Vox Imaginaria - Medieval Music Ensemble

"Kompozycja izorytmiczna nr 6. Opusculum monacordale" is the last in the cycle of "Isorhythmic compositions". It is an hour-long 'animated musical treatise' for flutes, violin, early keyboard instruments and quadraphonic electronics based on XV-century "Opusculum monacordale" preserved in the University Library in Wrocław. The musical piece follows the structure of the ancient source: it is divided into two "books" and preceded by a "prohemium" ("Nulla omnino etas") - an introduction about the beginnings and creators of music. The first book concerns the basics of the medieval musical system: the source of the system (monochord and its division), its graphic representations (Guidonian hand ["Manus"], diagram of the scale ["Figura"]), and intervals ("Ter tria"). The second book is about melodic modes - larger structures regulating the melodic shape of monophonic pieces. "Quatuor in locis" is an introduction to the system of eight modes, and "Figure" is an improvised interpretation of circle diagrams featuring modes. The last movement - "Nunc modulare" ("now sing [according to the measure]", "now modulate") is based on slower developing structures inspired by the theory of melodic modes.

The project was carried out under a grant awarded to Ryszard Lubieniecki by the Mayor of Wrocław.

Performers:
Layers
Zofia Ilnicka – flutes
Ryszard Lubieniecki – portative organ, clavisimbalum
Jakub Wosik – violin

recorded live, 9.12.2023, Wroclaw, WRO Art Center (Canti Spazializzati #16)
recordings, mix, mastering - Czarny Latawiec

photo: Aleksandra Zegar

Canti Spazializzati:
Daniel Brożek (curator), Marta Konieczna (producer/co-curator), Emilia Konwerska (PR)
Visual identity: Karolina Pietrzyk + Mateusz Zieleniewski + Eva Erni
Organiser: Fundacja PozyTYwka
Partners: Centrum Sztuki WRO
Media patronage: Glissando
The series is co-financed by the City of Wrocław | www.wroclaw.pl

more info (in Polish): canti.pl/canti16pl.html

Kompozycja izorytmiczna nr 6. Opusculum monacordale (Canti Spazializzati #16)

Layers:
Zofia Ilnicka - flute
Ryszard Lubieniecki - accordion
+
Aleksander Wnuk - percussion

Recording from the Ryszard Lubieniecki's monographic CD "Kompozycje izorytmiczne" (Nasze Nagrania 2021). Full album available:
https://naszenagrania.bandcamp.com/album/kompozycje-izorytmiczne

Isorhythmical proposal for flute, accordion and percussion (2017)

"Incipit tenor bonus iij. petri" - fragments of an organ tabulature from Wrocław (Biblioteka Uniwersytecka, MS I F 687a, early XV century)

Performance:
Ryszard Lubieniecki - portative organ

Kamil Kęska - recording

Recorded in the Evangelical Church of God's Providence (Ewangelicki Kościół Opatrzności Bożej) in Wrocław as a part of the Ensemble Vox Imaginaria's project "Laetare Silesia". The project was carried out under a grant awarded to Julieta Gonzalez-Springer by the Mayor of Wrocław.

Incipit tenor bonus iij. petri (medieval music)

"Jour a jour la vie" - the performance merging vocal and instrumental version (Codex Faenza) of the anonymous French rondeau

Performance - Vox Imaginaria:
Julieta Gonzalez-Springer - cantus
Piotr Gałek - tenor
Ryszard Lubieniecki - portative organ

Kamil Kęska - recording

Recorded in the Evangelical Church of God's Providence (Ewangelicki Kościół Opatrzności Bożej) in Wrocław as a part of the Ensemble Vox Imaginaria's project "Laetare Silesia". The project was carried out under a grant awarded to Julieta Gonzalez-Springer by the Mayor of Wrocław.

photo: Małgorzata Wolny

Jour a jour la vie (medieval music)

"Ave virgo sanctissima" - circular canon preserved in the Nicolaus Menzel's manuscript from Zielona Góra (currently ms. I Q 132 of the Wrocław University Library)

