Gondwana

Gondwana is the name of a prehistoric supercontinent consisting of areas of present-day Africa, South America, Antarctica and India, among others. The movement of the tectonic plates relative to each other inspired the spectrologist Tristan Murail in 1980 to create a composition in which the texture is shaped by the constant transformation of its components. In addition, the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic under the baton of Gergely Madaras will revive the forgotten beauty of Ernő Dohnányy's symphony and will co-perform Ludwig van Beethoven's piano concerto with Greek virtuoso Filem Liotis.

Spectralism separated in the mid-seventies of the last century. He used the frequency-amplitude spectrum of sound as a source of musical material. In Gondwana, an ambitious orchestral work, Murail “wrote out” for the orchestra the transformation of the synthetic, non-harmonic sound of the bell and the actual tone of the trombone. When composing, he used electronic tools for calculations, but the unusual sound we hear is produced exclusively by orchestral means. The formal principle of continual change, applied in various aspects of form-making, is a metaphor for the movement of continents. It can be said that not geological but emotional upheavals will be provided by the performance of Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto — a firm statement maintained in the symbolic tone of inner pathos of disagreement with reality.

Similarly, it can be with a song performed after a break. Its author is the Hungarian pianist and composer Ernő Dohnányi, born one hundred and fifty years ago. Unfortunately, he remains a forgotten figure. This piano virtuoso, called Liszt's successor, became a victim of a difficult period in the history of his country after the fall of the Habsburg monarchy. Fate led the instrumentalist across the ocean to the state of Florida, but the 1901 Symphony in D minor, which we will listen to, marks the beginning of his artistic journey. This work is definitely part of the Brahms stylistic trend, although similarities with other, less conservative late Romantic artists are also heard. The five links of this monumental tour de force are characterized by both clarity of texture and richness of contrasts. The symphony impresses with its narrative in an unusual way and can certainly be considered an overlooked pearl of its time.