"Beatles(s)" for large symphony orchestra (2024)
3 fl, 3 ob, 3 cl, 3 bsn | 3 tpt, 4 hn, 3 tbn, tb | 5 perc | 2 hp, pno/cel | 24 vln, 12 vl, 10 vc, 8 cb

Performed by:
The Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Geoffrey Paterson - conductor

Recording, Mix & Mastering: Ewa Guziołek-Tubelewicz
Post-mastering: Paweł Hendrich

This piece explores the extent to which one can deconstruct the songs of The Beatles – a band with a high, almost iconic social identity – while still retaining even a minimal level of recognizability.  The title itself reflects my approach. The starting point is the music of the legendary band from Liverpool. The suffix "-less" suggests a loss, a lack, or an inability to affect in a particular way. The title also has a second layer of meaning. The neologism "beatless" describes a certain characteristic of the composition – a lack of beat. This second meaning of the title describes my approach to the orchestral texture, in which I deliberately create and destroy the sensation of beats, atomizing the material (not just rhythmic, but also harmonic and timbral), dissipating its contours in favor of granularity. As a result, what was initially clear (either within the piece itself or in relation to The Beatles' music) becomes blurred, but through its reduced obviousness, it becomes much more intriguing.  In the composition Beatles(s), I draw from an icon of pop culture and creatively transform the source of inspiration, merging it with my own musical language. I am very interested in such multi-layered relationships, revealing hidden similarities where the facade appears to be only differences and strong contrasts.   

Commisioned by the 67th Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music and the Warsaw Philharmonic.

Beatles(s) (2024)

Paweł Hendrich was born in 1979 in Wrocław (Poland). After studying engineering and economics at the Wrocław University of Economics he studied composition at the K. Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław (prof. Grażyna Pstrokońska Nawratil) and at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne (prof. York Höller).

The works of Paweł Hendrich have been performed at concerts and festivals in Austria, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Norway, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and United States of America.

The composer has received commissions from: Warsaw Autumn Festival (Ensemble Musikfabrik, Basel Sinfonietta, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra), Warsaw Philharmonic, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Deutschlandfunk (Kwartludium), Goethe-Institut, BHF BANK Stiftung and Ensemble Modern, The Municipality of Wrocław (NOSPR), Polish Institute in Madrid (PluralEnsemble), Institute of Music and Dance, Orkiestra Muzyki Nowej, Chain Ensemble, The Forbidden City Chamber Orchestra, National Forum of Music (Lutosławski Quartet, LutosAir Quintet, NFM Leopoldinum String Trio, Studio Dan), ZAiKS Polish Authors' Association as well as from the Polish Composers' Union (Pablostrom, Orkest De Ereprijs).

Among Paweł Hendrich’s most significant awards and distinctions are: The Decoration of Honor Meritorious for Polish Culture (2017) and the Bronze Cross of Merit (2022) – both awarded by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the Scholarship of the Mayor of Wrocław (2020), and the Annual Award of the Polish Composers' Union (2025).

For several years now, he has been programming, composing and performing live electroacoustic music. With Cezary Duchnowski and Sławomir Kupczak he founded the electroacoustic group Phonos ek Mechanes. So far, trio has performed at festivals of improvised, contemporary and electroacoustic music, and at concerts in Poland and abroad.

In 2010 DUX released Paweł Hendrich's monographic record "Chamber Works", in 2017 second one called  "Metaforma" and in 2025 the third "Fractalized". In 2012 Bôłt Records released Phonos ek Mechanes’ first CD called  "C+-". In addition, his works have been published on several other CDs, including Ensemble Modern label.