, Cantus Diatonicus (1982) and the extended My river runs to thee from 2019. All of this music was new to me and very enjoyable.

-- Lark Reviews (Stephen Page)