The Blue of Distance

The Blue of Distance for a cappella choir (SSAATTBB, no text) was composed in 2010 and premiered by Jauna Muzika with conductor Vaclovas Augustinas, on October 25, 2010 at the Gaida festival in Vilnius, Lithuania. Martinaitytė tells: When searching for the lyrics for my choral piece, I encountered an alluring phrase “the blue of distance”.

It remained just a poetical-philosophical hint since the text itself doesn't get utilized at all. Instead, the function of the lyrics is given to a set of speech sounds - mostly humming or the sung open vowels “a-e-i-o-u”. In one part of the piece these vowels/letters appear as chords, they determine the succession of entrances of choral voices and their interrelationships.