Let the One With Ears Hear! Or: Politically Incorrect Music
on MIZAR, THIRD REVELATION: KOBNA UBAVINA
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on MIZAR, THIRD REVELATION: KOBNA UBAVINA
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за МИЗАР, ТРЕТО ОТКРОВЕНИЕ: КОБНА УБАВИНА
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interview on Kismet's CD "Kobna ubavina" ("Terrible Beauty")
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In a resurgent Russia, Valery Gergiev aims to make sure the country’s overlooked music also gets its due.
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Muzyka blackmetalowa stanowi współcześnie fenomen na skalę światową. Pierwotnie będąc eksperymentalnym tworem paru – przeważnie skandynawskich – zespołów, stawała się na przestrzeni ostatnich trzydziestu lat źródłem inspiracji dla stale rosnącej liczby wykonawców, zjednując sobie równocześnie ogromną rzeszę fanów na wszystkich kontynentach. W mojej pracy podejmuję próbę analizy blackmetalowego etosu i istotowo z nim związanej estetyki oraz staram się dokonać historycznej rekonstrukcji procesu nawarstwiania się i krystalizowania wątków aksjologicznych, konstytutywnych dla tego rodzaju muzyki i związanego z nim stylu życia.
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The reception of contemporary music is not easy for a young, musically uneducated listener. Experts and musicians appreciate its meaning, however, and with their performances, they devotedly convince their listeners of a great importance of contemporary music. The article regards one of many projects of Music Association of Bielsko-Biała, the aim of which is popularization of knowledge about Witold Lutosławski, as well as presentation of live performances of his compositions.
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Selected electronic compositions of Marek Czerniewicz are the subject of the present article. Czerniewicz is a representative of the circle of artists of the young generation from Gdańsk music enviromnment. His artistic interests are a combination of various trends and experiences. Czerniewicz openly experiments with the latest computer technology, using electronic matter, concrete music and the world of natural sounds. These three sources coexist in the composer's pieces as equal sound media. Formal, acoustic and expressive aspects of electronic compositions created by Czerniewicz are, however, dominated entirely by the ideological sphere of his artistic pieces. The message grounded in philosophical-spiritual domain, each time becomes the basis of his artistic creation. The composer creates his semantic message, using the latest means of music technology.
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Music education is a multipurpose and long-lasting process. The full cycle of education of a professional musician lasts almost seventeen years. Despite this long-lasting process, however, it is not always possible to achieve fully satisfying educative and artistic results. Mistakes happen too often — also pedagogical ones. Successes and failures accompany every student of music school. Their range and nature differ, the fact which parents and teachers often do not realize.
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Music citation is used by contemporary composers for specific semantic-expressive purposes. A composer, hoping that the citation will be recognised by the listeners, and associated with the particular type of music used, at the same time, modifies interpretation of the content of further parts of the composition. Citation is thus an intentional phenomenon — it functions correctly only when proper intention of the listener is directed towards it. The focus of the article is on the concept of effective communication between the composer and the listener, with the use of a music citation. The author uses opinions of contemporary musicians and observations of contemporary music analysts.
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A contemporary man lives in the world of electronic media. To people of the young generation media are the natural environment. Today, media are the basic source of information and means of communication. The electronic media, especially Internet, not only change the way people live, but also the way they think. In the article, the concept of mediality has been proposed and defined, as it aptly characterises the complex relations between a human being and the world of media.
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The multiplicity of roles which piano plays in contemporary music, as well as the scope of activities and challenges a contemporary pianist is faced with are the subjects of analyses included in the present article. The continuity and metamorphoses of the process which shaped the contemporary concept of piano playing as compared to the former model, is also given much consideration. The inspirations with piano tradition of former epochs, which are discernible in the music of the last century, as well as functionality and capacities of the expanded sonoristic qualities of the modern piano, are also essential themes of the present discussion. Moreover, in the article, the author undertakes a search for ways of contemporary depiction of aesthetic values and makes an attempt to answer the question: What is valuable in contemporary piano playing?
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Searching for and discovering values in Polish folk culture, not only by folklorists and ethnographers, but also by teachers, tutors and educators, is a way of reaching back to our national roots of folk culture. In scholarly understanding, it is mainly the description of life of inhabitants of towns and villages, hardships of labour, happiness and sorrow. Folk artistic works are most often understood as spiritual culture, material and symbolic at the same time, which is also sometimes expressed in speech, customs, music, dance, art and folk handcraft. The life of inhabitants of various areas of Poland has become of interest to many researchers, Oskar Kolberg (1814—1890) — an ethnographer, folklorsist and composer, and Juliusz Roger — a Silesian folklorist, being among the most distinguished of them.
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The search for deep-rooted relations between a composer’s life and its projection onto the work of art constitutes the essence of the present article. Mieczysław Tomaszewski’s idea of invariant model of artist’s life structure has been used as the methodological basis to the analysis. The structure of Augustyn Bloch’s biography perfectly corresponds with this model. Observing the composer’s life, one may find consecutive creative phases for which meaningful experiences — the crucial moments in his biography — serve as turning points. All his life experiences, including his cultural legacy, echo in his artistic works. Hence, the relationship between his biography and compositions is so strong that it functions as the essential method of research into his works of art.
