There was a young musician. One day he disappeared in an act of courage in front of the huge and fear of the lesser. He wrote his improvised “sound situations” and (unguessable) musical riddles. My work expresses the copresence in the world of that strange fellow. All great crossings have something in common: they are pivotal changes, be it crossing the Red Sea, the Golden Gate in Kyiv, or the Maidan. The dimension of necessity and the layers of hope that we move onto something better—from a life that you cannot accept to something unknown. Nothing will ever be the same again.

(from liner notes of the first performance, 2013)

The work was commissioned by the Pro Musica Viva Foundation and was made possible by a contribution from the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage programme, run by the Institute of Music and Dance. It also fulfils my compositional obligation toward the Polish Radio. It is dedicated to Roman Rewakowicz and my Ukrainian friends. The first performance took place in December 2013 in the concert hall of the National Music Academy of Ukraine in Kyiv, located next to the Maidan—the place of community rule in the hot time of political power struggle in the Ukraine. But this is merely the context of the moment that has juxtaposed on motives of a far more subjective nature. The work was premiered by the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, with Dmytro Tavanets at the piano and Volodymyr Sirenko conducting.

Jerzy Kornowicz