Performance - Vox Imaginaria:
Julieta Gonzalez-Springer - voice
Ryszard Lubieniecki - portative organ

Kamil Kęska - recording

Recorded in the Evangelical Church of God's Providence (Ewangelicki Kościół Opatrzności Bożej) in Wrocław as a part of the Ensemble Vox Imaginaria's project "Laetare Silesia". The project was carried out under a grant awarded to Julieta Gonzalez-Springer by the Mayor of Wrocław.

photo: Małgorzata Wolny

Ave virgo sanctissima (medieval music)

Early XV-century three-part motet "O Maria virgo davitica / O Maria maris stella" preserved among others in the famous Codex St. Emmeram (D-Mbs Clm. 14274).

Performance - Vox Imaginaria:
Marzena Korchut-Łykowska - superius
Julieta Gonzalez-Springer - cantus
Piotr Gałek - tenor

Ryszard Lubieniecki - portative organ

Kamil Kęska - recording

Recorded in the Evangelical Church of God's Providence (Ewangelicki Kościół Opatrzności Bożej) in Wrocław as a part of the Ensemble Vox Imaginaria's project "Laetare Silesia". The project was carried out under a grant awarded to Julieta Gonzalez-Springer by the Mayor of Wrocław.

photo: Małgorzata Wolny

O Maria virgo davitica / O Maria maris stella (medieval music)

Medieval motet "Ave coronata/Alma parens/[Virgo prudentissima]" preceded by the monody "Virgo prudentissima" (used in the tenor part of the motet).

Performance - Vox Imaginaria:
Julieta Gonzalez-Springer - triplum
Piotr Gałek - motetus
Jacek Springer - tenor

Ryszard Lubieniecki - portative organ

Kamil Kęska - recording

Recorded in the Evangelical Church of God's Providence (Ewangelicki Kościół Opatrzności Bożej) in Wrocław as a part of the Ensemble Vox Imaginaria's project "Laetare Silesia". The project was carried out under a grant awarded to Julieta Gonzalez-Springer by the Mayor of Wrocław.

photo: Małgorzata Wolny

Virgo prudentissima - Ave coronata/Alma parens/[Virgo prudentissima] (medieval music)

Medieval two-part cantio (song) "Gavisa grata neumata" preserved in a musical fragment from the St. Elisabeth Church in Wrocław (currently ms. I F 269 of the Wrocław University Library).

Performance - Vox Imaginaria:
Julieta Gonzalez-Springer - voice
Ryszard Lubieniecki - portative organ

Kamil Kęska - recording

Recorded in the Evangelical Church of God's Providence (Ewangelicki Kościół Opatrzności Bożej) in Wrocław as a part of the Ensemble Vox Imaginaria's project "Laetare Silesia". The project was carried out under a grant awarded to Julieta Gonzalez-Springer by the Mayor of Wrocław.

photo: Małgorzata Wolny

Gavisa grata neumata (medieval music)

Performance - Vox Imaginaria:
Marzena Korchut-Łykowska - triplum
Julieta Gonzalez-Springer - cantus
Piotr Gałek - tenor

Kamil Kęska - recording

Recorded in the Evangelical Church of God's Providence (Ewangelicki Kościół Opatrzności Bożej) in Wrocław as a part of the Ensemble Vox Imaginaria's project "Laetare Silesia". The project was carried out under a grant awarded to Julieta Gonzalez-Springer by the Mayor of Wrocław.

photo: Małgorzata Wolny

Philippe de Vitry - Tuba sacre fidei/In Arboris/Virgo sum (medieval music)

"Domine ad adiuvandum me festina" - circular canon from XV century Central Europe preserved in the National Széchényi Library in Budapest (manuscript H-Bn lat. 534).

