doubles

De siste to årene har BIT20 Ensemble samarbeidet med den polske organisasjonen Harmonies and Noises gjennom prosjekter i Polen og Norge. Denne kvelden inviterer vi i fellesskap til dobbel konsert med både norsk og polsk musikk og musikere. I tillegg presenterer vi verk av to iranske komponister. Det blir en kontrastfylt kveld med stor variasjon i program, fra stort ensembleverk med solister til solo fiolin. Samtlige verk har sin Norgespremiere.  

MEDVIRKENDE
BIT20 Ensemble
FLOW UNIT (PL)
Szymon Bywalec  Dirigent

PROGRAM

Fozié Majd Faraghi (In absentia) (21’)
Anna Kwiatkowska Fiolin
Mikołaj Pałosz Cello

Agata Zubel Chamber Piano Concerto (15’)
Adam Kośmieja Piano 

pause

Sławomir Wojciechowski: Uno on off (17’)
Callum Hay Jennings Kontrabass

Anahita Abbasi Situation IV/Io E iO (9’)
Anna Kwiatkowska Fiolin

Evind Buene: Doubles (14’)

Arena Peer Gynt-salen, Grieghallen
Konsertstart 19:30 Dørene åpner 18:30
Tid 28.november

THE MUSIC

FARÃGHI (“IN ABSENTIA”)  “Years ago, just before the revolution in Iran, while collecting the music of the provinces, mainly in southern Khorãsãn, northeast of Iran, I came across songs made up of verses dealing with separation from a loved one, song with a repeated melodic phrase, called farãghi,” says Fozie Majd. The word farãghi, meaning separation, has an added implication, which is the feeling or the sorrow of separation. This idea continues far down into the Iranian Baluchestãn, in pieces called Leekoo or Zahirook, both translated as the expression of the sorrow resulting from this separation. It is usually understood in relation to an actual separation from a loved one. However, it has also a mystic connotation: it is the mystic’s intense longing to become one with the Beloved. Jallal-edin Rumi, the great 12th-century Iranian poet and mystic, opens his book of Masnavi with the idea of a ney, or flute, playing, bemoaning, and complaining of this separation. This idea of separation from a source, be it tangible or metaphysical, plays a very prominent role in Iranian literature and the mental make-up. As I started writing this piece in early 2016, it dawned on me that this was what I was trying to accomplish, another expression of this ever-present separation.

“My piano concerto does not have to transgress any boundaries and is not sensitive to size. The idea of performing is put into practice by increased activity. In order to do that, all performers need to be willing to go beyond what is expected. The audience is beginning to listen to a piano concerto, and the musicians are starting to play the piano concerto. However, there is no orchestra, and the pianist is playing a part arranged for two instruments. Despite this, from the very inception of the work until the very last note, I had no doubt it was a Chamber Piano Concerto for Piano(s) and Ensemble”, says Agata Zubel.

The direct inspiration for creating the work “uno, on, off” was the sum of the previous experiences resulting from the prior collaboration between the composer and the Orkiestra Muzyki Nowei based in Katowice. It resulted in the compositions “a matter of choice” and “play the back”. “uno, on, off” is dominated by hybrid, harmonic structures built from instrumental and electronic sounds. The narrative based on human speech is also important. The main instrumental part was created in close cooperation with the double bassist from OMN, Łukasz Bebłot, who has excellent skills and extraordinary stage expression.

Certainly, a new order – at least in terms of their organization of the place on the string – is created by Anahita Abbasi in her Situation IV “Io e IO” from 2017. With the help of a blue fixing compound, blu-tack a “blue bridge” is built on the strings in the ordinario position (the word “bridge” means here both the bridge and the piece of wood that supports strings). This creates two new playing positions (next to the traditional sul ponticello and sul tasto) – “in front of the blue bridge”) closer to the instrument’s bridge and “on the other side of the blue bridge” (closer to the fingerboard, “like a song from a distance, a muffled song, but with scars, quite beautiful”; writes Abbasi). The composer puts the performer in a new situation, forcing him/her to get to know himself/herself and his/her own instrument better. “Nothing is fixed and predetermined. We have the power to change everything, because everything is constantly changing”, she writes in her commentary. And indeed, although the musical material could be limited to only a few motifs – seventh leaps, descending tetrachord, and sequences of thirds – and their transformations, the sound plan changes much more than it would only result from following the pitch of the notes. Abbasi orders the pression of the bow to be changed, the strings to be muted, and she uses percussion effects, but ultimately everything leads from the sharp blows of the beginning to the final melting in a bright, luminous harmonic.

In “Doubles,” the interplay between tempered pitch and non-tempered sound defines its essence. Eivind Buene’s fascination with the dual nature of acoustic instruments drives the composition, exploring the instrument’s inherent harmony alongside its role as a sonic entity. This tension gives rise to a sonic landscape that feels both vaguely familiar and richly strange. The piece employs simple harmonic structures, consistently challenged by emergent microtonality and detuned elements. The resulting music evolves organically, with intermittent pulses and attempts at melodic lines that mirror the instability of the harmonic system.

 PERFORMERS

Szymon Bywalec, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Composition, Conducting, Theory and Music Education at the Academy of Music in Katowice, where he teaches conducting classes and of which he is a graduate. In 2014 he received the Honorary Award of the Polish Composers’ Union for his contributions to the promotion of Polish contemporary music. Szymon Bywalec is the artistic director and permanent conductor of the OMN (New Music Orchestra), which he has led at various contemporary music festivals. He also regularly conducts the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR) in Katowice. He has presented more than a hundred world and Polish premieres.  

Adam Kośmieja, One of the most innovative and modern Polish pianists. Performs both classical repertoire and broadly understood new music, also with multimedia, and enjoys great popularity among leading contemporary composers (premieres, commissions). Adam deeply explores the world of contemporary music with his trio Flow Unit 3 (Anna Kwiatkowska - violin, Mikołaj Pałosz - cello). He has performed in over 20 countries in North America, Europe, and Asia, solo, in chamber groups and with orchestras. In Poland he collaborated with almost all national orchestras.

Anna Kwiatkowska performs as a soloist both outstanding pieces of contemporary violin repertoire as well as written piece especially for her by leading Polish composers. As soloist and chamber player Anna performed at many festivals and concert halls in Poland and abroad, collaborating with the MusikFabrik ensemble in Cologne, performing at important events and on prestigious venues, such as Musikfest in Berlin and Jahrhunderthalle in Bochum.

Mikołaj Pałosz is a freelance cellist specializing in contemporary and avant-garde music performance. Together with violinist Anna Kwiatkowska, Mikołaj forms a duo, and along with pianist Adam Kośmieja the flow unit trio, presenting contemporary and latest repertoire. Mikołaj Pałosz is collaborating with leading Polish composers in creation of new works and has premiered many pieces often dedicated to him.

Canadian born bassist Callum Hay Jennings began his relationship to classical music at the age of 18. He now appears regularly with prominent European orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, and Mahler Chamber Orchestra. An in-demand principal bassist, Jennings is currently in a leadership role with the Bergen Philharmonic and enjoys guest leading the bass sections of several other orchestras. A passionate interpreter of contemporary music, Jennings has toured internationally with Ensemble Modern and from the 2022-23 season joined Bergens new music collective BIT20 Ensemble in a permanent role.

Takk for støtte: Bergen kommune, Vestland fylkeskommune og Kulturrådet.