NEO CLASSICS – HORATIU RADULESCU
Horatiu Radulescu – Intimate Rituals for viola and electronics
The Sound Icon is a concert grand piano vertically placed and played with bows.
From 12 page booklet:
“In 2003, I composed Intimate Rituals XI (a work for viola) using the tape of the pre-recorded sound icons with a viola in a spectral scordatura, a very special tuning-chord; the open strings simulate the 3rd, 4th, 13th and 20th harmonics of an F monesis, giving C half-sharp, F half-sharp, a slightly lower D, and A half-sharp. With this scordatura you have also the presence of the 7th harmonic in the air; the 3rd and 4th harmonics in sum give 7, and the 13th and 20th harmonics in difference also give 7. So the 7th is there too, in the subconscious, even though it is not directly present. The piece is dedicated to Vincent Royer; it was composed in Clarens / Montreux, in 2003 and premiered by him in Chicago. The timing is very strict; the techniques are those already known from Das Andere and Lux Animae but otherwise activated; the macro-form is also directed by the Fibonacci proportions. The viola is in a constant dialogue with the sound icons (I don’t like to think of the piece as viola and tape; ideally the sound icons would be live). The viola and the sound icons are dependent on each other, sometimes crossing, sometimes not. There are very intense moments as the sound icons describe a high register climax at the Golden Section; the viola attains its highest sounds there too and then decays, very strangely, reaching again in the low the richest timbres. Intimate Rituals are very private, maybe even erotic, situations. From the original recording of the sound icons in the Lucero studio in Versailles in 1986 to the premiere of Intimate Rituals XI with the viola in 2003 is a big span of 17 years, but the same atmosphere should be achieved, a sort of spiritual intimacy.” Horatiu Radulescu, Amsterdam
Horatiu Radulescu – Settle Your Dust, This Is Primal Identity for solo piano
Horatiu Radulescu – String Quartet No. 5 “Before The Universe Was Born”
Igor Torbicki – musician, performer and publicist based in Gdańsk. His area of expertise is 20th and 21st century piano repertoire. His work is combining influences of contemporary academic music and electronic underground. Member of Kodama Music Project and ext.collective with residence in Artists’ Colony. In 2023, he released his debut solo piano album introduction to otherness, focusing on different approaches to piano in contemporary composition. As a journalist, he collaborates with Ruch Muzyczny, Presto Magazine and Teraz! Gdańsk.
Marek Czech – an assistant professor at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, where he teaches viola and string quartet. In the years 2000-2018 he was a member of the Royal String Quartet, with which he regularly gave concerts in Poland and abroad. An invitation to the prestigious BBC New Generation Artists program (2004-2006), promoting the most talented musicians from around the world, was a turning point in the band’s career. In the autumn of 2021, he joined the Prima Vista String Quartet, with which he conducts active concert and recording activities. He also collaborates with the chamber ensemble I Solisti di Varsavia and others.
NeoQuartet – one of the most interesting, engaging and action-oriented ensembles of contemporary music in Europe. It is a Prize-Winner of prestigious Pomeranian Artistic Award. The ensemble was also nominated to numerous other prizes (Sztorm Roku, Fryderyki). Quartet has recorded 12 CDs released by Polish, German, Greek,, and American labels.
Since 2017, NeoQuartet expanded its instrumental spectrum with electric midi string violins, viola and cello plus synthesizers and loopers beginning with this purchase new, unique musical phenomenon throughout the world. In 2022 first CD with NeoQuartet’s own compositions was released. String Theory album will chart new musical territories of string quartet development in 21st century.
NeoQuartet consists of: Karolina Piątkowska-Nowicka (1st Violin), Paweł Kapica (2nd Violin), Michał Markiewicz (Viola), and Krzysztof Pawłowski (Cello).
Curator Jan Topolski – film and music critic, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the magazine “Glissando”. For many years he has collaborated with the festivals Nowe Horyzonty and Młodzi i Film, as an editor and consultant he worked for IAM and NINA, author of composer monographs and many journalistic texts.
