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LUTOSŁAWSKI: IN MEMORIAM | MAREK PASIECZNY
celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Witold Lutosławski's birth

0:00 POEM (inspired by Lutoslawski's poem "Repos dans le malheur")
1:50 FUGATO IMPRESSIONS (inspired by Lutoslawski's "Symphonic Variations")
5:01 "eS-A-C-H-E-Re IMPRESSION" (inspired by Lutoslawski's "Sacher Variations")

about the piece:

I.POEM (inspired by Lutoslawski's poem "Repos dans le malheur")

This movement is derived from the atmosphere created by Lutoslawski's third poem from the cycle "Trois poemes d'Henri Michaux". More specifically, the opening and subsequent instrumental sections of the poem were my primary stimulus. Trois poèmes d'Henri Michaux was envisioned for a 20-voice choir and an orchestra of 23 musicians. Unusual for Lutosławski, there are no string instruments. As result, I have used the guitar in their place to create an opening for this three-movement piece.

The third poem Repos dans le malheur brings melancholic resignation and relief. I decided to re-tune the guitar (6th string to E flat) as a starting point for capturing this idea. Rather than using Lutoslawski's "controlled aleatorism" technique (a method that gives freedom to the performer by giving them temporal control), I attempted to allude to it by controlling the time precisely through the use of constantly changing irregular time signatures.

II. FUGATO (inspired by Lutoslawski's "Symphonic Variations")

Lutoslawski's Symphonic Variations was premiered in 1939. It is a tonal piece, but can be clearly identified as a work belonging to the 20th century. The central theme is ten-bars long, which we hear subjected to seven variations and a fugal conclusion. With my Fugato, a three-bar theme shapes the entire movement in polyphonic form. The Fugato is a tonal construct based on the chromatic scale. Like Lutoslawski's, my theme is also very varied in its subsequent apparitions.

Lutoslawski's rhythmic and melodic motives presented in the main theme are also subjected to constant variations, and the composer also exploits tone colour in his initial orchestration as a source for variations. Continuing this idea, I develop rhythmic and melodic structures/motives taken form my own theme throughout, and play with timbre using performance techniques such as "ponticello" and "tasto".
I also borrow two ideas propounded by twelve-tone pioneer Arnold Schoenberg (later used by Webern) in the same way as Lutoslawski chose to do. These are: "Klangfarbenmelodie" ("Melody of Tone Colors") and "perpetual variation."

III. "eS-A-C-H-E-Re IMPRESSION" (inspired and based on Lutoslawski's "Sacher Variations" for cello solo)

Lutoslawski wrote his "Sacher Variations" as a 70th birthday tribute to Paul Sacher (Swiss conductor) in 1976. He based this composition on twelve-tone scale, but in places quotes Sacher's name in pitch form : S -- Eb (eS), A -- A, C -- C, H -- Bb, E -- E, R -- D (Re).
Taking Lutoslawski's gesture full circle, I decided to use the composer's tribute to Sacher as part of my own tribute to Lutoslawski to mark the centenary of his birth. The third movement of my own work is based entirely on the six notes Lutoslawski used to quote Sacher's name, and is based on Lutoslawski's compositional technique known as controlled aleatorism.
This piece was commissioned and it is dedicated to Benjamin Beirs.

Marek Pasieczny
London, UK | July 2013

First performance by Benjamin Beirs on 17th of October, 2012 at Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, MD USA.

European premiere by Marek Pasieczny on 25th of May, 2013 in Paris, France | 'Sul Tasto Music Festival'.

'As with so many of his works that serve the names of other composers, Pasieczny manages to sensitively convey those musical qualities, ineffable to most, that define the musicians he brings to our attention'

Guy Traviss
musicologist and journalist
London, UK | July 2013


'From the effervescent first notes of the Poem, to the intense Fugato and the aleatoric eS-A-C-H-E-Re impression, Marek Pasieczny evokes Witold Lutoslawski's world of rich textures and harmonies. Pasieczny has once again created an original and daring piece that expands the possibilities for the guitar. I'm honored to participate in the celebration of Lutoslawski's life and work and to perform the inspired music of Marek Pasieczny.'

Benjami Beirs
Baltimore, MD, USA | June 2013
#classicalguitar #marekpasieczny

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