Zapis rozmowy, jaką miałem przyjemność odbyć z Joanną Sokolowską-Gwizdka – redaktorem naczelnym ’Culture Avenue’ (Austin, Texas)

I’ve been lucky over many years now, to make music with extraordinary people, however this is one of a kind, once in a lifetime project. This summer I’m going to compose and record music with living legend, composer I admire very much: Carlo DOMENICONI. I will compose together with Carlo large multi-movement piece for two guitars.

The very first rehearsal and masterclass at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Premiering THE ELEMENTS: Triple Concerto – version for Two Guitars, Cello and Guitar Octet with fantastic Gen Li (cello), Mark Ashford (guitar) and eight students under conductor Mark Eden.

Premiering on the 23rd of March at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire

EX NIHILO (NIHIL FIT) II officially premiered! w/ Aniello Desiderio & Zoran Dukic (soloists), Thomas Offermann (conductor) and brilliant student’s ensemble from Hochschule für Musik und Theater Rostock during Berlin International Guitar Academy & Festival

Giving master-classes, lecture and premier of EX NIHILO II during this year’s XI Berlin International Guitar Academy & Festival w/ Thomas Offermann, Edin Karamazov, Pavel Steidl, Zoran Dukic, Aniello Desiderio and more!

THE ELEMENTS: Triple Concerto for Guitar, Cello, Percussion and Guitar Orchestra and SUSURRUS VI for Guitar and Percussion has been premiered!
w/ Thomas Burritt (percussion), Bion Tsang (cello) and Joe Williams (conductor).
commissioned by Austin Classical Guitar, performed at the Aisd Performing Arts Center, Austin, TX (pictures by Jack Kloecker)

final rehearsals of THE ELEMENTS: Triple Concerto for Guitar, Cello, Percussion and Guitar Orchestra w/ amazing soloists: Thomas Burritt (percussion) Bion Tsang (cello), conducted by Joe Williams. Commissioned by Austin Classical Guitar, premieres: 18th of February at Aisd Performing Arts Center, Austin, TX

rehearsing Triple Concerto: THE ELEMENTS, for Guitar, Cello, Percussion and Guitar Orchestra w/ Thomas Burritt and Bion Tsang. Commissioned by Austin Classical Guitar, will be premiered this Saturday, 18th of February at AISD Performing Arts Center, Austin, TX

What an incredible 6h long recording session! I’ve been blessed to record over 60 min of my music with phenomenal musician and wonderful person: Thomas Burritt. New album followed by full videos soon!

Signed and ready to be posted worldwide! Would you like one? HERE you can get your copy today!

Thank you for purchasing my limited edition album ’SOLO’ (Contemporary Music for Solo Guitar)

YOU are one of only 200 people in the world who has it! Congratulations!

Following links below, you can now watch videos and purchase music scores from this very album 'SOLO’

ALL SCORES FROM ALBUM 'SOLO’ YOU CAN ORDER DIRECTLY VIA ✉️ slepayment@gmail.com

New album ’SOLO’ (Contemporary Music for Solo Guitar) will be out on the 1st of February! Only 200 physical copies will ever be released. All signed.

You can order your copy now contacting us directly via ✉️ slepayment@gmail.com

Track List:

01. FOR PAT (to Pat Metheny) [4:41]

SEVEN JAZZ PIECES [13:21]

02. I. African Sketch

03. II. (The Other) Milonga

04. III. For Sylvia (Jazz Vals)

05. IV. Tom’s Blues

06. V. (Afro) Samba

07. VI. Lyle’s Maze

08. VII. Until Then (Jazz Ballad)

BOOK OF VARIATIONS [14:21]

09. I. Polish Variations (Classical)

10. II. Polish Variations (Impressionistic)

11. III. Taiwanese Variations

12. IV. Japanese Variations

from TRAVELS [5:25]

13. Pōkarekare Ana (The Waves Are Breaking)

14. Thula Baba Thula Sana (original soundtrack from the movie ’The Wound Is Where The light Enters’)

LITTLE SONATA [6:07]

15. I. Moderto Galante

16. II. Lento Religioso

17. III. Arpeggiato Largamente

18. IV. Allegro Vigoroso

19. UNTITLED (Black & Blood Orange) [3:59]

20. DESEJO (to Odair Assad) [2:32]

FINIS AUTEM PRINCIPIUM EST (Epitaph on John Tavener) [6:29]

21. I. Itiner

22. II. Lucis Fluctus

SCINTILLA (after Arvo Pärt) [5:54]

23. I. Part One

24. II. Part Two: Psalm

25. III. Part Three

(SZOPEN) RE:MEMBERING  [6:45] 1^st Prize at The II International Guitar Composition Competition, Seixal, Portugal (2022)

