A dialogue between light and shadow, life and death, expressed in the languages of three great artists of different eras – this is what the concert “Messengers: Bach / Schubert / Čiurlionis” promises to be, which will be held on November 27 at 7:30 pm at the National Philharmonic as part of the iEufonie Festival.

The evening will open with the String Quartet in C minor by Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, a Lithuanian artist who wove music and painting into a single story. His Quartet combines classicizing outer movements with an expressive middle movement, whose melancholy melodics unfold against a chromatic-saturated accompaniment. This will be followed by the Bach Concerto in D minor BWV 1052 – full of vitality, with brilliant dialogues between soloist and orchestra and an atmospheric Adagio in the middle movement. Finally, we’ll hear Franz Schubert’s Quartet in D minor “Death and the Maiden” – a dramatic dialogue of life and death, whose final tarantella brings to mind the “dance of death.”

Sergey Krylov will be behind the conductor’s desk, leading the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, with the outstanding pianist Lukas Geniušas as soloist. This is a meeting of world-class artists with a repertoire of extraordinary emotional depth.

November 27, 2025 | 7:30 pm | Warsaw Philharmonic

For the concert program, see the description: Posłańcy: Bach / Schubert / Čiurlionis

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The String Quartet in C minor by Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875–1911), which opens the concert, introduces us into the world of this extremely interesting, although little known, Lithuanian painter, composer, choral conductor and writer, whose 150th birthday we celebrate this year. Although he was primarily associated with Lithuania, Poland also played an important role in his life. He attended the music school of Prince Michał Mikołaj Ogiński (the grandson of the famous Michał Kleofas) in Plungė in the Žemaitija region. Thanks to the financial support of the prince, he continued his education at the Music Institute in Warsaw (1894–1899) under the supervision of Antoni Sygietyński and Zygmunt Noskowski. In Warsaw, he also studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts (1904–1906) with Ferdynand Ruszczyc and Konrad Krzyżanowski, establishing close contacts with Polish artistic community, including Eugeniusz Morawski, also a composer and painter. Interestingly enough, it was only at the age of thirty that Čiurlionis (Polish: Mikołaj Konstanty Czurlanis) learned Lithuanian, partly thanks to his fiancée, Lithuanian writer Sofija Kymantaitė. Today, it is mainly in Lithuania that the memory of this outstanding painter and musician from the turn of the 20th century has been preserved, considered one of the leading figures of Lithuanian culture.

An author of almost 400 musical works and 300 paintings, Čiurlionis created art transcending the boundaries of genres by transferring musical structures to canvas and arranging his painterly visions into sounds. He is best known for his symphonic poems In the Forest and The Sea. Among his chamber compositions, the String Quartet in C minor (arranged for string orchestra by Vilhelmas Čepinskis) occupies a special place, with classicising outermost movements and a nostalgic slow movement provided with an expressive melodic line outlined against a dense, highly chromatic accompaniment.

The next compositions featured in the evening’s programme are well known to music lovers, being the so-called “staples” of classical music canon. The Harpsichord Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052 by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), often also performed on the piano, is one of his most admirable works of this kind, from the very first bars impressing with its extraordinary energy and spirit. The outermost movements, reminiscent of Vivaldi’s concertos (especially the Violin Concerto in D major “Il grosso mogul”, RV 208), begin with ritornelli performed in unison, which develop into ingenious dialogues between the soloist and the orchestra. The middle Adagio introduces an atmospheric, melancholic aura, standing in contrast with the dynamic finale.

The famous String Quartet in D minor “Death and the Maiden” by Franz Schubert (1797–1828) was written at a time when the composer, although still young, was already seriously ill and felt the end approaching. In the second movement, the outstanding creator of the Romantic Lied used one of his own Lieder, composed a few years earlier to a text by Matthias Claudius, which served as the title of the entire work. The struggle between life and death is reflected through stark contrasts of tempo, rhythm and key, while the final tarantella – heavily relying on syncopation and sudden turns – brings to mind the ‘danse macabre’. The value of the piece was appreciated by Gustav Mahler, who arranged it for string orchestra 70 years after its creation.

Pomimo tego, że wszystkie utwory zawarte w programie wieczoru zostały skomponowane w różnych epokach i reprezentują różne konwencje stylistyczne, charakteryzują się one wysokim stopniem ekspresji. Żadne z prezentowanych dzieł nie pozostawi słuchacza obojętnym ze względu na napięcie, które się w nich kumuluje – budowane stopniowo lub pojawiające się niczym gwałtowna burza. Wachlarz emocji jest ogromny – niepohamowana radość, która może być apoteozą życia, zestawiona jest z refleksją nad śmiercią. Jest tu zarówno światło, jak i cień.

Jolanta Guzy-Pasiak