in chase of fire-GIEDRIUS KUPREVICIUS-Ugnies medziokle lithuania 1974

in chase of fire

a.k.a.

Ugnies medziokle

a.k.a.

FIRE HUNT BEATERS

1974

GIEDRIUS KUPREVICIUS-C6006572-stereo-lithuanian

SOVIET GROOVE  - ACID ROCK - 
EXPERIMENTAL - FOLK - ORCHESTRA

freQazoidiac LPCD seeding

mp3 also

LISTEN TO A FEW TRACKS :

< Giedrius at a recent retrospective 

Spawning from the late 60's changes in the Soviet Bloc, out of lithuania comes

a soundtrack that is part of a theatre show, in the vein of the concept of 'Hair'

or 'Jesus Christ Superstar' but this is way more serious and rooted in

 more obscure social movement and possibly more important than the

white washed psychedelic movement of the USA.

The music itself if I was to parellel it to something also from the USA 

would be that of the producer/conductor David Axelrod who also

got very serious with his work in terms of bringing together blatant

but effective Pop textures with technical complex arrangements featuring

full groupings of multiple human voices, strings, woodwinds

brass, synthesizers, piano libretto, blues coda, psychedelic and

Cage inspired explorations and of course Jazz leanings. 

As foundations for songs, Human and environmental 

social issues addressed to and this ties in Axelrod to this lithuanian

movement neatly and enjoyably. 

Giedrius put this together, assembled a fine cast of diverse music talent for this amazing

concept and melding of styles including folk music, classical (with strings, horns, voices)

jazz , funk and acid rock (fuzz guitars, minor key breakdowns).

He had a contemporary at this time who came out of the Classical idiom Lithuania

and that was Imants Kalnins. To me they go hand in hand with this movement.

Kalnins to my knowledge was more prolific with the exploration of melding Acid Rock

textures with Classical Folk themes with his offshoot collaborators Menuets which

have had waves of popularity to this day. But that's another story that I will

touch on in planned future post. 

This superb album spans 2 LPs! I found it late 1990s -  They don't show  up often in Canada! 

___________________________________

From Giedrius' website :

«In 1974 a musical „Ugnies medziokle su varovais» by composer Giedrius Kuprevicius, librettos by Saulius Saltenis and Liudas Jacinevicius, was presented to the audience. Theatre critics appreciated this musical as the first lithuanian musical. This musical was a natural answer to the aesthetical and spiritual needs of then youths, discussing unquestioned statements of the soviet ideology.

According to the musical author Giedrius Kuprevicius „Ugnies medziokle su varovais» can be called the first rock music work of main form which was accepted by soviet government – always suspicious about novelties; and of course rock music and musical genre associated with propagandizing hippy movement of individual freedom, pacifism and disdain of regime.

Duet Swallows, swallows. Singing Gintare Jautakaitė and Arvydas NAVAL FCRA. 1975, O riginal version  
Monica's aria "calm." Singing Jurga Šeduikytė.  
Roland "Ballad". Davy sings  / This song was written specifically for the 2004 erection of the 
The duo's "Swallows" version of the Queen of England's consent Ceremonial Hall in Vilnius 


FULL TRACK LISTING (from CD seems to be arranged different than the LP)

FULL ORIGINAL VERSION 
Conductor Aloysius conc. Recorded in 1975, Vilnius Recording Studio. Recording Maël Kondrotas

 
01 Prologue 
02 Why the Sun goes out? 
03 My Love JULIUS / Arvydas Navalinskas 
04 Theme of Death 
05 Many many words I 
06 I dreamed Roland MONIKA / Amber Jautakaitė 
07 As a small bird ROLANDAS / Lee Kernaghan 
08 In the Station 
09 Say Something 
10 Not marches JULIUS / Arvydas Navalinskas 
11 Minuet 
12 Look away MONIKA / Amber Jautakaitė 
13 Scrimmage at the Station MONIKA / Amber Jautakaitė 
14 Boy stabbed 
15 In the Children's Home JULIUS / Arvydas Navalinskas 
16 Good Night! 
17 Attributes of the Same ROLANDAS / Lee Kernaghan 
18 The Swallows MONIKA & Julia / Amber Jautakaitė & Arvydas Navalinskas  
19 Many many words I 
20 What should I do? MONIKA / Amber Jautakaitė 
21 You say JULIUS / Arvydas Navalinskas 
22 Wedding 
23 The King appointed rendezvous 
24 Feelings ROLANDAS / Lee Kernaghan 
25 To Crawl up ROLANDAS / Lee Kernaghan 
26 Dive into everyday life 
27 Bring Me The Snow MONIKA / Amber Jautakaitė 
28 Quiet in the Ruin MONIKA / Amber Jautakaitė 
29 Monica's Death 
30 The Morning Ash 
31 Live Fire 
32 Epilogue 
33 Post Scriptum: Piano improvisation - solo Giedrius Kuprevičius 


CD bonus track : 34 Bonus: New symphonic version Swallow