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Music is extremely important in the life of every child. It exerts strong emotional impact on human exitence. Owing to music, imagination, sense of beauty and harmony, happiness and sadness are being developed. With its help our skills are expanded and we can learn, think, create, cure and rest more effectively. In the article, the author interprets the concept of imagination, its types and most popular theories, as well as the characteristics of children’s imagination and the role of a music teacher in its development. Music is of particular significance to the process of growing up. A child experiences it fully, spontaneously enriching his/her world, developing his/her imagination, feelings and judgements. Hence, music not only “has charms to soothe the savage breast” but it is also a “motor” for imagination and feelings understood and experienced by a child.
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The article is an analysis of Wasilij Barvinsky’s song, written to "Oh luli, luli" lyrics by Taras Szewczenko. The song is of metaphorical character, the aim of which is to present the national style with the use of poetic and musical means of expression.
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The article draws the readers’ attention to the uniqueness of Bajka — the puppet theatre staging plays in Polish — being a professional puppet stage in Zaolzie. It is worth mentioning that Bajka is the third professional theatrical group in that region, the other two being The Polish Stage and The Czech Stage of Czech Theatre in Cieszyn. For over 60 years it has performed for its youngest, a bit older and adult audience. Its program includes mostly Polish artistic pieces, but it is also possible to see works from other cultural areas. It should be emphasised that Bajka popularises Polish culture, especially among the youngest residents of Zaolzie. It makes them sensitive to the beauty of Polish language and it helps them develop their abilities to use literary language, as well as local dialect. Bajka also develops readership interests, making the youngest ones aware of the fact that books constitute the best source of knowledge. It teaches them how to think, it develops their imagination and encourages them to do their own scientific research, it improves their behaviour and promotes universal values such as: good, truth and beauty. This way it constitutes a counterweight to the ubiquitous mass culture.
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The article is devoted to the problem of artist-creator, pondered on by Igor Strawiński — a composer, pianist and conductor. When should the performer-interpreter follow the instructions of the composer and when should he/she decide on their own interpretation? Can one assume that, at the time of breaking of all the existing conventions, the basic norms at the intersubjective level (the issue typical of a particular era or style of articulation) will be respected? Which types of reaction do new interpretations of classics, going beyond „the modesty of gesture and restraint of expression” evoke? And since one’s „volition” is supposed to stem from the text, what about equivocal avant-garde pieces? Strawiński uses strong words, he calls going beyond the author's intention: “betrayal”. The reason for such attitude, characteristic mostly of practicians (and relating to Umberto Eco's opinion referring to the “use” of literary text, which is so distant from the theses of pure theoreticians) should be inquired about. Can one — loyally remaining „a servant of music” and introducing no characteristic and individual interpretative choices, which may, perhaps, be different than those that constitute the composer’s idea — become an interesting and recognisable artist? Although the author illustrates all the issues mentioned above in detail, using examples from the sphere of music, she is also interested in broader problems: that of a creator/ artist in general, of taste, aesthetic preferences of critics/society, and finally — of the ethos of a contemporary artist, and the border between reception and autocreation of the author and the artist.
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In Polish music culture, jazz has been a long-lasting phenomenon, having its defined place in it, its ways and forms of activity, and strong position, as well as considerable artistic achievements. As such, jazz may be an important source of inspiration and mark ist presence in various spheres of culture. In the present article three such spheres have been discussed. One of them is the sphere of understanding music. In the light of heteronomous option dominating in contemporary culture and in the context of reading past, present and future music compositions, restitution of aesthetic-musical category of autonomy would be desireable. Since activities consolidating heteronomous option and ignoring autonomic one dominate in mass culture and general education, the role of jazz may be significant. For this is the music which, having utilitarian origins and becoming an artistic creation, has established and retained the status of autonomic art form. Another sphere leads one towards performative perspective. The basic element of jazz — improvisation — could be used here. Absence of this element in music education, in each case, closes access to certain areas of individual activity, artistic research and development of the musician. Today, improvisation seems impossible to be retained as a systemic feature of music education. The requirements with regard to musical performance are constantly being expanded. They cannot be limited to narrow technical-interpretative competences, but they should comprise elements that facilitate the development of a creative and conscious artist. Improvisation in music education is applied at four levels: 1. connected with the characteristics of the musician himself/herself perceived as a creative individual, together with the factors that shape his/her artistic personality and individual condition, 2. referring to the performance of Early Music, 3. referring to the performance of folk music and 4. referring to the performance of contemporary music. Jazz, in turn, may become one of the fields establishing the idiom of Polish music. Here, only two of its aspects, already visible in Polish jazz, can be indicated: the use of Polish folk music and inspirations with the music of Fryderyk Chopin. Polish jazz, reaching back to Polish folk music and Chopin’s compositions, defines its position in Polish music culture in a specific way. Using various elements from both fields, it acquires characteristic and original features that concentrate on the category of Polishness. Regarding locality of these inspirations, the above-enumerated features will always remain unique, unambiguous signum of cultural identification and affinity to Polish jazz. Owing to references to Chopin and Polish folk music, jazz has emerged as a field oriented towards Polish musical tradition which, basing on its own jazz stylistics, may be inscribed in Polish musical idiom sensu largo.
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