Catalogue

What is that special world in which Adam Bałdych can meet Agnieszka Budzińska-Bennett? He is a violin virtuoso navigating his way between jazz and contemporary music. She is a singer, harpist, pianist, and musicologist, founder of Ensemble Peregrina early music ensemble associated with the famous Schola Cantorum Basiliensis early music academy. The world in which they have met is called Kras52. Rather than being a planet in a faraway galaxy, it is a Krasiński Library manuscript and one of the main sources of Polish medieval polyphony.

One of Poland’s most compelling jazz pianists, Kuba Stankiewicz has shared the stage with, among others, Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski, Zbigniew Namysłowski, Artie Shaw, and Art Farmer. For many years he has explored the impact of pre-WWII film music on jazz, which has resulted in splendid releases of music by Victor Young, Bronisław Kaper, Henryk Wars, as well as their teacher Roman Statkowski. Stankiewicz’s variations on themes from Różycki’s works are the next stage of his journey in search for the sources of jazz.

When cinema’s great visionary Francis Ford Coppola is calling – the director of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now – who would hang up on him? Wojciech Kilar took up the offer of cooperation, which resulted in his soundtrack (now of cult status) for the tale of the Transylvanian monster whose love was a bit too strong. Years later, this pathetic-lyrical cantata for mixed choir and symphony orchestra has been turned inside out by pianist Piotr Orzechowski and saxophonist Kuba Więcek.

From his debut album Outside Sources (2004), Canadian bassist-composer Michael Bates felt that even contemporary open jazz constrains him, which he honestly admitted, saying that he takes inspiration from Miles just as willingly as from the noisy recordings of Bad Brains. It was from punk that he started his adventure with music composition and performance. He sailed into new waters with an album of Acrobat (a quintet led by Bates) daringly taking up the legacy and composition technique of Shostakovich (titled Music for, and by, Dmitri Shostakovich, 2011).

Bloody crime, family tragedy, the force of destiny… The timeless works of ancient playwrights continue to move audiences also today as well as inspiring present-day artists. Aeschylus’ "Oresteia" has thus become the basis for Agata Zubel’s dramopera to a libretto by Maja Kleczewska.

The workings of inspiration are truly inscrutable. Karol Szymanowski sought it in the Antiquity, the Orient, and in Polish folklore. The artists of to-day, though cast from a different mould, are in turn inspired by the oeuvre of Szymanowski. They take up anew what the giant of Polish music left off nearly a hundred years ago and use his works as a point of departure for more explorations, a journey into the unknown. This is certainly true of sax player, composer and producer Adam Pierończyk – a restless soul, an artist who has collaborated with, among others, Sam Rivers, Archie Shepp, Bobby McFerrin, Tomasz Stańko, and Avishai Cohen. The US website ‘All About Jazz’ hailed his virtuoso playi

“I’ve focused on chamber music in order to bring out as much colour in the violin itself and its changing sound as possible,” says virtuoso Adam Bałdych about his vision of Wieniawski’s music. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung called Bałdych “technically the most accomplished violinist of our time”. Technical proficiency and thorough education (which includes an honours degree from Katowice’s Academy of Music and a scholarship to Berklee College of Music) do not stop Bałdych from taking an unorthodox approach to the time-honoured music of old masters.

A creative clash of such individualities is always a high-risk venture that might only seem fit for a one-time success. Contrary to expectations, collaboration between one of Poland’s most eminent 21st-century composers and one of the best contemporary writers continues to develop, producing ever more surprising results. The two artists chose the opera as the field for their joint experimentation. They approach this genre in all seriousness but without humility… Which brings us to the title of Nowak and Twardoch’s third work, “Pokora” (‘humility’ in Polish).