July 13, 2010 Tuesday 9.30
pm
Celsus Library, Ephesus
TO THE INCORRIGIBLE ROMANTICS
FROM JERZY DUDA-GRACZ TO FREDERIC CHOPIN
‘PAINTINGS OF NOTES’
KRZYSZTOF JABŁOŃSKI, piano
Programme
Nocturne C sharp minor (Lento con gran espressione), 1830
Fantasie-Impromptu C sharp minor Op. posth. 66
Scherzo B flat minor Op. 31
Etude C minor Op. 10 No. 12
Prelude E minor Op. 28 No. 4
Etude E major Op. 10 No. 3
Nocturne E minor Op. 72 No. 1
Waltz A minor Op. 34 No. 2
Waltz C sharp minor Op. 64 No. 2
Ballade G minor Op. 23
Polonaise A flat major Op. 53
Krzysztof Jablonski was born in 1965 in Wroclaw, Poland. He started piano lessons at age six with Professor Janina Butor. Under her guidance he he won many prizes at piano competitions in Poland and performed his first concert with an orchestra at the age of 12. As the youngest competitor at age 15, he placed fifth at the Milan Piano Competition, "Premio Dino Ciani." Chairman of the Jury Nikita Magaloff then invited Mr. Jablonski to attend his Master Classes in Geneva, Switzerland. Between 1983 and 1986 he studied under the guidance of Professor Andrzej Jasinski at the Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland. He graduated with honors in 1987, and in 1996 he earned his Ph.D.
Mr. Jablonski won third prize at The F. Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1985. Between 1988 and 1992 he has won numerous top prizes at piano competitions in: Palm Beach (Florida, USA), Monza (Italy), Dublin (Ireland), Gold Medal at The A. Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Tel Aviv (Israel), the "Jorge Bolet" Prize at the Walter Naumburg Foundation International Piano Competition in New York, and Second Prize at The Esther Honens International Piano Competition in Calgary, Canada.
At age 20, Mr. Jablonski began performing on stages in Europe, North and South America, Mexico, Israel, South Korea, and Japan. He has performed in many prestigious concert halls, including appearances on the Master Concert Series at Berliner Philharmonie. Mr. Jablonski has also performed with prominent chamber music ensembles. He also founded "Chopin Duo" (Tomasz Strahl - Cello, Krzysztof Jablonski - Piano) in 1999. Since 2004 he is a Member of "The Warsaw Piano Quintet" (Kwintet Warszawski) which was first founded by Wladyslaw Szpilman in 1962. He is co-founder of the "Kulka Trio" together with K.A. Kulka and T. Strahl.
From 1999 to 2006 Mr. Jablonski was closely collaborating with Grand Theatre - National Opera in Warsaw, Poland, performing regularly the music for a ballet entitled "Fortepianissimo", which was developed around the music of Chopin. Between 2002 and 2006 he was also frequently performing the original piano version of the C. Debussy's Pelleas et Melisande lyrique drama (opera).
Jablonski performed at the National Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw with Orchestra of the 18th Century (Baroque Orchestra) conducted by Frans Brüggen on historical piano (Erard, built in 1849), during special series of concerts presenting Chopin's pieces performed in an original sound with the use of the instruments of that time for the first time in Poland. He was guest of such orchestras as the Berner Symphonie-Orchester, the Jenaer Philharmonie, the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, and the Festival Orchestra of the Grand Teton Music Festival. He was invited by Andrey Boreyko to perform Scriabin's "Promethee" with the National Philharmonic Orchestra in Warsaw and Duesseldorfer Symphoniker. Recently Jablonski was successfully performing with Lahti Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Atso Almila, Arto Noras (Cello), Andrzej Jagodziński Trio. He performed recitals during NATO Summit in Kraków, Poland as well as Opening Recital of the Chopin Year Celebration at the Senate of the Republic of Poland. He was also invited to perform music by F. Chopin during opening of the Wiener Opernball in Vienna together with the Vienna State Opera Ballet choreographed by Giorgio Madia. Jablonski just performed with National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice under the baton of such prominent conductors as Krzysztof Penderecki and Jerzy Maksymiuk. In 2010 he will be performing many concerts in conjunction with F. Chopin 200th Birth Anniversary Celebrations.
