PWM

search
Advanced
Ministerstwo Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego
biuletyn informacji publicznej

News

LUTOSŁAWSKI BETWEEN THE CLASSICAL AND JAZZ WORLDS. THE ALBUM METAMORPHOSES: VARIATIONS ON LUTOSŁAWSKI GOES ON SALE AS OF 28th JUNE!

2023-06-12

How far is jazz from classical music? Do they really speak radically different languages? Michael Bates’ Acrobat and Lutosławski Quartet are ensembles from different musical environments. They have established an artistic dialogue focusing on the oeuvre of one of Poland’s greatest 20th-century composers: Witold Lutosławski. The results of their work have been recorded and will soon be released under the Polish music label ANAKLASIS. The CD METAMORPHOSES: VARIATIONS ON LUTOSŁAWSKI enters the market on 28th June.



Despite his classical education, Witold Lutosławski’s output as a composer is not far from improvisation, and it also inspires jazz artists. Bassist Michael Bates heard Lutosławski Quartet during the Jazztopad festival in the autumn of 2021. The Polish composer’s music made a tremendous impression on him. ‘So powerful. On the flight home I had already begun some deep listening to Witold Lutosławski and making sketches for several pieces in hopes of collaborating with them,’ Bates recalls. A year later the musicians played together at New York’s summer edition of Jazztopad, jointly rediscovering Lutosławski in Bates’ jazz guise.

 


The collaboration of musicians from two different musical worlds did not end here. Half a year after their NY concert, they met up again in a studio and recorded a new version of Lutosławski. The album METAMORPHOSES: VARIATIONS ON LUTOSŁAWSKI from ANAKLASIS comprises arrangements of several works by Lutosławski, conceived as the Acrobat leader’s tribute to the Polish composer’s unique individuality. ‘His sounds were vast, edgy and above all singular,’ says Bates of Lutosławski. ‘I’ve always appreciated the intrinsic symmetry of every piece and the deeper you dig, the more his attention to detail is revealed.’ The resulting music is marked with contrasts of timbre, harmonic ingenuity, and unpredictable turns of action. The whole pulsates with energy and expression.


‘People talk about jazz and classical being completely different worlds. Maybe. But I believe the languages are not so different. It’s more about the ways they are utilized. This project showcases that,’ Bates explains, and he adds: ‘These arrangements create wide open opportunities for improvisers to explore Lutosławski’s material and for the original compositions to be heard from a different perspective. It’s been a fun ride.’


The world première of the ANAKLASIS album will also be marked by a concert of Lutosławski’s music in Michael Bates’ arrangements, in the daring interpretations of that latter musician’s quintet and Lutosławski Quartet. The concert will be held as part of the Jazztopad festival on 28th June at New York’s Lincoln Center.


The album is part of our REVISIONS series, dedicated to experiments, transgressions, and revolutions. It will be available as of 28th June on CDs and in music streaming services.


#sharpenyourears for #WINDTRIO3, the first single introducing the album METAMORPHOSES: VARIATIONS ON LUTOSŁAWSKI! Carried away by this sample of Michael Bates’ Acrobat and Lutosławski Quartet’s variations on themes by Witold Lutosławski, we look forward to the full programme’s première.


Recorded and released in co-operation with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.
The album’s partner is the Witold Lutosławski National Forum of Music in Wrocław.

Media patrons: TVP Kultura, Program 2 Polskiego Radia, Culture.pl
Album partner: Ruch Muzyczny


ANAKLASIS
A DIVISION OF
PWM EDITION

www.anaklasis.pl
www.facebook.com/anaklasisrecords
www.instagram.com/anaklasis

Most popular:

THE TALE OF THE HEART. FAVOLA IN MUSICA: a joint project by Aleksander Nowak and Radek Rak from ANAKLASIS on sale as of 6th October

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.

 

Różycki’s Adventures in Jazzland. The album INSPIRED BY LUDOMIR RÓŻYCKI from ANAKLASIS on sale as of 28th August

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 przenosi się na Wiejską

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.

THE QUEEN THAT LOVED A GERMAN. OUR ALBUM WANDA PREMIERES ON 31ST MARCH!

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 is the exclusive representative of the Ricordi publishing house in Poland

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.

#SHARPENYOUREARS WITH ANAKLASIS: THE LABEL’S THIRD BIRTHDAY

The most fascinating phenomena in contemporary music; a wide range of genres; outstanding works, excellent composers and performers – are the trademarks of the record label ANAKLASIS, launched by PWM Edition. ANAKLASIS is now celebrating its third birthday. It continues to grow at a dizzying pace and maintains the high artistic standards of its releases.

VIRTUOSITY WITH A FLOURISH. ELŻBIETA SIKORA’S CONCERTOS ALBUM PREMIERES ON 2ND DECEMBER!

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.

Polish chamber music of the 19th and 20th centuries in Estonia!

In cooperation with the Estonian Academy of Music and Theater and the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Tallinn, we invite you to two concerts and lectures presenting the diversity and beauty of Polish music. 

The first “ChopinLand Piano Competition” in Japan goes down in history

Over 300 performances of works by Polish composers, 114 finalists, a total of 36 repertoire pieces in 6 age categories, 20 winners, 17 jurors, 4 competition locations and one day of master classes. The piano competition for children and teenagers, “ChopinLand Piano Competition,” is behind us – an extraordinary project that took several months, which PWM Edition organized in Japan. Thanks to cooperation with local partners, Polish music could reach hundreds of young pianists and their teachers, creating the ambassadors of Polish music in the Land of the Rising Sun.