Performance - Vox Imaginaria:
Marzena Korchut-Łykowska, Julieta Gonzalez-Springer, Piotr Gałek, Jacek Springer - voices

Ryszard Lubieniecki - portative organ

Kamil Kęska - recording

Recorded in the Evangelical Church of God's Providence (Ewangelicki Kościół Opatrzności Bożej) in Wrocław as a part of the Ensemble Vox Imaginaria's project "Laetare Silesia". The project was carried out under a grant awarded to Julieta Gonzalez-Springer by the Mayor of Wrocław.

photo: Małgorzata Wolny

Domine ad adiuvandum me festina (medieval music)

"Apollinis eclipsatur / Zodiacum signis / In omnem terram" - three-part motet popular in the late XIV and early XV century in all of Europe

Performance - Vox Imaginaria:
Julieta Gonzalez-Springer - triplum
Jacek Springer - motetus
Piotr Gałek - tenor

Kamil Kęska - recording

Recorded in the Evangelical Church of God's Providence (Ewangelicki Kościół Opatrzności Bożej) in Wrocław as a part of the Ensemble Vox Imaginaria's project "Laetare Silesia". The project was carried out under a grant awarded to Julieta Gonzalez-Springer by the Mayor of Wrocław.

photo: Małgorzata Wolny

Apollinis eclipsatur / Zodiacum signis / In omnem terram (medieval music)

"Non ara may pieta questa mia dona" - instrumental intabulation of the ballata "Non avra ma'pieta questa mia Donna" by Francesco Landini (c. 1325-1397) from the late medieval Codex Faenza (I-Fz MS 117, fol. 81r-81v)

Performance:
Ryszard Lubieniecki - portative organ

Kamil Kęska - recording, mix

Franceso Landini/Codex Faenza - Non ara may pieta questa mia dona (medieval music)

Ute von Bingen live in Klub Baza, Kraków 15.04.2022

Ryszard Lubieniecki - portative organ
Witold Oleszak - hammond organ
Paulina Owczarek - baritone saxophone

recording/mix: Witold Oleszak

photo: Kazimierz Ździebło (made in Księgarnia Hiszpańska (Wrocław))

Ute von Bingen - VI.

Ute von Bingen - V.

Ute von Bingen - IV.

Ute von Bingen - III.

Ute von Bingen live in Klub Baza, Kraków 15.04.2022

Ryszard Lubieniecki - portative organ
Witold Oleszak - hammond organ
Paulina Owczarek - baritone saxophone

recording/mix: Witold Oleszak

photos: Kazimierz Ździebło (made in Księgarnia Hiszpańska (Wrocław))

Ute von Bingen - II.

Ute von Bingen live in Klub Baza, Kraków 15.04.2022

Ryszard Lubieniecki - portative organ, accordion reed ranks
Witold Oleszak - hammond organ
Paulina Owczarek - baritone saxophone

recording/mix: Witold Oleszak

photo: Kazimierz Ździebło (made in Księgarnia Hiszpańska (Wrocław))

Ute von Bingen - I.

"Serena mente iubilo" - two-voice cantio preserved in the Nicolaus Menzel's manuscript from Zielona Góra (currently ms. I Q 132 of the Wrocław University Library)

Performance - Vox Imaginaria:
Julieta Gonzalez-Springer - voice
Ryszard Lubieniecki - portative organ

Kamil Kęska - recording

Recorded in the Evangelical Church of God's Providence (Ewangelicki Kościół Opatrzności Bożej) in Wrocław as a part of the Ensemble Vox Imaginaria's project "Laetare Silesia". The project was carried out under a grant awarded to Julieta Gonzalez-Springer by the Mayor of Wrocław.

photo: Małgorzata Wolny

Serena mente iubilo (medieval music)

Two antiphones to St. Hedwig of Silesia from the XV-century "Neumarkter Cantionale" (the Cantionale from Środa Śląska) PL-WRk MS 58

Vox Imaginaria:
Piotr Gałek - tenor (Hedwigis sancta inclita)
Ryszard Lubieniecki - portative organ (improvisation on Hedwigis sancta inclita)
Jacek Springer - bass (Hedwigis Dei laudibus)

recording/mix - Maurycy Kin

photo: Konrad Hajdukiewicz

Hedwigis sancta inclita - improvisation - Hedwigis Dei laudibus (medieval music)

