Rokas Zubovas, piano | Gleb Pyšniak, cello

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The first impulse for this album came from four bars of an unfinished work for cello and orchestra by Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, a highly versatile Lithuanian artist whose creative explorations often surpassed the artistic development of his time. The four bars were all that was written down, but it was enough of a musical cue to ignite artistic curiosity of the musicians. For cellist Gleb Pyšniak and pianist Rokas Zubovas, these four bars became the beginning of the path to a project dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the birth of Čiurlionis.

    The album features ten works by Čiurlionis, arranged for cello and piano by Lithuanian cellist Juozas Čelkauskas. These arrangements open a new window for experiencing the piano works of Čiurlionis as chamber music, while his pictorially enhanced musical vision remains intact.

    In addition to the pieces by Čiurlionis, the album introduces three contemporary opuses composed especially for this project by Lithuanian composer Žibuoklė Martinaitytė, Latvian composer Arturs Maskats and Estonian composer Mihkel Kerem. Each of them, drawing personal inspiration from Čiurlionis, not only wrote a new composition for cello and piano, but also dedicated their creative efforts to Čiurlionis’ 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.​

    We are pleased to announce the release of a new album, BALTIC SOUNDSCAPES | ČIURLIONIS 150,

produced by the prestigious Stradivarius label and performed by Rokas Zubobas and Gleb Pyšniak!

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More about the new album.