Grażyna Auguścik Orchestar – Inspired by Lutosławski

Grażyna Auguścik
Jan Smoczyński Trio
Atom String Kwartet
Janusz Prusinowski Kompania

This concert program was performed for the first time at The XVII Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival, 24. 03. 2013 in Warsaw, Poland

Practicing and performing traditional village music of Poland allows us to touch elements an potentials which on one hand expose us to new perpectives on sound, rhythm and improvisation and, on the other hand, bring the entire world of early music played by our great masters into the future. My selection of Lutosławski’s traditional songs for this project was guided by two criteria: firstly, the presence of particular melodies and performing techniques in the compositions of Witold Lutosławski, and secondly, the none-too-widely-known qualities of Polish village music which in the first half of 20th century formed a natural context for the composition culture as such. When listening carefully, one discovers in it rhythmic structures that verge on rubato, variable improvisation, or a sense of presence of both major and minor keys in a single tonality. One can also feel in it – or so I hope – an intense presence of people: musicians, singers and dancers.

Janusz Prusinowski

Band members:

Grażyna Auguścik – śpiew
Jan Smoczyński – fortepian, instrumenty klawiszowe, instrumenty perkusyjne, programowanie, śpiew
Wojciech Pulcyn – kontrabas
Tomasz Waldowski – perkusja
Janusz Prusinowski- skrzypce, akordeon, śpiew
Michał Żak – klarnet, flet drewniany, szałamaja
Piotr Piszczatowski – baraban, bębenek
Piotr Zgorzelski – basy, taniec
Dawid Lubowicz – skrzypce, śpiew
Mateusz Smoczyński – skrzypce, śpiew
Michał Zaborski – altówka, śpiew
Krzysztof Lenczowski – wiolonczela, wokal