Augustyn: Choral Music (sub iove)
3 Nokturny rzymskie [3 Roman Nocturnes] for mixed choir, Missa semibrevis for choir and organ, Od Sasa. Sounds-Pauses-Events for mixed choir, and Vagor ergo sum. Small cantata to words by Zbigniew Herbert, Emperor Hadrian and Italian National Railways for mixed choir and gongs
Agnieszka Drożdżewska – soprano [1]-[9]; Monika Michaliszyn – mezzosoprano [1]-[9]; Joanna Rot – alto [4]-[9]; Julian Gembalski – organ [4]-[9]; Jarosław Jęrdaś – percussion [10]-[11], [16]-[17]; Jacek Muzioł – percussion [10]-[11], [16]-[17]; Cantores Minores Wratislavienses
CD Accord ACD212 (also available on naxos.com)
From the CD Accord website:
Talking about his choral output, Augustyn descends into a somewhat schizophrenic string of free associations. In the same breath he mentions dozens of idiomatic expressions, beginning with angelic choruses, through to choirs of sirens and prisoners, ending with (if you’ll pardon the expression) “Uncle Sam” choruses. All in order to make us understand that hidden behind this immense inter-textual mixture of material is an attempt to impart new values to a multiple group of vocalists, associated by an average music lover with a stringent and disciplined sense of community, whose aim is singing in praise – never mind to whom. Augustyn’s chorus has nothing in common with heavenly choirs, where as in the Book of Jeremiah – “damned is he who badly performs the work of the Lord.” If anything it stems from ancient choreomania and is closer to poetry than composed music where melody and rhythm play an equal role dictated by the overall, over-riding “musicality” of the narrative. His chorus, rather than communal is usually an individual “I”: sometimes an actor, sometimes a listener and sometimes a go-between, an authority that assists in finding the correct path in world participation – as witnessed by Nietzsche’s deliberations in The Birth of Tragedy.
Dorota Kozińska (transl. Anna Kaspszyk)
[Sources: naxos.com, cdaccord.com.pl]