Assembly Hall – Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
Leszek Możdżer & MACV: Composites
Performers:
Leszek Możdżer – Music Director, Composer, piano
Conductor: Marcin Sompoliński
Orchestra Musicae Antiquae Collegium Varsoviense
Patrycja Betley – percussion instruments
The Warszawska Opera Kameralna is proud to present the latest album by Leszek Możdżer and the Early Instruments Orchestra Musicae Antiquae Collegium Varsoviense MACV called “Composites.”
“The artist has been looking for new sound qualities of his instrument for years. The world of early music is one of his latest passions “– writes Polish Radio journalist Jacek Hawryluk about Leszek Możdżer. The result of this search is an extraordinary album that will soon be in the hands of the Artist’s fans.
The album “Composites” consists of six works, four of which (titled “Compositum I, II, III, IV”) are not compositions, but composites that are a masterful combination of composition and improvisation. The piano parts were improvised by Leszek Możdżer, and the Artist added a score for the Orchestra to these improvisations. The other two works, “Ballad For Lars”, dedicated to the Swedish double bassist Lars Danielsson, and the lyrical “Natalladia”, were composed by Możdżer in a traditional manner.
Możdżer’s latest work was created on a Fazioli piano with a pitch lowered to 432 Hz. It took the artist almost two years to achieve the optimal string tension. This allowed for a meeting with the lower tuning of the of Early Instruments Orchestra of the Warszawska Opera Kameralna, MACV.
“Musicians playing early instruments enter a certain niche. They define themselves as alternative musicians to the mass-appreciated symphony,” says Leszek Możdżer.
The album “Composites” will be released on CD and a blue vinyl, and will be available digitally.
The release of such an extraordinary album would not be possible without the great commitment of the director of the Warszawska Opera Kameralna, an opera singer and the originator of the “Jazz with MACV” album series – Alicja Węgorzewska-Whiskerd.
The combination of jazz and classical music comes naturally to Alicja Węgorzewska. As she said in one of the interviews: “This marriage has always existed. When we listen to Bach’s music, we do not know whether he played it exactly as the sheet music suggests. Maybe he improvised? The musicians of that time did it every day. Bach could therefore write down only part of the de facto jazz improvisation. Mozart often recomposed and transferred the motifs he arranged from one piece to another. It is said that Chopin was also a jazz composer, because his improvisations and musical imagination reached extremely far.”