ANAKLASIS / katalog / Portraits / ANA 024

When asked to attempt a definition of her music, she called it lyrical expressionism. The choice of this term says much about the emotional intensity of Elżbieta Sikora’s music, which may reflect the experience of her two home countries, Poland and France, but is also a consequence of her artistic maturation in an age when two powerful trends – the avant-garde and neo-Classicism – were vying for the palm. Such a label may also result from the artist’s focus on the listener as her target, whom she invariably attempts to surprise, shock, or bewilder.

The CONCERTOS album portrays the composer’s speciality by presenting three unique works: Violin Concerto No. 1 (with violinist Linus Roth and NOSPR orchestra under José Maria Floręncio), her Organ Concerto (Mari Fukumoto – organ, NFM Wrocław Philharmonic, cond. Pascal Rophé), and Piano Concerto (Adam Kośmieja – soloist, Sinfonia Varsovia, cond. Bassem Akiki). The composer thus recalls her work on Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 1 ‘Hommage ŕ Frédéric Chopin’: ‘I strove virtually to forget about Chopin or any kind of piano concerto and make it all my own.’