26. I. no:cturne

27. II. pre:lude

28. III. ma:zurka (obertas)

29. SPIFFY (bonus track) [3:00]

30. LE-GO! (for microtonal guitar) (bonus track) [1:18] 1^st Prize at The IV International Microtonal Guitar Competition, Istanbul, Turkey (2020)

Total Time [74:53]

All tracks composed and performed by MAREK PASIECZNY

EX NIHILO (NIHIL FIT) 2: for Two Soloists and Large Guitar Ensemble (extended version) now on all major platforms!
w/ Pia Gazarek Offermann, Thomas Offermann and 15 amazing guitarists in Rostock, Germany // sound engineer Carsten Storm / editor: Shushan Ghazaryan

London recording session: premiere video of (szopen) re:membering

(szopen) re:membering

I. no:cturne
II. pre:lude
III. ma:zurka (obertas)

Edition Type: paper-book, full score: solo guitar & composer’s program notes (12 pages) | Publishers: SLE London Catalogue Number: SLE081 | Date Published: 20 December 2022 | printed in the UK

order your copy now contacting us directly via ✉️: slepayment@gmail.com

1st prize at the 2nd Portugal International Guitar Composition Competition / Seixal, September, 2022 with Maestro Leo Brouwer as chairman of the jury.

Performed three full SOLO & DUO (as a part of my Austin Classical Guitar residency) concerts this weekend with the brilliant Bion Tsang on cello. We had standing ovation, amazing audiences and lots of fun!

Masterclass at the The University of Texas at Austin (guitar class by Professor Adam Holzman) organised by Austin Classical Guitar

Rehearsing with Grammy nominee, cello virtuoso Bion Tsang at the The University of Texas at Austin,TX

Recording three pieces combined w/ an interview hosted by amazing Dianne Donovan for KMFA Classical

First day of my residency for Austin Classical Guitar 2022-23 🇺🇸
read-through of my five main themes to the February’s première with Joe Williams , ACG’s Artistic Director and the main conductor, Travis Marcum, ACG’s Education Director and 60+ truly passionate young guitarists!

Untitled (Black & Blood Orange) now available on all major platforms!

Untitled (Black & Blood Orange) is inspired and based on Pei-Shen Qian’s painting in the style of Mark Rothko. About the piece (original composer’s notes):

What is art? When does art become art and when does it stop? Does art become art only when someone tells us that it is so, and not before?

We live in a society where the price tag, the reputation of a ‘highly renowned’ gallery, and so-called ‘art experts’ tell us what is true art and what is not.  In turn, they are telling us what we should like and what we shouldn’t. But that’s not all. Under special circumstances, the same art experts may find something 'beautiful’, 'one of a kind’, 'brilliant’ and worth millions of dollars one day – and the next day completely worthless and unworthy of attention.

Genesis

Untitled (Black and Blood Orange) is inspired and based on Pei-Shen Qian’s painting in the style of Mark Rothko. The title is mine and is inspired by the original titles which Rothko would give to his own paintings.

When I first saw this painting, I knew it was not Rothko’s original painting. I knew that it was not a literal copy of an already created painting, but Pei-Shen Qian’s inspiration from the technique, language and visual world that Rothko created, that later on Pei-Shen studied for many years and at the end perfected.

For me, this painting was simply beautiful and extremely inspiring. Proportions, space, abstraction, tone, climate, colours, dynamics, inconspicuousness, warmth, atmosphere… In literally the same moment I saw the painting, a very clear vision of presenting the painting through music came to me. This happens extremely rarely. It’s not simply inspiration (as even that comes rarely) but more like a revelation, certainty.

Post-Impressionism vs Contemporary Art

Everyone’s perception is different. Especially when it comes to art. And even more so when it comes to contemporary art. For me, Pei-Shen Qian’s painting in the style of Mark Rothko speaks more in the hues and style of impressionism than in the rather (very often, but not always) cold, industrial style of contemporary art.

Above all, this Image is warm to me. The main background in desert warm yellow, with warm (even hot) blood orange and warm black (which permeates the purple background) is for me extremely impressionistic, friendly, and therefore tonal. Refined harmonically, but still tonal. Not abstract, not atonal. Therefore, the first element that I 'heard’ in this composition was the atmosphere and harmonic language of post-impressionism.

