4. Night Blooming Cereus (Joseph Kolkovich: Arboretum III)

3. Tiny, Tiny Little Bonzai (Joseph Kolkovich: Arboretum III)

5. Black Locust the Invader (Joseph Kolkovich: Arboretum III)

Mendelssohn

Benedictus

Capriccio

"Phantomaticon" for chamber orchestra, piano and computer (2021)
fl, ob, cl, bsn | tpt, hr, tbn | 2 perc | pno | comp | pno solo | vln 1, vln 2, vl, vc, cb

Performed by: 
Orkiestra Muzyki Nowej, Maciej Koczur - conductor, Ignacy Lisiecki - piano, Paweł Hendrich - computer

Recording: Wojciech Marzec
Mix: Wojciech Marzec
Mastering: Paweł Hendrich

In the virtual world you can get lost more than you can find - this is the warning Stanisław Lem included among many theses he put forward in one of his most famous essays "Summa technologiae". In the composition "Phantomaticon" I presented the very issue of losing oneself in the artificial world. The title of the piece refers to the phantom machine described in the aforementioned essay - the process of creating artificial worlds. This process is – according to Lem – "art with feedback", which consists in creating two-way connections between the artificial reality and its recipient. It is also worth noting that the second part of the work's title (-aticon) forms an anagram of the word "action". This emphasizes the active role of the creator in creating a new (musical) reality. This activity concerns the performance of the final phase of the piece, in which the performers make decisions live about choosing the right part (action) and its variation (color). This situation is supported by an application I have developed. It is a kind of 'live performance simulator' for the conductor, thanks to which he can test any variant of the composition's ending and choose the best one. So it comes to "feedback" between the creator and the performer. 

As Stanisław Lem emphasized, in artificial reality, we are not only lost in something but also we lose ourselves – as a species. We abandon humanism for transhumanism, taking advantage of the highly developed technology that supports our lives. The modern, increasingly automated world is thus inevitably approaching the question: what do I need a human being for? In the piece "Phantomaticon" the role of the ensemble and electronics is to build a symbolic image of a dystopian world. The soloist, on the other hand, plays the role of the last humanist in a posthuman world.

Project co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland within the programme „Collections” – the priority „Composition Commissions” implemented by the Institute of Music and Dance. 
Commissioned by Orkiestra Muzyki Nowej.

Phantomaticon (2021)

Through The Looking Glass I (Paweł Szymański)

Jazz Suite (D. Szostakowicz) 
5. Little Polka
NOSPR

Jazz Suite (Dymitr Szostakowicz) 05 Little Polka

„Hordiaver” for chamber orchestra (2016-2017)
dedicated to Szymon Bywalec and Orkiestra Muzyki Nowej
fl, ob, cl, bsn | tpt, hrn, trbn, tba | 2 perc | acc, 2 pno | vln 1, vln 2, vl, vc, cb

Performed by: 
Orkiestra Muzyki Nowej, Szymon Bywalec - conductor

Recording: Piotr Papier
Mix: Piotr Papier
Mastering: Paweł Hendrich

The work's title combines three words: horizontal, diagonal, and vertical, representing three types of musical narrative that make up its form.

Notwithstanding a developing orchestral timbre and texture, the initial fragment is harmonically static. Pitches oscillate between B♭ and B. The listener's may perceive the narrative of that section as a motionless, horizontal line. After several minutes comes a gradual development, with the plot unfolding simultaneously on several levels. The harmony changes in a fluid way, one articulation leading into another, and so forth. The resulting imitations and counterpoints bring to mind a diagonal structure. Many threads intertwine, creating complex skews. Musical events become swifter, the plot proceeding to another episode where the action is often interrupted as if by vertical lines, symbolizing the verticality indicated in the work's title.

After this section, we go back to the horizontal-like static narrative. As before in the introduction, a sonoristic section with a horizontal narrative is followed by a diagonal section, then by another episode full of sudden, vertical turns.

The work's ending is built in a similar fashion. Here, three instruments play a key role: the accordion, violin, and cello, whose dialogues are violently interrupted by the orchestra. From the beginning of the composition, musicians playing those instruments play semi-soloistic, virtuoso parts, rising somewhat above the ensemble, only to reassume the role of accompanists and blend into the orchestral apparatus. Because of this treatment, we can never be sure if they are truly soloists, as their parts rarely come to the fore.

Commissioned by The Institute of Music and Dance (IMiT) during Composer-in-residence programme.

