ART MINTAKA Festival
District Museum MOB in Bydgoszcz
Sunday 8.12.2024, 19:30

Program:

Peter Machajdik – Crypt for violin, bass clarinet, vibraphone and piano

Zygmunt Krauze – Listen* for soprano, clarinets, violin, piano and percussion.

*Performance – piece commissioned by the Polish Chamber Music Foundation.

Performers:

Joanna Freszel (soprano)

KWARTLUDIUM:

Dagna Sadkowska (violin)

Piotr Nowicki (piano)

Michał Górczyński (clarinets)

Paweł Nowicki (percussion)

Free admission

Details: https://artmintaka.com/festiwal/


In “Listen”, the text plays a fundamental role, combining agency reports that reveal human stupidity, wickedness and brutality, with Seneca’s reflections on fundamental values and the human condition. These two layers – one showing the dark side of human conduct and the other celebrating wisdom and goodness – create a contrast that is thought-provoking. Neither of them, however, acts as a guide or warning. The pursuit of pleasure, forgetfulness and superficiality remains the dominant trend.

The music, subordinate to the words, was composed with the clarity of the text in mind, making it accessible to the listener. The emotional nature of the piece is emphasised by the extreme changes in dynamics.

Zygmunt Krauze

Text used for the work “Słuchaj/Listen”:

A newborn baby was taken to hospital with a head injury. He was shaken and jerked.
We lose ourselves by imitating others. Let’s just separate ourselves from the crowd and we will recover.
He came to work with an axe and attacked a colleague.
He drowned a dog in a barrel because the dog was afraid of a storm.
Everything we condemn in others, we find in our own soul.
He hit a woman on a pedestrian crossing, failed to render assistance and fled. The woman died
Deal with the weaker as you would want the stronger to deal with you.
The Élysée Palace paid €475,000 for Macron’s dinners with King Charles III.
When you see an unhappy man, know that he is a man.

The text consists of agency reports and quotes from Seneca’s writings.