Rūta Vitkauskaitė

Programme Note

This piece was recorded by BBC Radio 3 and written as part of the Adopt A Composer Scheme by Making Music UK, for Flautissimo Orchestra (Southampton). Baltic Dunes is a musical depiction of the sand dunes in the Coronian Spit in Lithuania, a unique natural formation that is protected as a UNESCO heritage site. As a child, my family and I used to spend our summer holidays in that area, and I hold a special sentiment towards it. The piece is formed of musical images, such as the very quiet wind in the dunes, the boat swinging in the sea waves, the sailor seeing the dunes arising on the horizon of the sea, the sand waves carried in the dunes by the wind, the bagpipe melody sliding up and down the hills, standing on the top of the dune and watching the horizon, sitting on top of the dune and watching the sunset, looking down the scar, and sliding down the dunes into the wind of sand.