Concert accompanying Joanna Halszka Sokołowska plays Franz Schubert Winterreise record
The legendary song cycle by Franz Schubert, composed to Wilhelm Müller’s poems, is the classic of classical music, an indispensable element of musical canon, one of the most famous works ever, an exemplary piece of a Romantic songbook on suffering, loving and loneliness, finally a 19th-century equivalent of a pop album, which affected generations after 1828. Musician’s encounters with Schubert are rarely accidental, especially if we talk about Winterreise. Irrespective of an approach, the way of preparing the material, conception and performing techniques, an encounter with the cycle is always challenging. It is so because the greatness of the work, its long tradition of renditions, canonical status and frequently discrete sophistication of composing make musicians realize that they come into contact with an exceptional cycle, which requires an intense engagement and responsibility.
Joanna Halszka Sokołowska’s record is a result of a night recording session in a theatre. The singing was recorded without any rehearsals, at one go, and there are no corrections or studio improvements. Yet this does not undermine a highly conceptual context of this record. All details and formal decisions are inconspicuously subordinated to one dominating interpretive idea. Sokołowska’s way of singing is sensitive to “here and now”, time and space, in which it evolves, less with the composer’s score, more with the rhythm of her body and the place.
The record will be out in a Populista series from Bôłt Records alongside two other records: Barbara Kinga Majewska and Emilia Sitarz play Franz Schubert Winterreise oraz Richard Youngs plays Parallel Winter.
Populista is a record series, phonographic festival or even musical exhibition dedicated to various ways of over-interpreting music. In distinction to most record labels it is aesthetically incoherent and it realizes artistic consistency at a conceptual level. Being experimental, Populista does not belong to this or that current in music, but rather to invariably dissimilar albeit formally precise statements on music, which is subject to reinterpretation. Its idea stems from questions about how we listen to music in the times full of music from the past. Does music need museum or rather continual reinterpretations? Can the idea of reinterpretation entail the undermining of composers’ intentions? Can the reinterpretation spell out any inconsistencies in the intentions? Can they be not only new renditions but also stories about renditions?
Michał Libera is the curator, producer and author of the majority of the concepts. The record covers feature works by Aleksandra Waliszewska.
For more information go to patakaind.blogspot.com
Other events this month
Meeting by the sculpture pt. 1
On 14 January (Thursday) we invite for a meeting at which Anka Ptaszkowska will speak about the work by Henryk Stażewski. It is one of few opportunities to see paintings by...
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Film portraits of the artists: Władysław Hasior
On 19 January come and watch a film portrait of Władysław Hasior. Polska Sztuka Współczesna [Polish Modern Art] (10’), dir. Konstanty Gordon, commentary: Jadwiga...
Performative tour for people with vision defects
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Anniversary exhibition in English
24 January, Sunday, at 12am, come for an English tour through the exhibition “Zbigniew Libera: It's Not My Fault That This Sculpture rubbed againts me” Guide:...
Free tour around the sculpture storerooms of Xawery Dunikowski
On Tuesday 26 January it will have been 52 years after Xawery Dunikowski’s death. On this day come for a special tour around the sculpture storerooms of Xawery Dunikowski!...
Concert accompanying Joanna Halszka Sokołowska plays Franz Schubert Winterreise...
The legendary song cycle by Franz Schubert, composed to Wilhelm Müller’s poems, is the classic of classical music, an indispensable element of musical canon, one of the...