The defining term of the 58th Warsaw Autumn’s programme is dynamistatic.
This neologism hints at the ambiguity of the crucial musical notion of dynamics. In music, pure dynamics or statics cannot be abstracted: one seamlessly leads into another; music can be static and dynamic at the same time. It is like the photon, which has a corpuscular and wave-like character; it is
a particle and a wave at the same time, and its two states cannot be separated.
DYNAMISTATICS, or mobile rest, or resting motion. A good example of that concept is
a mountain stream, with its endless mutability of acoustic events. You may look at and listen to it, and after a while you are gazing at it and immersed in its sound. The sound and rhythm of the water stream are always different and yet the same. They change continuously and unchangeably.
They change unchangeably?!
Yes indeed: immutable change. On other words, DYNAMISTATICS! We remain slightly concussed, in an indefinable state, unwitting of what we are actually experiencing: motion or rest?
This strange, mysterious situation—of simultaneously lasting and moving—is an inherent phenomenon in music. But in modern music, it comes particularly to the fore as the object of the composer’s action, his conscious play with time and the listener’s perception.
The paradox of dynamistatics is illustrated by many works in the programme of the 58th Warsaw Autumn. In extreme cases, it is music of “still time” on one hand, and on the other, “action” music, full of diverse forms of motion, lightning-fast changes, overflowing with sound events.
The former category includes the 70-minute Second Dream of the High-Tension Line Stepdown Transformer for eight trumpets, composed by the famous postwar avantgarde American composer
La Monte Young, precursor of “minimal music.” This now classic composition was written in 1962 (harmonic version) and has never been performed in Poland—it shall serve as a reference point for further works of that type in this year’s programme. We shall hear it in the vast hall of the Praga Printing Works, performed by the The Theatre of Eternal Music Brass Ensemble under the artistic direction and with the participation of Marco Blaauw. Other spectacular “still time” compositions include Slices for cello and orchestra by Alvin Lucier and Baobab for orchestra by Phill Niblock.
Music from the other extreme—that of “action,” continuous change and motion—includes first and foremost Stefan Prins’s Fremdkörper #3 (mit Michael Jackson) for amplified ensemble and sampler, inspired by the “glitch” electronic movement, and Raphaёl Cendo’s In Vivo for string quartet. Three other noteworthy works are the 40-minute New York Triptych by James Dillon, scored for nine instruments, shortwave radio receiver and tape, Brian Ferneyhough’s La Chute d’Icare for bass clarinet and ensemble (this 1998 piece by the father of so-called new complexity offers a context for our “thick–with–events” music), and Philippe Manoury’s Zones de turbulences for two pianos and orchestras.
Yet other forms of dynamistatics include music of a “still” sound signal, musical drones, and continuing unchanging textures. These are phenomena typical especially of electronic music of the “noise” type.
A concert at Soho Factory will feature two representatives of that genre: Merzbow with a composition titled Expanded Music and Kasper T. Toeplitz (with the Journal Intime trio) with his project Inoculate? for instruments, live electronics and dancer.
Dynamistatics are also obvious in processual music, based on gradual changes, and in music whose time is shaped after recurring tension and relaxation, inhalation and exhalation. A relevant example of the former is the work of Giacinto Scelsi: his Anahit for violin and orchestra shall be presented by the European Workshop for Contemporary Music, a Polish–German youth ensemble operating since 2003 as a joint-venture between Warsaw Autumn and the German Music Council. (This time, the ensemble’s Warsaw Autumn preparation workshop and concert have been scheduled in Cologne.)
The latter “energetic” tendency is represented notably by the work of Toshio Hosokawa: his Woven Dreams will be played by the Janáček Philharmonic from Ostrava. Another example is Gérard Grisey’s Périodes, performed by New York’s Talea Ensemble, and the orchestral Textile by Justė Janulytė.
An unusual event within that thread of slow, indiscernibly changing timbres and hypnotic harmonies will be Ray Lee’s installation Chorus. It is made of rotating arms with loudspeakers at their ends, placed on five-meter-high tripods. Located on the courtyard of Warsaw’s Royal Castle, the work will be presented in two versions: as a concert and permanent installation.
Dynamistatics will surely be experienced by the audience of a nearly hour-long cycle of canons and imitations titled Schnee by the Danish artist Hans Abrahamsen, as well as during a performance of Partita III for amplified harpsichord and orchestra by Paweł Szymański. This is music of two states of energy: attack and resonance, creatively addressing the classical opposition of fast–slow movements typical of cyclic form. That work will be played by the above-mentioned Ostrava orchestra, together with Carola Bauckholt’s Emil will nicht schlafen, José María Sánchez-Verdú’s Mural, and Niblock’s already mentioned Baobab. That concert will be directed by Zsolt Nagy.
