During the concert in the Chamber Hall of the National Forum of Music, the acclaimed singer Szymon Komasa will appear in a wide selection of songs, including by Stefan Kisielewski, Grażyna Bacewicz, and Rebecca Clarke. The programme will also feature works by Johannes Brahms, enjoying undying fame, and masterpieces of French music by Claude Debussy or Erik Satie, arranged for two pianos, with Sophia Muñoz and Adam Kośmiej.
Stefan Kisielewski believed in the idea of pure music, free from any senses and meanings. However, he made an exception by composing lyrical miniatures to the poems by Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński in the 1950s, reflecting the intimate nature of the poetry. Komasa will perform two of them, belonging to the Seven Songs cycle: The Blind Sleepwalker’s Prayer and A Request for Happy Isles.
Szymon will also sing songs by the British composer Rebecca Clarke, as well as pieces from French and German vocal literature. Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen by Gustav Mahler is a monologue of a lonely artist unable to find his way in the hustle and bustle of the surrounding world. The songs from the Rückert-Lieder collection, unlike his monumental symphonies, are intimate in nature. Johannes Brahms’ Zigeunerlieder, although intended for home use, also come out well on concert stages. There will also be Polish compositions. We will hear pre-war songs by Grażyna Bacewicz: Roses and Solitude, which are examples of subtle and masterful love lyricism.
The evening will be complemented by French music – the pianists will perform works by Claude Debussy and Erik Satie, the latter being one of the most eccentric composers in the history of music. His work had a strong influence on French composers of his time, including the famous group Les Six with Francis Poulenc, Arthur Honegger and Darius Milhaud at the forefront. It was characteristic of Satie to coin abstract musical terms or names of his works – one of them is Trois morceaux en forme de poire meaning “three pieces in the form of a pear” – the title was his playful response to an accusation that Poulenc treated form too vaguely.