Chartres (2012)
For string orchestra.
Performed by St.Christopher Chamber Orchestra conducted by Karolis Variakojis.
The inspiration of Chartres is an insight into Chartres Cathedral south rose, which depicts the Apocalypse according to Saint John. XIIIth century glass window is dominated by images of old-men holding string instruments. The Chartres key of the epitomized musical material is shaped to mirror the stained glass window and the visual form of the arc of the circle is embodied in the score. The musical parameters of this composition, which constantly follows the system focuses on the medieval proportions of ‘6:8:9:12’. The maximum instrumental divisi sounds for most of the time and expresses different layers, which are gradually joining and contrary to each other. Each of these layers is individual and generates a transformation in the timbre meanwhile each instrument, when entering produces a subtle supplement to the cluster, so creating monumental sonic blocks.
The Chartres key - epitomized material for the score.
Chartres was recommended work by International Rostrum of Composers in 2013 (composers under 30 category), represented Lithuania at World Music Daysin 2015 and received the Best Debut of the Year 2013 Prize from the Lithuanian Composers’ Union. Chartres also appears in the ADORE project.
Chartres was performed by 10 different orchestras:
2026.07.11-12
Euroccitanie Orchestra, Festival d’Autan, France.
2023.03.24
Sinfonietta Rīga conducted by Normunds Šnē at Liela Gilde Concerthall, Riga, Baltic Music Days.
2022.08.04
Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, conductor by Elena Schwarz, Obscura III program, Australia.
2021.12.09
Klaipeda Chamber Orchestra , – artistic director, cellist Mindaugas Bačkus, music and dance project Present Time, Šiaulių kultūros centras, Lithuania.
2021.09.30
Klaipeda Chamber Orchestra , – artistic director, cellist Mindaugas Bačkus, music and dance project Present Time, KKC / Kauno kultūros centras, Lithuania.
2020.11.13
BBC Philharmonic, conductor Ben Gernon , BBC Radio 3 live broadcast, UK.
2020.07.18
Klaipeda Chamber Orchestra , – artistic director, cellist Mindaugas Bačkus, music and dance project Present Time, 45th Klaipėda Music Spring Festival Klaipėda, Lithuania.
2017.11.12
Chamber Orchestra MODUS conducted by Robertas Bliškevičius concert Polilogas festival Muzikos ruduo, Vilnius, Lithuania.
2016.12.16
Ensemble 21 conducted by Elena Schwarz concert Compositrices d’aujourd’hui at Geneva HEM, Switzerland.
2016.05.17
ORFEJ String Orchestra conducted by Ivan Markovič concert Rostrum+ in Belgrade, Serbia.
2015.09.11
Klaipeda Chamber Orchestra conducted by Modestas Pitrėnas festival Permainų Muzika, Klaipėda, Lithuania.
2015.09.29
Slovenian Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra conducted by Simon Krečič at World Music Days, Ljublijana, Slovenia.
2013.05.31
International Rostrum of Composers recommended Chartres at the 60th edition, in Prague, Czech Republic.
2012.05.16
St.Christopher Chamber Orchestra conducted by Karolis Variakojis, Druskomanija festival, Vilnius, Lithuania.
Chartres (2012) appears in albums:
Chartres, performed by Sinfonietta Rīga under the direction of Normunds Šnē, is featured on Justina Repečkaitė’s album Tapestries (2026).
Chartres, performed by Sinfonietta Rīga under the direction of Normunds Šnē, is featured on Justina Repečkaitė’s album Tapestries (2026).
ZOOM in 10 (2014), St.Christopher Chamber Orchestra cond. Karolis Variakojis.
Reviews in EN:
There’s a lot going on throughout Tapestries – it is, in the best sense, a lot to take in, and every piece benefits from being heard numerous times, to savour and appreciate its intricacies. Yet the works that start and end the album, though no less involved, nonetheless have an immediacy that sets them apart. Chartres for string orchestra is the earliest work included here, composed in 2012. It speaks with a sonorist directness and intensity, opening with fixed, strident, radiant notes. As they slide downwards, they slip through new chord configurations, though instances where they appear to resolve are fuzzy and / or imaginary. One or two high pitches protrude, other make their presence known, and when lower registers enter there’s more sense of clarity. Like a fan slowly closing up, the texture appears to move inward, in the process obfuscating chordal certainty again. Until, that is, a focal point of sorts, around a third of the way through, and also a catalytic moment, triggering slashes to begin. Weirdly, though the bow slashes feel volatile, the music seems to have mysteriously attained some kind of harmonic resolution, though once more it’s proved illusory. Pulsations start, the whole texture growing tremulous and swollen. It reaches a point not unlike parts of La Cité des Dames, high and sustained, peppered with sharp pizzicato accents, suggestive of a higher state, something euphoric. As everything evaporates, just the pizzicatos remaining, it feels like the complete opposite of a fizzle: rather, a whelming, an overload of feeling and expression, echoing Incantare, each pizzicato a single iota of croak from a voice pushed beyond articulation.