04 IV. Nunc Modulare

03 Liber II  I. Quatuor In Locis - II. Figure

02 IV. Figura - V. Ter Tria

01 I. Nulla Omnino Etas - Liber I  II. Monacordum - III. Manus

two-part ballata by Francesco Landini (c. 1335-1397)

Vox Imaginaria:
Julieta Gonzalez-Sprigner - voice
Ryszard Lubieniecki - portative organ

recording/mix - Maurycy Kin

photo: Aleksandra Zegar

Francesco Landini - Fortuna ria (medieval music)

'Casa' is the last track of the album 'el pájaro y la casa' by duo Vogellicht (Lorena Izquierdo & Ryszard Lubieniecki), which is an experimental interpretation of the poem by Izquierdo under the same title.

More info and the whole album:
https://naszenagrania.bandcamp.com/album/el-p-jaro-y-la-casa

Lorena Izquierdo - voice action
Ryszard Lubieniecki - portative organ, accordion reed ranks

recorded in Berlin, april 2023
recording: Adam Asnan
mix, mastering: Kamil Kęska

Label: Nasze Nagrania

NaNaMC022
-----
The publication of "el pájaro y la casa" was financed by NextGenerationEU funds (Republic of Poland/National Recovery Plan).

Vogellicht - casa (from 'el pájaro y la casa')

Sequitur nunc tenor bonus trium notarum videlicet der wÿnter der wil weÿchen - tabulature fragment from Wrocław (Biblioteka Uniwersytecka, MS I F 687a, fol. 4r, early XV century)

Performance:
Ryszard Lubieniecki - portative organ

Recording/mix: Maja Miro

Live recording from Cappella Angelica Festival: Gdańsk, St. Mary's Church, 20.07.2024

The manuscript:
https://www.bibliotekacyfrowa.pl/dlibra/publication/19356/edition/27369

This performance was based on the edition by Alban Thomas:
http://musiquerenaissance.free.fr/CMR/XIV-XV%20Publications.php

Der Winter der wil weychen (medieval music)

An antiphon to St. Hedwig of Silesia from the XV-century "Neumarkter Cantionale" (the Cantionale from Środa Śląska) PL-WRk MS 58

Vox Imaginaria:
Julieta González-Springer, Marzena Korchut-Łykowska - voices

composition of the second voice: Ryszard Lubieniecki

recording/mix - Maurycy Kin

O felix et beata (medieval music)

An antiphon to all saints from the XV-century "Neumarkter Cantionale" (the Cantionale from Środa Śląska) PL-WRk MS 58

Vox Imaginaria:
Piotr Gałek, Jacek Springer - voices

composition of the second voice: Ryszard Lubieniecki

recording/mix - Maurycy Kin

Sancti Dei omnes (medieval music)

E-MEX Ensemble:
Evelin Degen - flute
Joachim Striepens - clarinet
Martin von der Heydt - piano

Final concert of International Summer Course for Composers SYNTHETIS 2016
Radziejowice, 29 July 2016

The different view on 'Layers' (or Layers II) for flute, clarinet and piano (2016)

Ewa Liebchen - alto flute

Final concert of International Summer Course for Composers SYNTHETIS 2017
Radziejowice, 28 July 2017

Kompozycja izorytmiczna nr 2 (version I) for alto flute (2017)

Dedicated to Katharina Gross

Recording released on CD 'Cellomondo #2 Rebirth in Sound' (February 2018) by Katharina Gross. 

Available here:
https://www.mijnwebwinkel.nl/winkel/concertello/a-51114691/concertello-records-shop/cd-cellomondo-2-rebirth-in-sound/

Gest I for amplified cello solo (2015)

Ryszard Lubieniecki - voice, portative organ
Jędrzej Borowski - electronics in octophonic system

Recording - Beniamin Głuszek
Canti Spazializzati #6
BWA Wrocław Główny, 1 June 2019

Pr_m_ _at et_r_o (Kompozycja izorytmiczna nr 4) for reciting voice, portative organ and electronics

Electroacoustic piece based on 'Hont paur' - intabulation of Guillaume de Machaut's ballad 'Honte, paour, doubtance' from Codex Faenza.

