The Flood (from The Music Shell) (2022)
Duration:
8′
Instrumentation:
Bass voice, Clarinet in Bb, Violoncello, Piano
Programme Note
The work is an homage to the vibrant cultural life of the Jewish community in Kaunas before WW2. The original score is a part of multimedia project, that also incorporates historical film footage, and original artworks by Aimee Birnbaum, music and visuals blend together to evoke the cultural and café scene of the city. The project is both a joyful recovery of a vanished world and a reminder of the Holocaust, which completely erased the flourishing Jewish community of Kaunas. It has been toured as a project by Chromatikon (see my project section) and had the world premiere of the first, shorter version of ‘The Music Shell’ at the Lithuanian Embassy in London as part of the ‘Litvak Days’ Conference. In September 2022, ‘The Music Shell’ toured across the Lithuania as part of Kaunas – Capital of Culture 2022, was featured on Lithuanian National Radio, Kaunas City TV, and recorded by the Lithuanian Music Information and Publishing Centre for their future publication.
The score itself can be performed as acoustic composition. Each section, representing particular aspect of Jewish life in Kovno, has a title and duration assigned, and can be performed separately, or joined with other sections in the score. The Flood depicts historical flood in Kaunas (Kovno) that happened several years after the WW2, and is symbolic as if the city tried to wash away the memories of horrors that happened upon its grounds (score pages 64-74, recording 54:13-1:00:26).