News
Maciej Zieliński: composer of the month in September
2021-09-01
In 2021 PWM Edition is highlighting trends and directions in Polish music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and also composers representing those currents who are associated with PWM. September features postmodernism, à la Maciej Zieliński.
Maciej Zieliński is one of the most important composers of his generation. His contemporary output is defined as ‘emotional postmodernism’. It stands out for its expressivity, formal and structural inventiveness, original orchestration and individual approach to postmodernism.
Zieliński is also an esteemed, award-winning composer of film music. His distinctions include the New Filmmakers LA Award, three nominations for the Polish film industry’s ‘Eagle’ awards and a nomination for the Crystal Pine Award at the International Sound and Film Music Festival in Croatia.
Maciej Zieliński is equally passionate about popular music (incl. collaborations with Kayah and Ania Dąbrowska), film music (incl. Gry uliczne [Street games] and Sługi boże [Humble servants]) and contemporary music. In this last category, free from the demands of the market and producers, Zieliński is able to fully develop the range of his compositional ambitions and capabilities. One of the first discs released on the ANAKLASIS label is ARCHIPELAG [ARCHIPELAGO] (ANA 004), featuring contemporary music by Maciej Zieliński. The postmodernist multiplicity of influences in Zieliński’s works is well served on this disc by his collaboration with an orchestra specialising in combining different musical worlds, and it would be hard to find an ensemble with more experience in that domain than the Aukso - Chamber Orchestra of the City of Tychy, conducted by Marek Moś. From Shining II, inspired by optical phenomena, and also entering into dialogue with the output of Krzysztof Penderecki (whose compositions were used in the cult horror film The Shining) to Accello Tanguero, in which the solo instruments are accordion and cello, as befits a travesty of the tango idiom, we hear clearly that Archipelag consists of works written not just for string orchestra, but also for vivid emotions.
For more on ANA 004, visit the ANAKLASIS website.
Works by Maciej Zieliński and publications dealing with his music can be bought at a discounted price in the PWM bookshop and via our website. We invite anyone interested in digital access to his sheet music to explore this composer’s work through the nkoda app.
We invite you to read the composer’s ALFABET [Alphabet], which introduces issues of importance to the composer and helps us to get to know him better.
A - abstraction, alienation, absynth, adrenaline, art, angel, archi, aura
Alone in a crowd for alto saxophone and tape
A. for alto saxophone and piano
L – logic, literature, lottery
Lutosławski in memoriam for oboe and piano
F - fascination, Faust, fiction, film
Fallen Angel for drums and tape
A - absurdity, aphorism, accent, action, acoustics, algorithm, anomaly, argument, applause
Accello for accordion, cello, string orchestra and percussion
B - baroque, bible, big band, ballet, baton, flat
Barocode I for violin, viola and string orchestra
Between Yesterday and Tomorrow for flute, viola and harp
E - energy, emotions, ethics, ethos, euphoria, evolution, empathy
Elemen T for orchestra
T - tango, top, theme, term, tolerance, triton
Three dreams and a lullaby
Tractus for mixed choir a cappella
Trio for M.B. for clarinet, violin and cello
That time of year for a vocal ensemble
Time Capsule for orchestra
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The esteemed American-Canadian jazz musician Michael Bates, his Acrobat Ensemble and the Lutosławski Quartet will perform three concerts in Poland in November. The repertoire will include material recorded by the musicians on the album METAMORPHOSES: VARIATIONS ON LUTOSŁAWSKI, released by ANAKLASIS in the REVISIONS series.
The artists have already successfully presented it at Lincoln Center and Barbès Jazz Club in New York. In autumn 2024 we will have the opportunity to hear them live for the first time in Poland: 14.11 - Krakow, 15.11 - Lublin, 17.11 - Wroclaw.
The Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Warsaw invites to the inaugural session of the biennial International Digital Musicology Conference, which will be held 23–25 October 2024, at the Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Warsaw, Poland. The conference focuses on the integration of digital technologies into musicological research, with a special emphasis on introducing digital tools and methods to the Polish academic community, where digital musicology has not yet been widely adopted.
It’ s like a game. The memory game, thanks to which you can look at a very ordinary family from an extraordinary perspective. ALBUM RODZINNY [Family album] – an opera by Jerzy Kornowicz with a libretto by Michał Rusinek – is another premiere of the ANAKLASIS label this year. This time, the record brand is expanding its audience to include the youngest listeners. The album will be released on 21st June.
Time passes constantly, changing the world and its soundscape around us. The title IL TEMPO PASSA may be both a reflection on the impermanence of life, world and things and a piece of advice to enjoy the moment. The latest album by ANAKLASIS presents Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa’s cameral and symphonic works from recent years. Premiere on 28 May 2024, on the composer’s 75th birthday.
It is a musical-literary tale about a quest for identity, truth, and for what makes us human. The new stage work by Aleksander Nowak – which is, at the same time, Radek Rak’s operatic debut – explores the sources of good and evil, fusing reality with mythology and steering towards ‘the left-hand side of the world’. The authors spin a tale about the dual human nature. THE TALE OF THE HEART. FAVOLA IN MUSICA – the album that presents their joint project – will go on sale on 6th October.
Spectacularly successful as Ludomir Różycki’s music was in his lifetime, it is seldom programmed nowadays. All the same, such remarkable art could hardly fall into utter oblivion. It has attracted and fascinated excellent jazz pianist Kuba Stankiewicz, who has translated it into the language of jazz. The effects have been recorded and released on ANAKLASIS label’s most recent album, INSPIRED BY LUDOMIR RÓŻYCKI, which goes on sale as of 28th August.
PWM Edition is entering the execution phase of the revitalisation of its Warsaw department. With the commencement of the renovation and the implementation of the assumptions of the architectural design, the Hire Department and the editorial office of “Ruch Muzyczny” are moving to a temporary headquarters at 19 Wiejska Street, Warsaw.
This is by no means a piece about the centuries-long Polish-German conflict. It is, instead, a tale of impossible love, of tragic conflict between personal happiness and the common good.
PWM Edition resumes cooperation with the Italian publishing house Ricordi, as well as with its international partners forming Universal Music Publishing Classics & Screen. This means that rentals of orchestral materials from the catalogues of all publishing houses belonging to Classics & Screen is carried out in Poland by Dział Zbiorów Nutowych (Sheet Music Department) of PWM.
