"Thall'Em All" for electric / acoustic string quartet and computer(2022)

Performed by: 
NeoQuartet (Karolina Piątkowska-Nowicka – electric and acoustic violin, Paweł Kapica – electric and acoustic violin, Michał Markiewicz – electric and acoustic viola, Krzysztof Pawłowski – electric and acoustic cello)

Recording: Marcin Kowalczyk
Mix: Paweł Hendrich
Mastering: Paweł Hendrich

"Thall'Em All" is a piece that combines submetal [thall] and contemporary music. For as long as I can remember, metal has played an important role in my life, and over the years I've become heavily musicalized by this genre. I highlighted these musical references doubly - in the obverse and reverse. The obverse is the layer of electronics in the piece with "Thall'Em All", which contains the sonic "aftertaste" of metal music - various overdrives, feedbacks, looping. The concept of the piece also involves translating certain guitar techniques - inherent in the metal subgenres of thall and djent - into music performed by a string quartet.

The entire meta-composition consists of two sub-pieces: "Thall'Em All" and "Thall'Em All | Reverse." The former is a string quartet whose electronics are heavily "soaked" in a sound with characteristics of various metal music genres (mainly thrash metal, death metal, thall and djent). The second, on the other hand, is an over two-minute composition written directly in the thall genre and does not reveal that it is part of a string quartet. It was created as a kind of aesthetic and material reverse of the string quartet.

More info: hendrich.pl/thall%27em-all

Thall'Em All | Obverse (2022)

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, 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), 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), ZAiKS Polish Authors' Association as well as from the Polish Composers' Union (Pablostrom, Orkest de Ereprijs).

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 and in 2017 second one called Metaforma. In 2012 Bôłt Records released Phonos ek Mechanes’ first CD called C+-. Furthermore his music is also released on over a dozen other CDs.