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THE LAST PART OF THE SILESIAN TRILOGY. THE ALBUM POKORA. DRAMMA GIOCOSO PREMIERES ON 7TH OCTOBER!
2022-09-30
A creative clash of artistic 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. This much-awarded duo’s third joint project is now released in the OPERA series from PWM Edition’s ANAKLASIS label and will go into distribution as of 7th October this year.
The OPERA series has a special place in the ANAKLASIS catalogue as a space for the presentation of unique projects: recordings of great vocal-instrumental forms. It is the opera that Nowak and Twardoch chose as the field for their joint experimentation. They approach this genre in all seriousness but without humility… Which brings us to the title of their third joint work, Pokora (‘humility’ in Polish). After the sea voyage into the unknown in Siren, the artists return to Silesia, the land of Drach, with the tribulations of its great history and little hardships of everyday life. Through the mouths of the protagonists, Agnes (Joanna Freszel) and Alois (Sebastian Szumski), they tell the story of life in the consuming grip of power and passion. The instrumentalists are Maciej Frąckiewicz (accordion) and AUKSO Chamber Orchestra of the City of Tychy under Marek Moś. “The accompaniment shakes one to the core; the music plunges into some terrifying, lethal cold,” commented Polityka’s reviewer Dorota Szwarcman after the premiere. What more is there to add?
Pokora. Dramma giocoso is the last work in a vocal-instrumental triptych that Alek Nowak created, year after year, in collaboration with writter Szczepan Twardoch (now apparently firmly turned librettist as well). The cycle opened with Drach. Dramma per musica (2019), a quasi-mythical tale of eternal return, followed by Syrena. Melodrama aeterna (2020), a fable-like story of the infinite, of perseverance and mystery. The trilogy comes to its close with Pokora. Dramma giocoso (2021). All the three parts deal with aspects of identity; in part, naturally, with the Silesian identity, which is particularly evident in Pokora.
‘The trilogy-like nature of the cycle will not be obvious, but it will be there,’ commented Alek Nowak before the opera’s premiere at the AUKSODRONE festival, referring to the connections between Pokora and his earlier settings of Twardoch’s texts. ‘When I read this text, in the context of Drach and Siren, I can see a network of links and analogies, not only between these texts, but between them and the world outside, between general history and my own tale: what happens today and what happened one, a hundred, a thousand years ago. […] In Drach we had cyclicity; in Siren – mirror-image symmetry; here we find the element of repeatability and of symmetry disturbed.’
These three extraordinary dramatic works had their premieres during the last three editions of AUKSODRONE festival. Pokora comes out on 7th October, joining Drach and Siren (already available for purchase) as the final act of the Silesian trilogy. These and other albums from ANAKLASIS are available from the best bookstores and music shops, online services, as well as the virtual shop of the empik chain. Highly recommended!
#sharpenyourears for the OPERA series from ANAKLASIS and the works of the Nowak-Twardoch duo!
Media patrons of the CD Pokora. Dramma giocoso: TVP Kultura, RMF Classic, Culture.pl
Partner of the release: Ruch Muzyczny
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