Mr. Jablonski has made many live recordings for radio and television in many countries. He has recorded many compact discs in Germany, Japan, and Poland. Jablonski also recorded three CDs (Etudes, Preludes and Impromptus and Works for Piano and Orchestra) in conjunction with The National Edition of F. Chopin's Works project, directed by Prof. J. Ekier. He has recorded Piano Quintets by G. Bacewicz and J. Zarębski with Warsaw Quintet and complete chamber works by F. Chopin with T. Strahl and K.A. Kulka.
Since 1994, Mr. Jablonski taught piano, initially at the Music Academy in Wroclaw, Poland, and later, at the Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland. He is a Full Professor of The Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, Poland since 2004. In addition to academic responsibilities, he presents Master Classes, lectures and adjudicates at international piano competitions. Jablonski was Jury Member of The XV International F. Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 2005, International F. Chopin Piano Competition in ASIA, and The Seventh National Chopin Piano Competition of the United States. He served as Chair of the Jury of The Third Canadian Chopin Piano Competition in March of 2010 and will be Jury Member of The International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition Preliminaries in Warsaw in April of 2010.
Jerzy Duda-Gracz
Jerzy Duda-Gracz was born in Częstochowa on March 20, 1941. Since his childhood he revealed the unusual talent. Drawing and painting were for him, as he used to say, as necessary as breathing. After graduating from the Technical Arts High School he studied at the Graphic Art Faculty at the Academy of the Fine Arts in Katowice (a branch of the Kraków Academy). For many years he taught at the artistic Academies in Katowice and Warsaw. As the renown artist he had won numerous prizes, his works are to be found in many museums and galleries all over the world as well as in the private collections. He died on November 5, 2004, during the open air working session at Łagów. Duda-Gracz had created his own, individual style, which attracted crowds of admirers of his art to the exhibitions. In his paintings one could find grotesque, caricature, critical look at the human weaknesses and failures, journalistic and moralistic approach. These all refers to the 1970s, when on his pictures reigned sloppy workers, primitive women with deformed bodies, freaks, people lazy and stupid, somehow ridiculous, somehow pathetic, surrounded by the ruined sheds and total mess, an ugly and depressing landscape. In his later works however melancholy took over and longing for the country world, slowly fading away, and most of all his great fondness for the Polish landscape. "I am in hurry, because my Poland thaws out even faster than the last year's snow, and I want not to miss the time to paint it, although I know it is an absurd, for this Poland lives in me alone and will die right with me." Among his achievements are landscapes, portraits and self-portraits, bigger cycles (religious etc.) and designs of scenographies. He used to work quickly, and each painting was marked with the number and date. His last great cycle "To Chopin" (1999-2003) was the series of illustrations to the entire composer's works. For some of his spectators the works of Duda-Gracz may be hard to accept, especially his religious paintings, where sacrum and profanum enter into direct conflict (as in his "The Golgota of Jasna Góra", where among the hosts of historical and current celebrities the painter placed himself and his family as well), but for sure no one can pass by his works indifferently.
I see no need and I cannot change anything in my art [...] Should I try to express my world in a different manner, I would definitely become more sly than I am and I might even be more acceptable in contemporary visual arts, yet then I would betray my own person and lose credibility with my public, eventually depriving myself of the right to address my paintings to them [...]
To Chopin is the last great cycle of Jerzy Duda-Gracz’s paintings, with each individual painting being inspired by a successive musical piece by Chopin. Work on the series continued from 1999 to 2003 and produced about 295 works; their number exceeds that of Chopin’s opuses, as it includes diptychs, triptychs and polyptichs, depending on the number of movements in the given musical piece.
Etudes, Songs, and Preludes are painted in watercolour as the “lighter” forms being but sketches, while the remaining opuses are oils The Shrouds (Całuny), painted on loosely hanging pieces of canvas, and referring to the lost works form a distinct group.
