ANA 026
METAMORPHOSES: VARIATIONS ON LUTOSŁAWSKI
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). From that project, it was already a short way to Bates’ discovery of one of Poland’s most significant 20th-century composers, Witold Lutosławski. Michael Bates’ arrangements of this composer’s works were premiered in a dazzling manner by the joint forces of Acrobat and Lutosławski Quartet during the New York edition of Jazztopad festival in June 2022. Several months later in Wrocław, the musicians met up again in order to record the music and thus preserve their fantastic adventure for the future generations.
[1]–[2] Wind Trio3 (Trio for Oboe, Clarinet, and Bassoon)
[3]–[4] The Sea (Five Songs to Words by Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna: The Sea)
[5]–[6] Aspects of Metamorphoses (Musique funèbre: Metamorphoses)
[7] Sacher Variation Variations for string quartet, double bass, and drums (Sacher Variation)
[8]–[9] Dance Prelude #2 (Dance preludes)
[10] Passacaglia (Concerto for Orchestra: Passacaglia, toccata e corale)
[11] Bucolic for WL*
[12] Cantilena for bassoon and cello (Concerto for Cello and Orchestra: Cantilena)