Within the topic of “dynamistatics,” we shall also present a series of events going beyond pure sound. Simon Steen-Andersen’s Studies for String Instruments expose the motion not only of sounds but also gestures: a specific choreography of sounds. Steen-Andersen’s gestural Studies shall be accompanied by two audiovisual compositions: Matthew Herbert’s 20 Pianos for MIDI keyboard, live electronics and video projection as well as Michael Beil’s Mach Sieben for piano and video, in which the pianist plays with her reflection on the screen.
This trend also includes the concert of Johannes Kreidler and the transmedia composition LOST by Jagoda Szmytka. Kreidler, a relentlessly creative author of music and concepts, uses instrumental sounds on equal terms with electronics ones, as well as video with gestures and artistic actions. His work is usually also a commentary—often ironic, sometimes simply witty—on social reality, the media and popular culture. Kreidler will present his earlier and latest works during the marathon night of 25/26 September, in an event titled 25 Hours for 25th Anniversary of the Goethe-Institut, the concert’s coorganiser.
Commissioned by Warsaw Autumn, Jagoda Szmytka’s LOST is a work in which the transformations of musical, verbal, and visual material are linked to new technologies and the internet. The work’s premiere performance will take place in the ATM television studio but not only: apart of a stage concert (instrumental and vocal sounds, text, lights, video projection, stage motion), it also includes simultaneous events in Karlsruhe’s ZKM Centre for Art and Media (the project’s partner), live streaming, activities on Facebook, a dedicated website, and so forth. Performers of LOST will include notably Frauke Aulbert (soprano) and the Decoder ensemble from Hamburg.
In the deserted century-old apartment house on 4 Nowogrodzka Street, an installation will be shown with seven compositions for tape by Włodzimierz Kotoński, including his pioneer Étude concrète (For One Cymbal Stroke) of 1958, Poland’s first electronic music work. The musical installation will be discreetly accompanied by another, presenting the voices of former residents of the house.
We shall also celebrate the 90th anniversary of Pierre Boulez and 80th of Helmut Lachenmann, two leading composers of modern music. Boulez’s Dérive 1 will be performed by the Talea Ensemble, while Lachenmann’s Air by the NOSPR Orchestra under Alexander Liebreich during the festival’s opening concert (the latter as part of a performance of all of Lachenmann’s works by European orchestras). The opening concert will also feature the first performance of Lidia Zielińska’s Sinfonia concertante for small sound devices, small percussion and large orchestra as well as Alvin Lucier’s Slices with Marcin Zdunik as soloist.
The final concert of 2015 Warsaw Autumn will feature the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra directed by Jacek Kaspszyk, with a programme of Simon Steen-Andersen’s Double Up for sampler and small orchestra, Jerzy Kornowicz’s piano concerto The Big Crossing, Justė Janulytė’s Textile, Rolf Wallin’s Fisher King for orchestra and solo trumpet. Håkan Hardenberger, a true star and virtuoso of the trumpet, will be concert’s soloist.
Ensembles invited to perform at this year’s Warsaw Autumn will also include the New Music Orchestra (OMN) directed by Szymon Bywalec, the Lutosławski Quartet, and LutosAirQuintet. The Talea Ensemble will perform twice: first the above-mentioned work by Abrahamsen, and then, apart from Boulez, Grisey and Dillon, Witold Szalonek’s Improvisations sonoristiques and Alex Mincek’s “…it conceals within itself...”.
LITTLE WARSAW AUTUMN will feature two new works commissioned by the Festival. The first one is an installation by Krzysztof Knittel (in cooperation with Maciej Wojtyszko) As If They Weren’t Here Or the Revolt at Królikarnia. Sculptures kept in the museum’s depository shall speak and even—if my intuition is right—answer questions. The park in front of the Królikarnia palace will host a performance of our other commission: Zygmunt Krauze’s Idyll 2 for voices, traditional instruments and electronics.
Permanent fixtures of Little Warsaw Autumn, apart from installations and performances, include workshops and concerts. The former will this time be run by Wojciech Błażejczyk, focusing on electronic music. The concert, at the Polish Radio Witold Lutosławski Studio, shall include Kazimierz Serocki’s Arrangements for recorders, Krzysztof Penderecki’s String Quartet no. 2, Roderik de Man’s Wait a Minute! for tape (a work lasting one minute and including precisely that text), and songs selected from John Cage’s Song Books interpreted by Joanna Freszel.
Fringe events will include a conference by the Polish Music Information Centre titled The Musical Language of Modern Polish Composers. An Autoreflection and a discussion panel on The Public of Contemporary Music Festivals organised by the University of Salzburg, based on a study that also included the public of Warsaw Autumn. Another worthwhile event is the presentation of Krzysztof Kwiatkowski’s new book, Luigi Nono: Master of Sound and Silence.
Please listen both attentively and absent-mindedly (dynamistatics!); please immerse yourself in listening to the subsequent concerts of the 58th Warsaw Autumn!
Tadeusz Wielecki
Festival Director
