Acclaim for Gabrielius Alekna’s first CD of Bacevičius’ music

UK’s International Record Review and American Fanfare Magazine as well as theclassicalreview.com feature highly favorable reviews of “Vytautas Bacevičius: The Complete Mots.” Gabrielius Alekna’s first CD on the “Toccata Classics” label, it was launched in London in early 2012.   In recording the works by Lithuania’s leading modernist and one of the undiscovered pioneers of twentieth-century music, Gabrielius Alekna collaborated with the two-time Grammy winning producer Judith Sherman and the three-time Grammy-nominated pianist Ursula Oppens. More than half of the compositions on this CD are first recordings.
The Lithuanian pianist and composer Vytautas Bacevičius’ (1905–70) series of seven Mots (‘Words’) for keyboard – five for solo piano, one for organ and one for two pianos – were written between 1933 and 1966. They show the evolution of Bacevičius’ musical language from the post-Skryabin style of the early works, via the influence of Prokofiev and Stravinsky, to a highly individual modernism, akin to that of two fellow radicals, Varèse and Wolpe.