Rūta Vitkauskaitė

Programme Note

In Scotland, Gaelic winds have assigned a specific direction and qualities, a meaning, a colour, a tale. Up till these days, people would go on long walks, listening to an ancient winds bringing news, insights and wisdom. I ventured into the Scottish wilderness and found Gaelic winds on the Isle of Gometra: gaoth a deas ear-dheas, and gaoth an iar iar-thuath. I then found The Wind of Fairies, The Wind of The Sea, The Wind of Standing Stones, The Wind of Cailleach – an ancient goddess, a creator of Scotland, and many more… I often perform in on my violin, bringing in an ‘echo’ of the Lithuanian folk-song into the piece – about the tree, symbol of life and death, and wind that brings in decay and rebirth.

The piece was initially written for solo viola Katherine Wren, as part of Modern Chants research project (supported by Creative Scotland and PRD Foundation), and adapted to be perform by any solo instrument or group of instruments. A later ensemble edition was commissioned by concert series Kontaktas in Vilnius for Austrian Black Page Orchestra. This version then adapted for a slighltly different instrumentation, then was selected as ISCM World Music Days piece (supported by RCS Athaneaum Award, and Lithuanian Council for Culture).