News
Krzysztof Knittel’s ‘The Last Judgment’ – premiere 8 November
2017-11-03
The premiere of Krzysztof Knittel’s opera ‘Sąd ostateczny’ [The Last Judgment] is just a few days away. We invite you to the Baltic Opera on 8 November! The chorus, orchestra and ballet of the Baltic Opera in Gdańsk will be conducted by Szymon Morus. The soloists will be Robert Gierlach, Piotr Lempa, Jan Jakub Monowid, Anna Mikołajczyk and Magdalena Chmielecka.
Before the premiere, we can reveal a few things about the work:
‘For as long as a representation of Judgment Day exists, that day will be forever deferred’ – those are the words spoken by Tommaso Portinari to the artist Hans Memling in the first act of the opera when commissioning the triptych ‘The Last Judgment’. Despite its title, which brings apocalyptic visions to mind, Krzysztof Knittel’s opera does not depict the end of the world, but rather the tempestuous fortunes of the triptych, associated with Gdańsk. Act 1 presents the legendary background to the work – the artist’s conversion and the mysterious commission, in which dark forces had a hand. Act 2 shows the work wandering across Europe for several centuries, through Bruges, Gdańsk, Paris and Moscow until it returned to … Memling’s atelier.
Huge vocal-instrumental forces are deployed in this opera, including a mixed choir and a children’s choir, orchestral instruments, keyboard, electric guitar and electronics. One notes in particular the large percussion section, containing nearly every known percussion instrument, as well as such things as branches and paper. The percussion takes on special significance in the key scene depicting the work’s commission, when the texture becomes denser, rhythmic patterns are repeated and the element of improvisation appears, emphasising the anxiety and tension accompanying the speech made by Portinari – the embodiment of pure evil.
The large cast of characters in this story contains just one woman: Caterina Tanagli, wife of the donor, Angelo Tani. She is depicted on the reverse of a wing of the altarpiece. Consequently, the vocal layer of the work is dominated by male voices, although in a great variety of timbres: from bass to counter-tenor. The exception is Archangel Michael, who sings in mezzo-soprano, lent an extraordinary aura by that character’s leitmotiv: a melodic figure repeated in the strings. All the parts are based on melorecitation within a narrow compass. The composer also employs entirely spoken scenes, as if deliberately withholding the capacity to sing from the greatest criminals of the twentieth century: in scene 13 the SS men transporting the painting to Thuringia, and in scene 14 Stalin and his government officials. In the part of the inspired, prophetic chorus, meanwhile, a melody resembling Jewish song recurs several times.
The whole drama constitutes a gallery of pictures that are distant in time and space, as underscored by the musical setting, which changes in every scene. Passages full of restless glissandos and clusters, sounds both illustrative and concrete, are followed by more static or repetitive moments. The wealth of timbres and musical means of expression employed in ‘The Last Judgment’ matches the distinctness of the painting itself.
Most popular:
We are proud to announce that Joanna Woźny is joining the ranks of composers represented by PWM Edition. This highly regarded composer has been living and working in Graz, Austria, for many years. She composes music that is in high regard among ensembles and orchestras specialising in contemporary music.
The short documentary “Bacewicz x Bomsori”, directed by Jakub Piątek, is reaching an ever-wider international audience. The film, which explores South Korean violinist Bomsori Kim’s encounter with the music of Grażyna Bacewicz, will be screened at upcoming film festivals in Warsaw, Reykjavik and Barcelona.
Contact. Sonoromanza is an opera by Alek Nowak and Paweł Sołtys’s literary debut in the world of classical music. A contemporary tale of longing, the desire for conversation and the need for closeness, performed by Joanna Freszel, Karol Kozłowski and the AUKSO Chamber Orchestra of the City of Tychy, conducted by Marek Mos. The debut album, ANAKLASIS, is now available to buy and on streaming services.
October will bring a series of world premieres of the latest compositions by artists represented byPWM Edition. New works by Zygmunt Krauze, Alek Nowak, Joanna Woźny, Ewa Fabiańska-Jelińska, Agata Zubel, Paweł Malinowski, Andrzej Kwieciński and Aleksander Lasoń will be performed in Poland, as well as in Japan, Germany and Austria.
On September 14, the prestigious Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari will host the Italian premiere of Zygmunt Krauze's two-act opera, which tells the poignant story of Bona Sforza d’Aragona. Staging this work in Bari carries deep symbolic meaning – it is the very city where the title heroine spent her final years and was laid to rest.
This autumn, with the September premieres of the latest Polish music, we are stepping forward neither boldly nor timidly – in keeping with Gdańsk’s motto. It is in this city that the first world premieres will take place. In September, we will be listening to new works by Polish composers in Gdańsk, Warsaw and Valencia. For the first time, we will hear works by Tadeusz Wielecki, Lidia Zielińska, Krzysztof Knittel and Agata Zubel.
Karol Augustyniak and Artur Szczepkowski have been selected as winners of the composer.pl programme – an artistic residency in Iceland for young Polish composers. The invited participants’ creative residency in the ‘Land of Ice and Fire’ will last two weeks, from 8 to 25 September.
Today, 2 December, marks the start of the 18th edition of one of Europe's most prestigious conducting competitions: the Donatella Flick – London Symphony Orchestra Conducting Competition. Grażyna Bacewicz's Concerto for String Orchestra is among the repertoire as an obligatory piece.
This timeless encounter with the music of ‘Poland’s last Romantic’ Tadeusz Baird and with the interpretative feats of NOSPR Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra features three symphonies and four outstanding conductors in both rediscovered historical and new recordings, released together on a 2CD album from ANAKLASIS.
Iconic songs by Zygmunt Konieczny that audiences of Ewa Demarczyk loved decades ago in a new arrangement by Cezary Duchnowski. The latest ANAKLASIS album with Agata Zubel, Andrzej Bauer, Bartek Wąsik and the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alexander Humala is now available for purchase.
