Chausson: Poème de lamour et de la mer - Britten: Les iilluminations Edgaras Montvidas, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra & Modestas Pitrenas

• Ernest Chausson (1855 - 1899): Poème de l'amour et de la mer, Op. 19:
• 1 Chausson: Poème de l'amour et de la mer, Op. 19: I. La Fleur des eaux 10:26
• 2 Chausson: Poème de l'amour et de la mer, Op. 19: Interlude 02:37
• 3 Chausson: Poème de l'amour et de la mer, Op. 19: II. La Mort de l'amour 13:16
• Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976): Les illuminations, Op. 18:
• 4 Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18: I. Fanfare 02:00
• 5 Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18: II. Villes 02:27
• 6 Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18: IIIa. Phrase 01:13
• 7 Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18: IIIb. Antique 02:17
• 8 Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18: IV. Royauté 01:32
• 9 Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18: V. Marine 01:00
• 10 Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18: VI. Interlude 02:24
• 11 Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18: VII. Being Beauteous 02:57
• 12 Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18: VIII. Parade 02:42
• 13 Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18: IX. Départ 02:57
• Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921): Extase:
• 14 Saint-Saëns: Extase 03:46
• Total Runtime 51:34

Info for Chausson: Poème de lamour et de la mer - Britten: Les iilluminations

A journey through passion, vision, and sensuality, this album brings together three luminous works for voice and orchestra. At its heart is Ernest Chausson's Poeme de l'amour et de la mer, Op. 19--a sweeping, late-Romantic meditation on love and loss, where human emotion dissolves into the vastness of the sea. Benjamin Britten's Les illuminations, Op. 18, follows with electric intensity, setting Rimbaud's vivid, surreal poetry in music that is both incisive and radiant. The program closes with Camille Saint-Saens' rare and intimate Extase, a delicate song of rapture and surrender. Tenor Edgaras Montvidas brings refined lyricism and emotional depth to this richly poetic repertoire, joined by the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra (for the Chausson), and conductor Modestas Pitrenas. An exploration of love, language, and longing--where music becomes poetry, and poetry sings. Recorded at Lithuanian National Philharmonic Hall (June 2021).

Edgaras Montvidas, tenor
Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra
Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra
Modestas Pitrenas, vconductor

Edgaras Montvidas
The Lithuanian tenor Edgaras Montvidas trained in Vilnius and was subsequently accepted into the Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He recently made his debut at the Opéra National du Rhin Strasbourg as Don José ('Carmen') and at the Bregenz Festival as Pinkerton ('Madam Butterfly'). Further highlights were Stewa ('Jenufa') at the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden, 'Eugene Onegin' at the Oslo Opera, Alwa ('Lulu') at the Theater an der Wien and Stravinsky's 'Perséphone' with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Further works have taken him to the Hamburg State Opera, the Komische Oper Berlin, the Zurich Opera House, the Semperoper Dresden, the Glyndebourne Festival, the Santa Fe Opera, the Dutch National Opera, the Opéra Comique Paris, the Grand Théâtre de Genêve and the Aix-en-Provence Festival, among others. Concert highlights include Stravinsky's 'Le Rossignol' with the Berlin Philharmonic and Pierre Boulez, the 'Verdi Requiem' on tour with the Monteverdi Choir and Sir John Eliot Gardiner or Szymanowski's 'Harnasie' with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle. Edgaras is the recipient of the Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Art 2022, the Lithuanian Order of Merit from President Dalia Grybauskaite and has twice been awarded the Lithuanian theatre prize 'The Golden Cross of the Stage' (2009 and 2022). Edgaras Montvidas made his debut at Theater Basel in the 23/24 season as Don José in 'Carmen'.

Modestas Pitrenas
is one of the most successful Lithuanian conductors of the younger generation. He has established himself internationally through his extensive symphonic concert activities as well as his operatic career. He made his debut with Mozart's Magic Flute at the Cologne Opera, has performed at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, the Warsaw National Opera, the Aalto Theater Essen, the Stuttgart Opera, the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki, and Sergei Prokofiev's The Gambler at the Basel Theater. Awarded the Lithuanian Art and Culture Prize in 2012, the former Chief Conductor of the Kaunas Symphony Orchestra in Lithuania and former General Music Director of the Latvian National Opera in Riga is currently Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra in Vilnius. Modestas Pitrenas has been Chief Conductor of Konzert und Theater St.Gallen since the 2018/2019 season. Even before his appointment, he had already made a name for himself conducting numerous symphony concerts and opera productions at the St.Gallen Festival, including Salome, La Wally, The Flying Dutchman, Carmen, and Massenet's Le Cid. Since the 2023/24 season, he has also been Artistic Director of the Concert Division.

Booklet for Chausson: Poème de lamour et de la mer - Britten: Les iilluminations