Director Raimundas Banionis – about Faustas Latėnas: it was good to be silent with him | Culture

The winner of the National Prize for Culture and Art is the composer F. Latėnas died the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. His daughter, actress Elžbieta Latėnaitė, reported this news on Facebook. F. Latėnas, whose music is heard in many popular performances and movies, was 64 years old.

Sympathy President Gitanas Nausėda, Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis, President of the Seimas Viktoras Pranckietis, testified on the death of F. Latėnas.

Close friendship is also connected

R.Banionis and F.Latėnas have long-lasting friendships, both professional and personal. The composer is the musician of almost all R. Banionis films.

He has composed music for the legendary director films “My Little Wife”, “Sixteen Years Old”, “Children from the American Hotel”, “Company of Honor” and others.

“We have known each other for a long time, since I got my diploma. It was the movie” Speed ​​is my God “, in which Algis Latėnas played the main role. There we met Fausto. We are in 1979,” said R. Banionis.

The acquaintance became a close friendship. According to R. Banionis, Fausto was not willing to communicate much: “But we meet, we understand each other. Then he became the musical author of practically all my films and the musical author of the vast majority of performances.

Although he was a man of silence, it was good to be silent with him. Many things. Tonight was a blow to me. Unexpected. I don’t know anything, not even who he died of, but I really don’t want to know. “

R. Banionis and F. Latėnas baptized each other’s children, the friends had a tradition every year: to celebrate the new year together.

“It just came to our knowledge then. Every new year we met for about 10 years. There was such a group of abstainers that we met very well with non-alcoholic champagne in our village,” recalled R. Banionis.

The last time R. Banionis contacted his friend was about a week ago; reciprocated with messages.

“I’m making a six-series movie. He had almost written the music for the title song of the movie. We chose a singer who could perform. We do not know the two current young artists and we discuss it in messages, “said R. Banionis.

His music brought victories

Apart from F.Latėnas, it is difficult to imagine the Little Vilnius State Theater. Director Gabrielė Tuminaitė says he had to work with F. Latėnas for the last time this fall. The creative duo had more plans at the Vilnius Small Theater.

“We have also worked together in China and Italy. For me, it is also a personal loss. This is a loss for all of Lithuania, a loss in the context of the world. He was loved by all, his music brought victories all the time. Unrepeatable. There will be no more music that only Faustas can create, ”said G.Tuminaitė.

Speaking of the creative relationship between the director and the composer, the artist said that he is very important.

“One of the most important elements is the scenery, the music. It is such an independent organism that, if used with precision, it can give meaning to performance.

Faust always wrote music in such a way that after the performance, and the audience will agree, his music remained to be heard for a long time. He found a certain suitable reason for the performance, a musical expression that you would have carried on your mind for a long time. In this way, you are using the performance itself. He was able to make a success. Like it or not, you enjoy music for three more days.

He was a teacher, a genius of music, loved and respected both in Lithuania and in the world. There are many people in Lithuania who are very shocked and sad, ”said G.Tuminaitė.

Had returned from moscow

Audrius Balsys, the director of the music studio Nona, is not only a friend of F. Latėnas, but also a colleague. At the music studio they worked on each of their own jobs, but the equipment was bought together.

“We’ve been communicating for many years, we’ve been long-term partners. When it came to creativity, he was a genius. Rare was a creator, quirky, he did it his way and no one could understand how he did it. It’s very difficult to talk. ”Said A. Balsys.

The news about the death of F. Latėnas was very unexpected: “It was an absolute shock, I still can’t understand what happened. I don’t know how to behave, I don’t want to call relatives or ask. I know he had returned from Moscow, he had to be quarantined. So far we have not communicated.

I texted him, called, and got no response. The anxiety was already there then. I have no words about what happened, ”said the composer’s friend.

The small theater in Vilnius remembers F. Latėnas

Vilnius Small Theater (VMT) also remembers the late composer in a press release.

F.Latėnas was a good and loyal friend of the director Rimas Tuminas. According to the director, there are very few friends of this type in their lives: “In the end, we lose them and we are alone. Fausto now pushed me to solitude and was a friend for many years. A friend everywhere, in life, in secrets … Faust largely predicted the spirit, the soul, the pain of a person. “

And now I have no idea what it will be like.

Speaking of the composer, R. Tumin says that he was full of sadness. His music was accompanied by an eternal requiem: a father whom he loved very much, a son he lost and with whom he probably never reconciled. His grades were sad, but also bright. Faust was … a leading composer. Not in vain did he speak to me once to teach him how to direct, that he had just returned from Moscow. But he became him, he always advised the actors, he helped ”, recalls R. Tuminas.

Although there were also sterile and slight disagreements in life and work, R.Tuminas says that he could not work without F.Latėnas and Adam Jacovskis: “And now I can’t imagine what will happen. We fall, we go out. It is the end of our generation, but there is nothing tragic about it. Everyone goes out when they need to, when they want or invite those who don’t. “

R.Tumin, who is currently being treated in clinics in Germany, even admits to embracing a peculiar shame.

“I was here in June, when Gediminas Girdvainis died suddenly in Lithuania. Now I’m here again and that’s what … What a shame, what a shame. As if I were the only one who wanted to escape death, say no here there would be death. There is that death, there is. Only the theater allows us to live in the absence of death. This is the great illusion of the theater “, opens the director.

Larisa Kalpokaitė: Faust had a rare trait

The actress Larisa Kalpokaitė specifically describes the composer F. Latėna: he is a man who did not lie.

“I have known Fausto since the time of the conservatory, although then we only said goodbye. We got to know each other better when the Vilnius Small Theater was being created, when the performances were staged. Faust was everything, but above all a man who did not lie. He did not wrap the words in cotton. Either he didn’t say anything or he told the truth, ”the actress recalls the talented creator.

According to L. Kalpokaitė, such justice, as F. Latėnas was characterized, is a very rare and expensive characteristic.

“I don’t even mean how great he was as a composer, a great theater connoisseur, a wise director. By the way, I remember a funny incident. A long time ago, when we participated in the “Baltijskij dom” festival and played “Smile at us, Lord”, we rehearsed in a huge hall. The room was empty, with only the actors on stage and Faust in the last row. The music he created plays and Faustas says with a serious face: what beautiful music I wrote, how good! ”Laughs L. Kalpokaitė, recalling brilliant moments.

Actor Almantas Šinkūnas states: “The melody of“ Smile at us, Lord ”sounded, sounds and will always ring in my heart, the theme of the eternal circle of life and death, which was recognized and written with such precision by Faust. A man who felt the pulse of our fragility and shared it ”.

The theater director Daiva Baltūsytė-Len describes the composer F. Latėnas in a concrete and meaningful way, as a wonderful adviser. One who, without unnecessary emotions, understood, advised, inspired peace and trust.