Bolero “multimedia” — Symphony of Water | Wesołowski | Chamber Orchestra

Performers: Adam Wesołowski — conductor

Silesian Chamber Orchestra

Program: Ottorino Respighi — Suite III Old dances and arias

Maurice Ravel — Bolero industrial for string orchestra and multimedia

Henryk Mikołaj Górecki — Three pieces in the old style

Adam Wesołowski — Symphony of Water for string orchestra, piano and multimedia

Concert as part of the XIV International Days of Henryk Mikołaj Górecki Episodes

Maurice Ravel's bolero in a multimedia elaboration will sound during the concert as part of the cycle Śląskie — Rhythms of Industry, combining symphonic music with the industrial heritage of the region. The concert will be complemented by exuberant dances and melodic arias in the old style of Ottorin Respighi and Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, and the whole will be crowned with “Symphony of Water” for orchestra and multimedia, which takes the listener into the most beautiful world of melodic water and its harmony, in which a person will feel the fullness of life. Nothing but plunge into the sea of beautiful concert music.

The new interpretation of the famous Boler will use authentic sounds recorded in the Old Factory — a branch of the Historical Museum in Bielsko-Biała, located in the former textile factory of the Büttner brothers. It is there, among the historical machines and traces of the industrial history of the city, that the sounds that co-create the unique sound layer of the work were recorded. One of the most recognizable works of the 20th century will take on a whole new dimension.

Suite III The former dances and arias of Ottorin Respighi is a four-part composition inspired by lute music of the 16th and 17th centuries. Respighi drew on anonymous early works as well as works by artists such as Jean-Baptiste Besard and Ludovico Roncalli, creating a subtle stylization combining historical melodies with 20th-century sound sensitivity. The composer with extraordinary elegance combined the old dance form with modern orchestration, building music full of lightness, lyricism and chamber charm.

There will also be music by Henryk Mikołaj Górecki. Three pieces in the old style were created in 1963 as a response by the composer to a joking accusation by Tadeusz Ochlewski, the then director of the Polish Music Publishing House, who stated that Górecki's music “lacks melody”. The composer, already associated with avant-garde, sonorism and experimental musical language, created a series surprisingly simple, transparent and clearly inspired by the aesthetics of early music, especially the Renaissance.

Written for a string orchestra, the miniatures include three contrasting links — lively, danceable extreme parts surround a nostalgic middle part. Górecki consciously limited the musical material, focusing on the melody, the clarity of the texture and the subtle qualities of the sound of the strings.

The evening will be crowned with Adam Wesołowski's Symphony of Water — the first ever composition for orchestra, multimedia and water, which sounds from the orchestra for the listener. This is because the composer uses the sounds and images of water in both its natural and industrial worlds, and transports the listener into the wonderful world of life. Water, as its most beautiful symbol, is not the only sign of this composition, because Wesołowski in the Symphony of Water leads a lively story about water. It is a three-part composition (according to the symbol of water HOH) that will take us into the beautiful world of images of nature and industry, not excluding each other, but complementing each other. In addition, each of the parts is built on the formula of a water molecule (HOH). The inspiration for the creation of this story was the life and activity of man in Szyba Staszic.

CONCERT INFORMANT

Co-financed from the funds of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund — a state special purpose fund, as part of the “Music” program, implemented by the National Institute of Music and Dance

Project under the patronage of the City of Katowice

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