POLO-LESS for 2 flutes and harpsichord (2022)
Composer’s note
Sometimes less is more – I wrote this maxim into the score of my piece. The title of the piece, meanwhile, is, as it were, less polonaise. When I think of a composition written in the style of this genre, I cannot help but be influenced by the work of Fryderyk Chopin. I drew on the Polonaise in B flat major, which the composer wrote when he was just seven years old. However, I did not use it as a direct quotation, but rather as a deconstruction of the opening few bars. Fragments of motifs in extended articulations, separated by various pauses, only gradually coalesce into the character of a polonaise. This motif is transformed in various ways, tuned to harmonic series, and reworked in the form of glissandos. It is only after a moment that the listener realises they are dealing with the rhythm of a dance.
— Mateusz Ryczek
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Composer
Mateusz Ryczek
The composer was born in 1986. In 2011, he completed his Master’s degree with distinction at the Academy of Music in Wrocław, studying under Grażyna Pstrokońska-Nawratil (composition), Cezary Duchnowski (computer-aided composition) and Zbigniew Karnecki (theatre and film music). In 2019, he was awarded a Doctor of Musical Arts degree (doctoral thesis entitled The Emergence of Pitch Algorithms Based on the Cello Concerto „Zjawy”).