On his blog, 5against4, composer, writer, and researcher Simon Cummings devoted an article to Justina Repečkaitė’s album Tapestries (2026).
UK premiere of Chartres (2012) played by BBC Philharmonic conducted by Ben Gernon and streamed live on BBC Radio 3 on the 13th of November, 2020:
“Chartres was composed and premiered in 2012 and has been performed a number of times since. Today Ben Gernon conducts the UK premiere. He told me earlier that he admires enormously the shifting textures of the work, the slowly moving layers of sound creating the same effect as the ever-changing light that illuminates the south side of the cathedral. A XIIIth century stained glass window, the depiction of the Apocalypse, brought to life in music by the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Ben Gernon in the UK premiere of Justina Repečkaitė’s Chartres that was performed live for us here in Salford as part of today’s Afternoon concert on the BBC Radio 3 .” Presenter Tom Redmond.
Read Chartres review by Ben Davis on Sight Listen blog (2014).
Reviews in LT:
45-tasis “Klaipėdos muzikos pavasaris” suspindo vidurvasarį
“<…> perteikiant subtilųjį, mąslųjį, pirmapradžiu jausmu dvelkiantį J.Repečkaitės “Chartres” – Šartro (Prancūzija) Dievo Motinos katedros fasade švytinčios Pietų rožės vitražo Apokalipsė muzikinę raišką. Nenutrūkstama, intensyvėjanti, spalvomis mirganti ir vėl nutolstanti garso tėkmė tarsi panardina klausytojus į gilaus susimąstymo būseną. “
Daiva Kšanienė after performance by Klaipeda Chamber Orchestra , – artistic director, cellist Mindaugas Bačkus, music and dance project Present Time, 45th Klaipėda Music Spring Festival Klaipėda, Lithuania. 2020.07.18
Tiltai tarp universalumo ir lokalumo. Tarptautinė muzikologų konferencija Slovėnijoje (2015):
“Labai džiugu, kad koncertą efektingai pradėjo jaunos lietuvių kompozitorės Justinos Repečkaitės kūrinys „Chartres“ (2012), prieš keletą metų pelnęs autorei Lietuvos kompozitorių sąjungos Debiuto premiją ir rekomendaciją Tarptautinėje kompozitorių tribūnoje (2013). Kompozitorei, po studijų Lietuvos muzikos ir teatro akademijoje studijavusiai Paryžiaus nacionalinėje muzikos ir šokio konservatorijoje, artima viduramžių meno estetika. „Chartres“ – grakštus, išgryninta estetika persmelktas kūrinys. Taikliai pasirinktomis muzikinėmis priemonėmis J. Repečkaitė interpretuoja pasirinktą įspūdingos Šartro katedros vitražą, tiesiog apčiuopiamai perteikdama ir šviesos bei stiklo žaismą, ir tamsokus, „sunkius“ vitražo tonus. Bendras potyris (vitražo „vaizdas“) kūrinio pabaigoje išsiskaido į mažyčius, trapius, skaidrius stiklo gabalėlius…”
Kamilė Rupeikaitė after Chartres performance by Slovenian Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra conducted by Simon Krečič at World Music Days, Ljublijana, Slovenia. 2015.09.29
Musicologist Ona Jarmalavičiūtė wrote her bachelor diploma paper at LMTA „Komponavimo proceso atodangos J. Repečkaitės kompozicijoje „Chartres“ (vadovė doc. dr. Audra Versekėnaitė-Efthymiou) mentionned in 2020 by Ars & Praxis.
The student string orchestra ORFEJ from the Belgrade Faculty of Arts perform Chartres In the framework of IRCEdu, Rostrum+.
Conductor Normunds Šnē presents the concert SPARK by the Riga Sinfonietta.
Festival Esamasis laikas, Klaipeda, 2020.
In her PhD thesis Lithuanian modernisms: Alternative paradigms in contemporary Baltic art music at University of York, Claire McGinn (2021) discusses Chartres.
