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Born in 1962 in Poznañ, she
graduated from the Music Academy in Poznañ, where she studied composition
(with Andrzej Koszewski) and music theory. She participated in composers’
workshops in Kazimierz Dolny (Poland), given by Lutos³awski, Nono,
Pousseur and Xenakis. She continued her studies at the Music Academy in
Basel (composition with R. Keltenborn and electronic music with T. Kessler),
as well as at the University of Freiburg im Breisgau (musicology). She
took part in a course in computer music conducted by K. Barlow in Cologne
(1990) and was a member of a free improvisation group in Basel led by W. Fähndrich.
In 1995 she began a teaching career at the University of Lucerne,
lecturing in music theory, the history of music, and music aesthetics.
Since 2002 she has been
a professor there. She is also active as a member of the Main Council of
the Cultural Foundation in Boswil. She has given lectures and run
composers’ workshops in Boswil (1999), Warsaw (Music Academy, 2003) and
Darmstadt (2004). In 1999 she received a doctorate from the Academy of
Music in Kraków.
Her commissions have included those from the Venice Biennale, the Warsaw
Autumn Festival, the International Balzan Foundation, the French Ministry
of Culture, the Lucerne Festival, Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Radio
drs, Radio Suisse Romande, the Swiss cultural foundation Pro Helvetia, the
Gesellschaft für Kammermusik in Basle, Amar Quartet, Basel Sinfonietta,
Basler Madrigalisten, Tage für neue Musik in Zurich, and
Migros-Genossenschaftsbund in Zurich.
Her works have won awards at the Zagreb Competition (1988, Verba), the
Tadeusz Baird Competition in Warsaw (1990, Trio for Percussion), the
International Composers’ Rostrum in Paris (1992, String Quartet No. 2)
and the Mannheim Competition for Women Composers (1994, Variabile). Her
honours also include the Cultural Award of the City of Basel (1996), the
Recognition Prize of the Canton and City of Lucerne (2001) and the
Cultural Prize of the City of Riehen (2004). She is the author of numerous
radio programmes and articles on contemporary music, particularly by
Polish composers. She lives in Riehen, near Basel.
Selected works: Verba for orchestra (1987), What is black, what is white?
for percussion duo (1987), abc for tape (1987), Trio for Percussion
(1989), Variabile for orchestra (1991), Landscape of a moment, five songs
for mezzo-soprano, viola, and piano (1991), Second String Quartet (1991),
Caleidoscopio for string orchestra (1992), Notturno for flute solo
(1992–93), Third String Quartet (1993), Acuso for chorus, clarinet and
cello (1994), Decision for wind octet and bass (1994), sn 1993 j for
orchestra (1996), Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra (1996), Concerto for
Piano and Orchestra (1998), Toccata sospesa for flute and two
percussionists (1999), Miroirs for mezzo-soprano and instrumental group
(2000), Arcato for viola solo (2000), Cercar for prepared guitar solo
(2001), Scene for violin and cello (2001), Vier Figuren for ensemble (18
musicians) in three groups (2001), Daphnes Lied for piano (2002),
Amoureske for viola d’amore (2003), Phototaxis for string orchestra
(2003), Weissagung – eine komponierte Improvisation für das ‘quartet
noir’ for piano, double bass, saxophone and percussion (2003), In un
soffio for wind quintet (2003), String Quartet No. 4 (2003), Lettres for
soprano, clarinet and cello, to a text from Le Livre dou Voir Dit by
Guillaume de Machaut (2004), Aria for two bass saxophones (2005), Initial
for small orchestra (2005).
Vier Figuren (Four Figures)
I have always been fascinated by the work of the painter and sculptor
Alberto Giacometti, above all his manner of perceiving reality – the
continuous interaction between the detail and the whole; an
interpenetration of ‘a reality devoid of meanings’ and that which is
inexpressible and ‘hidden behind the veil’. In a conversation with
André Parinaud, Giacometti said: ‘The world surprises me more and more
each day. It is either more extensive, or more marvellous; it is more
elusive and more beautiful. I am delighted by detail, a small detail, such
as an eye in a face, or lichen on a tree. However, not more so than by the
whole; why then should we differentiate between detail and the whole?
After all, the whole is made up of details, it is the details that bring
beauty out of the form.’
Just as Giacometti’s sculptures appear at first to the observer as clear
cuts in three-dimensional space, so in my composition the chords cut
across the reality of acoustic space. Beyond them opens up an expanse of
new experiences, originating from the perception of the detail, its aura,
how it interacts with other details as they overlay and shroud each other.
Elements which keep returning, such as chord cuts, arabesque figures and
indistinct sounds, in different contexts appear as new and raise a
question as to the permanence of things.
My composition was inspired by a group of four sculptures by Giacometti
exhibited by the Beyeler Foundation in Riehen near Basel: Large Head –
Striding Man II – Large Woman III – Large Woman IV. Each of them
constitutes in itself a centre of spiritual force, while as a group they
create in space a field of tensions carrying an enormous charge. Using the
sounds of an ensemble divided into three groups I attempt to capture
something of that powerful spiritual presence. The fourth pole in this
musical-spatial area of tensions is the listener.
The composition is dedicated to Ernst Beyeler on his eightieth birthday.
Bettina Skrzypczak
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