Hordiaver (2016-2017)

"Osamotnienie(nie)..." for ensemble (2020)
fl, hn, acc, vc, perc, el gtr, comp

Performed by: 
Orkiestra Muzyki Nowej, Szymon Bywalec - conductor, Paweł Hendrich - electronics

Recording: Łukasz Myszyński
Mix: Paweł Hendrich
Mastering: Paweł Hendrich

The piece "Osamotnienie(nie)..." („Isolation(no)...”) is an expression of respect for the people of Wrocław who were affected by Covid-19. The composer himself wrote about it - while still at the preliminary idea stage in 2020 - in this way:
"The source of the concept for the piece is the current pandemic situation and its associated constraints. As a society, for the first time in decades, we find ourselves in this kind of situation of widespread danger. Although it affects us all, each of us perceives it subjectively. The everyday fast-paced world favors extroverts, but now circumstances have changed - all of us (being forced into seclusion) have more opportunity for introverted reflection and analysis of the situation we find ourselves in. The theme of the piece will be the emotions felt during the pandemic by the inhabitants of Wrocław - the city that became one of the first outbreaks of the epidemic in Poland. On the stage we will hear sounds symbolizing rebellion against unwanted isolation, forced separation from loved ones, constant uncertainty and even fear.
During such extreme situations as a pandemic, it is best to see that Wrocław is, above all, the people who inhabit it, and not the urban buildings. And it is people that we miss the most when we have to stay in our homes for a long time. So the piece does not lack the thread of longing, which is also experienced by the composer - although we live close, in the same city, we cannot meet other people and have to rely on imperfect substitutes in the form of electronic contacts".

Work executed with funds from a grant by the City of Wrocław.

Osamotnienie(nie)...

Osamotnienie(nie)... (2020)

He graduated with honours in orchestra and opera conducting from the class of Jan Wincenty Hawel at the Academy of Music in Katowice. In 2006–13, he was artistic director of the Karol Szymanowski Academic Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, where he worked with renowned conductors such as Gabriel Chmura, Takuo Yuasa, Arturo Tamayo, Jacek Kaspszyk, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Paul McCreesh. He is also a graduate of the Academy of Music in Cracow, where he studied oboe with Jerzy Kotyczka. He perfected his technique in the masterclasses of Gianluigi Gelmetti (2001) and Lothar Zagrosek (2002) on a scholarship to Siena’s Accademia Musicale Chigiana. He also participated in conducting workshops taught, notably, by Gabriel Chmura, Kurt Masur, Zoltán Peskó, and Pierre Boulez. He won the 1st Prize at the 2nd National Review of Young Conductors in Białystok (1998) and two special prizes in the Grzegorz Fitelberg International Competition for Conductors in Katowice (1999). He has held several scholarships from the Polish Ministry of Culture. In 2014 he received the Honorary Award of the Polish Composers’ Union for his contributions to the promotion of Polish contemporary music. 

Bywalec is the artistic director and permanent conductor of the OMN (New Music Orchestra), which he has led at various contemporary music festivals including the Warsaw Autumn, Wrocław’s Musica Polonica Nova and Musica Electronica Nova, Bratislava’s Melos–Ethos, Lviv’s Velvet Curtain 2, Paweł Szymański Festival in Warsaw, Beijing Modern, Vienna’s Bridges, Hindsgavl Festival in Denmark, and Klang Copenhagen Avant-Garde Music Festival. He also regularly conducts the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR) in Katowice. He has presented more than a hundred world and Polish premieres, recorded extensively for Polish Radio (with OMN), and conducted OMN on its first album, nominated for the 2003 Fryderyk Award of the Polish Phonographic Academy. For his CD dedicated to the music of Weronika Ratusińska (with OMN, under the DUX label), he received the Pizzicato Supersonic Award in 2009. His recording of Paweł Szymański’s Three Songs to Words by Trakl became a recommended work at the International Rostrum of Composers in Paris (2007), while Magdalena Długosz’s Gemisatos (with Sinfonia Varsovia) and Ewa Trębacz’s things lost things invisible performed under his baton received the same accolades in 2009. In 2013 his CD of cello concertos by Scandinavian composers (Nørgård, Nordheim, and Saariaho, with cellist Jakob Kullberg) won the Danish Radio’s Lyt til Nyt Pris for 2012. The year 2016 saw the release of Decca’s CD recorded with OMN and clarinettist Michelle Marelli. 

In 2013–16 Szymon Bywalec was the artistic director of the Musica Polonica Nova festival. He has conducted many philharmonic, radio, and chamber orchestras in Poland and other countries.

Jazz Suite (Dymitr Szostakowicz) 05 Little Polka

Szymon Bywalec

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