Performers:
Aleksandra Demowska-Madejska - viola
Wojciech Psiuk - alto saxophone

Final concert of the Composition Course SYNTHETIS 2019
Radziejowice, 26 July 2019

Hont paur (After Codex Faenza) for viola, alto saxophone and electronics (2019)

Binaural version of electronic music based on XIV century madrigal "O cieco mondo" by Jacopo da Bologna in two versions: vocal (Codex Squarcialupi) and instrumental (Codex Faenza). In the central place of the electronic piece, there is a 16-voice canon; every voice was recorded with a compact cassette recorder and each one has its own trajectory of spatial movement. Besides the medieval melodies, there is a noise of LW and MW radio waves, transformed on a reel-to-reel tape recorder.

The piece was commissioned by Canti Spazzializzati, you can listen to the whole album of 2020 edition here:
https://soundartforum.bandcamp.com/album/canti-spazializzati-x-radio-yjnia

O cieco mondo (After Jacopo da Bologna/Codex Faenza) (electronic music - binaural version)

Ryszard Lubieniecki – composer, musicologist, instrumentalist, and improviser from Poland. He studied composition (1st degree,  with prof. Bettina Skrzypczak) and accordion (1st and 2nd degree, with prof. Jerzy Kaszuba and dr Stanisław Miłek) at the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz. In 2023, Ryszard defended his PhD thesis at the Institute of Musicology at the University of Wrocław, where he currently studies late medieval music and works as a lecturer. His recent research focuses on the memory craft and its relationship to musical and theoretical sources from the XV century. Besides the accordion, he plays medieval keyboard instruments (portative organ, hammered clavisimbalum).

His music was performed at Gaudeamus Muziekweek (Netherlands), ECCO 2020 Concert in Brussels, Musica Privata IV in Łódź, Słuchalnia in Toruń, Musica Polonica Nova and Musica Electronica Nova in Wrocław and Canti Spazializzati (Wrocław). He was an artist-in-residence for Musica Privata VI in 2018 in Łódź. On January 2021 his first monographic CD „Kompozycje izorytmiczne” was released by Nasze Nagrania.

In 2014, he founded the contemporary music ensemble Layers with Zofia Ilnicka (flute) and Jakub Wosik (violin). With the trio, he performed pieces by Alannah Marie Halay, Josue W. Amador, and Piotr Bednarczyk, among others. In 2021 this material was published on the CD „Grundgestein” (self-released).

In 2016, Lubieniecki started his first solo project focused on the amplification of the accordion. New pieces were dedicated to him, including compositions by Dominik Karski, Alannah Marie Halay, Gilberto Agostinho, and Mateusz Śmigasiewicz. In 2019, he recorded the accordion pieces on his first solo CD, "Seeds", released by Nasze Nagrania. In January 2023, his second solo CD, „Musikformen der Natur”, with new pieces for portative organ was released by EMA Vinci.

In the area of medieval music, he attended courses with Corina Marti, Christophe Deslignes, Marcel Pérès, Crawford Young, and participated in the projects of the Foundation de Royaumont (Chanter l’Ars Nova français with Tiago Simas Freire and David Chappuis, Chanter l’Ars Nova italien with Patrizia Bovi, and l’Academie de musiques transculturelles with Jocelyn Mienniel and Ashraf Sharif Khan in 2021, and Camel Zekri and Okba Sudani in 2022). In 2019 with the singer Julieta Gonzalez-Springer, he founded the early music ensemble Vox Imaginaria.

As an improviser (free improvisation), he is active in the music scene of Wrocław, playing in ensembles Vogellicht (Izquierdo/Lubieniecki), Lubieniecki/Rupniewski, Disquiet, and Widzicie.

contact: ryszardlub15[at]gmail.com

Ryszard Lubieniecki

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