Wąsik/Szymański/Mykietyn/Adams/Does music like to repeat itself?

“The contemporary composer moves between babble and banality. There is no golden mean and cannot be,” said Paweł Szymański in 1997. At that time, this statement was interpreted in the context of the twentieth century tension between the demiurgical avant-garde and the postmodern — sometimes thoughtless — exploitation of proven solutions of the past. However, this opposition seems to have a more timeless dimension. Perhaps in the most universal way, the eminent Austrian composer and great admirer of Szymański Bernhard Lang put it, emphasizing the interplay between change and repetition: phrase, rhythm, sound, form, convention, memory, cognitive schema. “Same” versus “alien”... Today it sounds as disturbing as it is impressively true—because that's how our minds work. The 20th century first made repetition taboo (serialism), and then fetishism (minimalism). In the early works of Steve Reich and Philip Glass, almost literally nothing happens, but once something happens, it is as if we move into another dimension. In the Preludes of Paweł Mykeetin (the aesthetic heir of Szymański) and in the China Gates and Phrygian Gates of John Adams (successors of Glass and Reich), quite a lot is already happening, although we are still stuck in a microcosm of only a few motifs, rhythms, sounds. Szymański's two etudes, on the other hand, evolve constantly, as if with each chord or breath of an ornamental phrase, they change tonality and meter. At the same time, we feel that behind this momentum there is something permanent and ancient. Perhaps just a deconstructed baroque fugue. Perhaps — much more. Is music in the 21st century still perfectly reconciling eternity with the temporal?

Michal Mendyk

This concert may be part of the “My Pass” offer. Check the details and compose “My Pass” at will, choosing from concerts of different series in the chamber and concert hall — more information.

Performers: Bartek Wąsik — piano; Adam Suprynowicz (Program 2 of Polish Radio) — conducting

Program: Paweł Szymański — Two Etudes; Paweł Mykietyn — Four Preludes; John Adams — China Gates; John Adams — Phrygian Gates