Gismondo for two flutes and piano (2020)

When composing Gismondo, I was thinking primarily of the naturalness, or even the ‘biological’ quality, of the phrase, the breath and the musical narrative. There are many non-measured passages here, based on a free dialogue between the instruments – in the first movement, between all three. Later, the piano focuses solely on itself, but in doing so it becomes an important backdrop, a context for the flutes’ further exchanges – in other words, a classical accompaniment.

The greatest challenge for the performers here seems to be achieving a sense of „ease”: the most natural expression possible, seemingly flowing regardless of whether the score is marked in bars or not.

Gismondo is therefore, in essence, a piece about something that is self-evident to professional musicians, but not always so to the listener – namely, what is known as „secondary naturalness”: by reading and assimilating the text, we „internalise” it, making it our own to such an extent that it becomes our own speech, our own breath, our own emotion.

This makes the profession of a musician very similar to that of an actor who identifies with their role. Initially, the musical score serves as the vehicle for the text, but only so that, in the end, the musician themselves becomes the text (the piece), whilst the score remains merely a reminder, a prompt. This is the moment when the performer becomes the composer’s medium, ready to convey the music to the audience.

And whose medium is the composer?

— Jarosław Siwiński