We caught up with Artistic Director Paavali Jumppanen to chat about the upcoming ANAM residency by the renowned Lutosławski Quartet.
What’s the vibe in Polish music today?
Poland is blessed with a wonderfully rich tradition of instrumental excellence and musical novelty. Recently when visiting Warsaw, I witnessed first-hand how the airport security screening area has Chopin’s Polonaises playing through loudspeakers. Also the avantgarde has always held a strong position in Poland. As with their movie culture, the nation’s music has been open to rediscovering itself. During the communist regime, a time when the avantgarde was banned in the rest of communist Europe, Poland managed to keep the Warsaw Autumn Festival, one of Europe’s most prominent new music festivals, going. This spirit blossoms today. I’m so excited that the ANAM community will get to experience some enthralling works, including music by Bacewicz, Penderecki, and Mykietyn.
Tell us about the Lutosławski Quartet
I’ve been lucky to witness first-hand how the Lutosławski Quartet makes music. Custodians of a great string-playing tradition – a large number of the greatest string players of the golden past came from Poland or its neighbours Lithuania and Ukraine – they truly play their instruments with a sense of culture. They are all virtuosi, but of the kind where one forgets the skill and marvels at the music. For the quartet members, rehearsing and performing music comes across as a kind of child’s play, or perhaps a sort of divine play.
Their second violinist, Marcin Markowicz, a stupendous musician, is also the concert master of the National Philharmonic Orchestra Warsaw, and a successful composer and an expert of the Polish folk fiddle tradition known as the Highlanders’ style, which served as an inspiration to composers such as Szymanowski and Bacewicz. He’ll be performing some music out of this tradition with our musicians in one of their concerts.
I know your particularly passionate about the music of Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-1969); what is it that draws you to her?
Bacewicz is arguably one of the most interesting and talented composers of her generation (and this was the generation of some truly ingenious composers). Her music has survived and comes across today as an enlightening glimpse of the zeitgeist of the era she lived through. Like all Polish musicians, she embraces the great tradition she was brought up to. Her unique voice emerged from combining her Polish and Lithuanian roots with the best that Western Europe had to offer. She studied in Paris with the renowned French composition teacher Nadia Boulanger.
Bacewicz’s music is also fun to play. A virtuoso violinist herself, she knew the magic of the instrument and offered musicians a terrific arena to entertain. But her music is also serious and there is an touching inner conflict there. Aspiring to be avantgarde, she had to be cautious of the cultural censorship during the communist era. She solved the dilemma partly by turning to folk music as inspiration, and as a result developed a highly personal voice, where tradition and innovation meet in an intriguing way.
STRING QUARTET MASTERCLASS
Wednesday 3 June 10.30am
Rosina Auditorium, Abbotsford Convent
Lutosławski Quartet
Book now!
POLISH VIOLIN
Friday 5 June 7pm
Rosina Auditorium, Abbotsford Convent
Lutosławski Quartet
ANAM Musicians
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LEAVES OF AN UNWRITTEN DIARY
Thursday 11 June 7pm
Rosina Auditorium, Abbotsford Convent
Lutosławski Quartet
ANAM Musicians
Book now!