One of contemporary music’s most stunningly, and consistently, original voices is Lithuanian composer Justė Janulytė. Her works, which she describes as ‘monochrome’, each restrict themselves to one basic timbre, which becomes the basis for the entire unfolding narrative. In the case of Apnea, composed in 2021, the sound of strings is the focus of the piece, used to create what Janulytė describes as a “a very long breath-in and a gradual breath-out”.
It’s a lot more than that. Speaking about details in Janulytė’s music can feel not just difficult but beside the point, yet it’s the wealth of tiny details that makes Apnea as mesmeric as it is. The piece emerges from silence, soft, tantalising, a mix of trills, tremolandi and sustained tones, the combined effect like some kind of memory – or perhaps multiple memories folding on top of each other. Stronger pitches occasionally protrude outwards, but for the most part they’re gone almost as soon as we’ve acknowledged them. As the texture grows dynamically, the inherent blurring of the material creates the strange impression of music that’s both slowed down and speeded up simultaneously. It obtains a luminosity, as if the multiple elements we’re hearing were combining to create an energy given off as light.
At its apex, the tremolandos have it, communicating energy literally everywhere, though somewhere within there are hints of the possibility of a slow, undulating line. It could well be imaginary, as is the notion that we might be drawing near to something cadential. With these illusions baffling the perception of the texture, it starts to recede, with more tones emerging as it does, withdrawing into a smoother object, though one still energised, with strong lower registers and lots of what appear to be inward and outward movement of notes. As it dies back, questions about possible diatonicism and chord progressions remain, but there are no answers to be had. Apnea attains an exquisite calm; it quietens, but it doesn’t resolve.
This performance of Apnea was given by the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Olari Elts, in September 2021.
Programme note
“Hier ist alles Abstand, und dort wars Atem”. R. M. Rilke. Die achte Elegie
“Here, all is distance. There, all was breath.” R. M. Rilke. The eight Elegy
Following the series of my aquatic pieces, Apnea (in latin “absence of breathing”) for string orchestra, written during the pandemic winter, reflects the importance of breathing whilst exploring the physical and emotional transformation during the immersion under the water. The macro form of the composition reminds of a very long breath-in and a gradual breath-out stretching the time in between while continuing to delay the climax and increase the tension until the limits. The orchestra is playing without any pause taking both the players and listeners through the existential odyssey.
—Justė Janulytė
This is absolutely stunning.