Vytautas Barkauskas - Partita for violin solo, (1967)

The phenomenon of music cannot be described in words, just like a human soul it has an inexhaustible and infinite potential that over time remains unchanged.“(V. Barkauskas) Partita for violin solo, (1967) is one of the most frequently performed pieces from the composer. The five movements cycle is ’’framed“ with a Prelude and a Postlude. The contrasting movements and their titles echo the baroque origin of this genre. As the composer himself explained - this partita is a twentieth century dance suit. Mysterious and eerie Prelude is intended to be improvisational and has an introductory function. The very rhythmic Scherzo has a dance character and sounds “obsessed“ with a subject that is reminiscent of a terrifying giggle. Later when a hysterical culmination point is reached, the gruesome theme returns. The heart of the whole partita - Grave, also has one recurring construction element (theme), that appears to be very cold-blooded and stiff. The subject cannot be “persuaded“ by wailing and even screaming intervening segments and remains static. In one of these segments we hear the Dias Irae motif. Toccata is a very wild piece that consists of rapid repetitive eighth notes with the typical rumba rhythm elements. Postlude takes the material from the Prelude and enriches it with a “spooky“ tremolo passage and with the flautando harmonics. The partita has proven to be one of the most popular pieces of the contemporary Lithuanian music Terese Pletkute - violin