Videos of Incantare
Co-commissioned by Le Balcon and Fondation Singer-Polignac, Justina’s composition Incantare for flute and electronics was played at National Library of France and streamed to Athénée Theatre during the concert WINDS, Paris on the 25th of June, 2018. The fantastic flutist Claire Luquiens was filmed by David Daurier at the site Richelieu, Galerie Rondel, electronics played by Florent Derex. Incantare was part of the composer in residence program with ensemble Le Balcon (cond. Maxime Pascal).
Since its creation, Claire Luquiens’ performance of Incantare appears on Mediated Scores. "Incantare has been performed by Tarmo Johannes at the Baltic and Estonian Music Days in 2021 and 2024, as well as at Nieuwe Noten Amsterdam. Salomeja Kalvelyte also performed it at the Muzikos ruduo festival and in the streamed concert-talk Mano Nata. Additionally, Claire Luquiens ’ rendition appears on "Mediated Scores." Vytenis Gurskis’s recording of the piece is included in Justina’s portrait album, set to be released by the Music Information Center Lithuania in the fall of 2024.
Program note
The title Incantare translates from Latin, in – “into” + cantare “to sing”. In this composition flutist part is heavily charged with singing into the flute while playing. Electronics part is compiled of only one source: composer’s voice of vocal fry, overtone singing, breaths, noises and whispers of charms repeating Bird without a sting, tree without a trunk, water without legs (Paukštis be geluonies, medis be liemens, vanduo be kojų in Lithuanian). Flute both imitates and fights against the electronics part, thus creating charged dynamics. Video camera is pursuing the performer until at the end of the composition the flutist fights back and starts pursuing the cameraman.
Reviews in French
“Et avec une seule flûte traversière (Incantare, 2018), elle bâtit un monde surpeuplé de monstres terrifiants. Ne vous fiez pas aux apparences : chez cette pimpante trentenaire, à l’allure sage et discrète, l’angoisse guette à chaque coin de note.”
“S’ensuit Incantare de la compositrice lituanienne Justina Repečkaitė, étoile montante de la scène classique, où les timbres sonores sont mis en valeur par d’habiles recours aux techniques de jeux étendues des instruments et à l’électronique.”
Reviews in English
Pierre Rigaudière from Diapason in La musique balte sous les projecteurs européens à Tartu writes about Tarmo Johannes performing Incantare:
“Dans ce contexte, la flûte basse quelque peu chamanique mais remarquablement précise d’un Tarmo Johannes arbore dans Incantare (2018) de Justina Repečkaité un visage inattendu – l’interprète est invité à chanter dans un instrument augmenté par une électronique très vocale.”
A 5against4 review on Incantare:
“Taking first prize for the most startling venue used at this year’s festival was Tartu University’s Museum of Natural History, where the members of Ensemble U: performed – and we all stood – in the midst of a vast menagerie of live and preserved animals. The three pieces that made the strongest impression did this by (unintentionally) playing into the connotations of the natural world surrounding us on all sides. Justina Repečkaitė‘s Incantare, being premièred in a new version devised by flautist Tarmo Johannes for bass flute and electronics, spoke like a primordial voice, expanding into a carefully executed ritualistic act, the precision of which (Johannes is an astonishingly precise performer) was periodically broken up by wildness. At times, the live and electronic sounds sounded as twin strands of this same act, with the electronics often coming across like a more literal vocal mouthpiece to the more abstract and stylised material emanating from the flute.”
Estonian newspaper Sirp:
“The piece Incantare by Paris-based Justina Repečkaitė explores human existence through various states of the voice. The flute part is combined with a range of vocal techniques, with the source of the electronic material being the human voice, including breathing, blowing, whispering, murmuring, moaning, growling, and even overtone singing. These elements blend into a unified, organic sound fabric, or “life-weaving.””
Incantare (2018) was performed by 5 flautists:
2024.07.20
Julie Huguet atJardin des Paradis, Cordes-sur-Ciel, France.
2024.05.04
Tarmo Johannes at Natural History Museum of Tartu, the Baltic and Estonian Music Days.
2024.02.11
Tarmo Johannes at Plein Theater, Nieuwe Noten Amsterdam.
2023.09.09
Vytenis Gurskis at MAMA studios, Vilnius.
2023.06.11
Tarmo Johannes at 4′33 Fractals Workshop at Fulda University of Applied Sciences.
2022.10.03
Salomeja Kalvelyte, Master’s degree final concert of performance of contemporary music and improvisation at LMTA Music Innovation Studies Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania.
2021.09.21
Salomeja Kalvelyte, streamed concert & meeting with the composer from Lithuanian Composer’s Union, Vilnius, Lithuania.
2021.04.30
Tarmo Johannes (new version for bass flute and male voice) at Estonian Music Days, Tallinn.
2020.10.14
Salomeja Kalvelyte, festival Muzikos Ruduo, Vilnius, Lithuania.
2018.06.25
Premier by Claire Luquiens at National Library of France, streamed to Athénée Theatre, Paris.
Claire Luquiens playing Incantare at BNF, 2018.
Tarmo Johannes playing Incantare at Natural History Museum of Tartu, 2024.
Premiere of Incantare took place at the concert Winds by Le Balcon.
Salomeja Karvelyte played Incantare at Muzikos Ruduo festival, Vilnius, 2020.
Together Tarmo Johannes Justina presented Incantare at the Ensemble U: “Residentuu:r” session with at Elutuba Lava Taga, Tartu, 2024. Photos: Rene Jacobson.
A video of the full concert WINDS is on mmediatv.com and medici.tv:
Next up is Incantare by Lithuanian composer Justina Repečkaitė, a star on the rise in the classical world, a showcase of unconventional extended techniques that stretch the limits of traditional timbre.
Directed by: David Daurier
Venue: Athénée Théâtre Louis-Jouvet (Paris, France)
Production date: 2018
Duration: 1 h 04 min
Production: © Gingerlemon / Euromedia / Le Balcon
“Le Balcon invites to a concert W I N D S which is a cinematographic, poetical and historical promenade in Paris from National Library of France to Athénée Theatre, from Ludwig van Beethoven to Justina Repeckaite, Claude Vivier and Salvatore Sciarrino. Musicians from Le Balcon and Michael Levinas will be your guides.”