The 295 works were painted in 92 locations: Antonin, Biłgoraj, Borów, Boryszyn, Brchów, Brzegi, Buk, Bychawa, Częstochowa, Dołhobyczów, Duszniki, Dźwiersztyny, Frampol, Gdańsk, Golob, Goraj, Gorajce, Horyniec, Hotylub, Hrebenne, Jajczaki, Janów Lubelski, Jarosław, Jaworów, Jemiołów, Józefów, Kalinowo, Kamion, Kłodawa, Kłodzko, Kłopot, Komarów, Krasnobród, Kraśnik, Krzeszów, Kuklówka, Lublin, Lubniewice, Lubrza, Łagów, Łańcut, Łowicz, Mierzyce, Młyńczyska, Mostki, Murzasichle, Nadrzecze, Narol, Nowosiółki, Ostrów, Pasym, Pątnów, Piaski, Płock, Poturzyn, Przycłapy, Puławy, Radruż, Radziejowice, Rawa Ruska, Rokitnica, Santok, Sanniki, Sieniawa, Słońsk, Stare Sioło, Staropole, Strzyżewo, Sulechów, Szafarnia, Szczereż, Szczyrk, Szumiąca, Świebodzin, Świętajno, Tarnogród, Tereszpol, Toporów, Toruń, Torzym, Turobin, Trzęsacz, Warsaw, Wieliczka, Wielkie Oczy, Wielowieś, Wola Mołodycka, Zagórze, Zwierzyniec, Żelazowa Wola, Żółkiew, and Żychlin.
Within a year from the completion of “his Chopin”, on 5th November 2004, Jerzy Duda-Gracz died on location in Łagów, where he went to begin work on a new series of paintings.
Frederic Chopin
Frederic Chopin was born in Zelezowa Wola, near Warsaw, Poland in February, 22,1810. In 1830, at the age of 20, he left his nativeland and never revisited. His piano teacher, being very fond of Chopin has presented him a silver urn full of home soil as keepsake. Frederic Chopin died in Paris in Octobre,17,1849 at the age of 39.
Chopin’s nocturnes represent the glittering stars, romance in the mysterious depths of the night, peace and tranquility which he always yearned for. The genuine form of his nocturnes was inspired by the works of an Irish born composer John Field. John Field, who lived between the years of 1782-1837, first used these forms in 1814, which were greatly admired by Chopin and were later played in a Paris concert. In 1833 he wrote his first nocturne op.9. The third piece of these series is the highly popular and mostly played nocturne no.3. Chopin’s nocturnes went through various arrangements and were used in ballet music.
Chopin collected his etudes in two books each containing twelve pieces. These etudes were composed between 1829-1834.Actually many composers before him composed etudes for piano but Chopin’s were unsurpassable. Today, these etudes are still being played by piano students as lessons.
Chopin’s 24 preludes are collected under the topic of Op.28.Two more, less known, were found later. Their musical structures are short and intense. Each prelude expresses a poetical feeling with very different emotions and moods. Chopin, expressed the fluctuations of his personality, his pessimism, his distress and passions in a wonderfully rousing approach in these tiny adorable musical works.
Chopin composed 15 waltzes. Even though he was inspired by the Viennese composer Johann Strauss’s Blue Danube and wrote these waltzes, his distinctive music can be perceptible. As Hunecker describes, “these pieces speak to ones soul, not the body”. Chopin’s best known and mostly played waltz Si mi bemol major “Grande Waltz Brillante”
Chopin’s ballades are greater in forms than his etudes, nocturnes, preludes and waltzes. As one can understand from their names, each has a different story to tell. Although the persons and the subjects in the stories are unknown, the composer grants a free world to his audience on behalf of filling the emptiness.
In his polonaises and mazurkas one can perceive a keen patriotism and love for his native Poland. He transmuted the primitive melodies of Polish folk music and dances in these polonaises. In the musical structure of almost all of these pieces, his rebels, pains, sufferings and call for collective struggle against the occupation of his beloved country can be sensed.