Paweł Mykietyn: Orchestral Works Marcin Zdunik, NFM Wroclaw Philharmonic, Benjamin Shwartz & Bassem Akiki

• Paweł Mykietyn (b. 1971):
• 1Mykietyn: Concerto No. 2 for Violoncello & Symphony Orchestra32:13
• 2Mykietyn: Hommage à Oskar Dawicki32:09
• Total Runtime01:04:22

Info for Paweł Mykietyn: Orchestral Works

‘In this work,’ said Paweł Mykietyn about Concerto No. 2, ‘I tried to synthesize my research related to time in music. Of course, I also tried to make it communicative. I wanted to pour some strong human emotion into this strict mathematical structure.’ Judging by the reaction of the Warsaw audience gathered on 29 March 2019 at the Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio, the composer fully achieved his goal. Or maybe even with a surplus, as the attending actor and director Maciej Stuhr, while listening to Marcin Zdunik and the Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra led by the Polish-Lebanese conductor Bassem Akiki, ‘saw’ a silent film etude (later entitled simply: Cello Concerto No. 2). Stuhr transferred his vision in a precise way, adhering in every second to the Warsaw concert recording, and created a completely new artistic form, a kind of ‘film in the spirit of music’.

Given the opportunity to listen multiple times to the studio recording of Cello Concerto No. 2 – with Marcin Zdunik and the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic under the baton of Bassem Akiki – the following important question is worth answering: is this totally captivating piece by Paweł Mykietyn a masterpiece comparable to Witold Lutosławski’s Cello Concerto? (…)

The Hommage is the second, after the Flute Concerto from 2013, work of large size by Mykietyn, in which – thanks to precise mathematical calculations – he explores the dramatic possibilities of creating an illusion of stretching or shortening time by music. The orchestra is relatively economical in this piece: except for a single oboe, wind instruments (flutes, clarinets, horns, trumpets and trombones) have been limited to only a double, classical line-up. In addition, the composer uses interchangeably celesta or piano, a percussion section and 28 strings, often treated as solo instruments. The composition consists of three movements played attacca.

Marcin Zdunik, cello
NFM Wroclaw Philharmonic Orchestra
Bassem Akiki, conductor
Benjamin Shwartz, conductor

Marcin Zdunik
has been invited to perform at prestigious festivals – The BBC Proms Festival in London, Progetto Martha Argerich in Lugano and Chopin and his Europe in Warsaw. Giving solo concerts in many European countries, the USA and Korea Marcin Zdunik has co-operated with many renowned ensembles, e.g. the Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Prague Chamber Orchestra, the European Union Chamber Orchestra, the City of London Sinfonia, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and distinguished conductors, such as Andrey Boreyko, Antoni Wit and Tadeusz Strugała.

He regularly shares the stage with reputable musicians – Nelson Goerner, Gerard Causse, Krzysztof Jabłoński, Krzysztof Jakowicz, Jose Gallardo and Modigliani Quartet. He performed with Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet and Tatjana Grindenko at the festival Chamber Music Connects the World in Kronberg. He has performed as a soloist at many renowned concert halls, e.g. the National Philharmonic Concert Hall in Warsaw, the Rudolfinum in Prague, Carnegie Hall in New York, Cadogan Hall in London, Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, the Hermitage Theatre in St. Petersburg, Konzerthaus Dortmund and the Slovak Philharmonic in Bratislava.

In 2007 Marcin Zdunik won the first prize at the VI Lutoslawski International Cello Competition in Warsaw (Poland). He was also awarded the Grand Prix for an outstanding performance of Lutoslawski’s Cello Concerto and received nine other prizes. In 2008 he represented the Polish Radio in Bratislava (Slovakia) at the International Forum of Young Performers (IFYP) organized by the European Broadcasting Union where he won the 2008 New Talent title.

In 2010 he got Polish TV Culture Award, Gwarancje Kultury and Fryderyk Music Award 2010 for the album: Haydn, Denisov „Cello Concertos”. More recently he recorded complete Robert Schumann’s works for cello and piano (2014, with Aleksandra Świgut), Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s “Fantasia for cello and orchestra” (2015, with Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra and Andres Mustonen) and a duo album „Bach Stories” including works by Johann Sebastian Bach and improvisations related to them (with Aleksander Dębicz, Warner Classics 2017).

Zdunik studied with reputable musicians – Julius Berger (Augsburg University) and Andrzej Bauer (F. Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw). He also graduated from the University of Warsaw earning the master’s degree in musicology.

He currently teaches at the Music Academy in Gdańsk (Poland) and at the Fryderyk Chopin Music University in Warsaw (Poland). He holds a habilitated doctor degree in music since 2017.

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