NFM Ensemble invites you to a meeting with Polish chamber music. An unusual kaleidoscope of sounds and musical styles awaits the listeners. The programme of the evening consists of a works by five native composers representing different generations. Performed by the chamber musicians of the National Forum of Music, both compositions by famous composers of the 20th and 21st centuries will be performed, as well as a work by Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński – the master of Polish chamber music of the Romantic period.

Full of extraordinary energy, the Kaleidoscope for M.C.E. by Paweł Szymanski was created in 1989 when the composer was 35. The work, according to its title, is based on the continuous processing of the motive that begins it, which in the further progress not only undergoes rhythmic modifications, but also shimmers with various colours. There are various possibilities presented by the cello technique. Witold Lutosławski also wrote a solo composition for this instrument. He composed his Sacher Variation in 1975 at the request of Mstislav Rostropovich. The legendary cellist needed a repertoire he could perform at the concert on the 70th birthday of Paul Sacher, the Swiss conductor and patron, known for his cooperation with Béla Bartók. As a result, Rostropovich commissioned several composers to write works for solo cello, in which only 6 pitches were to be used, forming the name of the dedicatee (eS, A, C, H, E, Re). Apart from Lutosławski, the challenges were taken, among others by Henri Dutilleux and Pierre Boulez. Another solo work to be presented during this evening of Polish chamber music will be the work for double bass Titane by Elżbieta Sikora - belonging in the realm of compositions for students of music commissioned by the director of the Conservatoire in Angouleme, Jacques Pési. Sikora's aim was to give the young performers of Titane interpretative freedom and an opportunity to present unconventional performance techniques.

The fullness of the sound of the string quintet will be revealed in two contrasting compositions by Krzysztof Penderecki and Felix Ignacy Dobrzyński. The first of these composers in his String Quintet "Cards from an Unwritten Journal" returns to various stages of his own artistic language development. In Penderecki’s oeuvre, this unique composition is therefore nothing more than an extraordinary dialogue with himself and the tradition of chamber music. From this tradition also grows the work of Dobrzyński, Chopin’s school friend. Dobrzyński became famous as one of the best composers of the 19th century writing for small instrumental ensembles (he is also the author of, among others, works for orchestra). His Piano Quintet in F major is an artistic reaction to the defeat of the November Uprising and a manifestation of the composer's courage – despite the risk resulting from the political moods, in the third movement Dobrzyński quoted the melody of Mazurek Dąbrowskiego, a military song that was to become Poland’s national anthem in 1918.