ČeKsperiMentas VL XXX

“One must be a cultural degenerate to enjoy today’s modern music.”
— the patriarch of Lithuanian music, Juozas Naujalis, commenting on
a canonical violin sonata by Juozas Gruodis, around 1922

ČeKsperiMentas VL XXX is a musical reflection on how the music of Lithuania’s eccentric genius Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875–1911) might have sounded a century ago. Messiaenic textures, touches of minimalism, and even a cheesy tango performed in a church — to create a certain discomfort Čiurlionis’s music might once have evoked in conservative Lithuanian listeners.

The Lithuanian phrase čia eksperimentas (this [is an] experiment) is intentionally misspelled and fused into a single word — čeksperimentas — in which the capitalized letters Č, K, and M appear in reverse order of M. K. Čiurlionis’s initials. The abbreviation “VL” refers to Vytautas Landsbergis’s catalogue of Čiurlionis’s works, while “XXX” denotes an unknown catalogue number.

Instrumentation
Organ

Duration
11 min.

Premiere
October 7, 2025, at the Church of St. Casimir (Vilnius), performed by Benas Jonušas.

Other
The composition was comissed for the Čiurlioniada festival by the Center for International Cultural Projects, PI (Lithuania).