Tuning &Polytonality

The picture, its structure and atmosphere, as well as the elements it contains, directly correspond with the music. Since the painting itself is abstract, I knew I had to break with the typical sound, idiom of the classical guitar and find a completely different sound world. Hence, I used a very unusual tuning that I’ve never worked with or written in (4^th string down to c sharp). But that’s not all…

In the picture, two almost symmetrical elements can be directly distinguished – two squares. One in a shade of black (top) and the other in a shade of blood orange (bottom). It also had a very tangible effect on my choice of tuning that I mentioned before. The black square represents the first three strings: minor chord (e min), while the blood orange square represents the three bass strings: major chord (A maj). This polytonality (polyharmony) relationship also occurs throughout the entire work (hence my decision to score using two staves).

The arpeggio

So far timbre (colour) has been used as a reference to tonality. Tuning (but also vertical chord blocks / harmony) has been used to refer to the two main squares from the painting. The last visual and undoubtedly important element of the picture are the square’s edges (lines). The boundaries between the background and the 'main characters of the picture’: the two squares. The boundaries (these lines) are very irregular, jagged and dynamic. That is why I decided to present them in the form of an arpeggio in a very irregular time signature. Single notes in the form of arpeggios overlap to create harmonies and chords. A very torn, irregular meter brings energy and vibrance to the piece.

My intention to some extent was to create a bridge between the two fine arts – visual and musical. For me it is definitely a representation, an extension, of visual art in music. Those two fine arts which complement each other, in this very case: literally one was created from the other.

I hope this composition will inspire potential performers and listeners. I will show the element of harmony in music as a world of shades and colours. This piece was commissioned by and is dedicated to great physicist, guitar-fan and friend of mine – Tomasz Polak.

Marek Pasieczny
Leeds, The UK (January 1th 2022)

UNTITLED (Black & Blood Orange)

Edition Type: full score: solo guitar & composer’s program notes (9 pages) | Publishers: SLE London Catalogue Number: SLE080 | Date Published: 23 October 2022 get your copy now

contacting us directly writing ✉️: slepayment@gmail.com

Master-classes at the Academy of Music in Gdansk and Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz (19th & 20th of October, 2022)

I’m happy to be back in Poland for guitar workshops at the Academy of Music in Gdansk and Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz between 19-20 of October, 2022

I’m truly excited to officially announce my residency for Austin Classical Guitar’s 2022-23 Artist-in-Residence (Austin, Texas, USA).

I will be composing, performing and collaborating with fantastic musicians, conductors and students over several months. Soloists include the fantastic Bion Tsang (cello) and Thomas Burritt (percussion) and I’ll be working closely with Joe Williams , ACG’s Artistic Director who will be conducting a giant orchestra of over 70 guitarists from Texas, and Travis Marcum, ACG’s Education Director!

I am very pleased to announce that my piece (szopen) re:membering won the 1st prize in 2nd Portugal International Guitar Composition Competition / Seixal 2022 with Maestro Leo Brouwer as chairman.

I would like to thank Maestro Brouwer and all the honorable jury. Congratulations to all other composers from 32 different countries taking part in this competition. Thank you.

Thula Baba Thula Sana (original soundtrack from The Wound Is Where The Light Enters) (Vardo Films) now on all major platforms!

Award winning film: The Wound is Where the Light Enters, created by Dheeraj Akolkar (Vardo Films) premiering on 11th October 2022 at the Barbican in London, UK

WIENIAWSKI PROJECT: Music of Henryk Wieniawski for two guitars is out now!
recorded for Polish National Radio at 57th Wieniawski International Music Festival w/ amazing Krzysztof Pełech | organised by Ośrodek Kultury i Sztuki we Wrocławiu (OKiS) and Teatr Zdrojowy im. Henryka Wieniawskiego w Szczawnie-Zdroju

Intensive last week during workshops Mistrz i uczeń. Poland has so many hard working and amazingly talented young guitarists!

Music by *Henryk Wieniawski, Marek Pasieczny and *Wojciech Długoraj (*transcribed and arranged by Marek Pasieczny) performed by Marek Pasieczny and Krzysztof Pełech

now available on all major platforms!

Edition Type: full Score + guitar parts: Henryk WIENIAWSKI: FOUR PIECES for Two Guitars (transcribed & arranged by Marek PASIECZNY) | Publishers: SLE London | Catalogue Number: SLE074 | Date Published: August 2022

get your copy now contacting us directly writing ✉️: slepayment@gmail.com

Recording for the upcoming film: ’The Wound Is Where The Light Enters’ (Uganda, ’21-’ 22) by Vardo Films, London, UK.

It’s a composition entitled 'Thula Baba, Thula Sana’ (from book ’Travels’ ) which has been composed in Pretoria, South Africa.

SUSURRUS I (for 13-course baroque lute and guitar) by Marek PASIECZNY

Edition Type: Full Score + parts: 13-course baroque lute, guitar & composer’s program notes | Publishers: SLE London | Catalogue Number: SLE073 | Date Published: 2 August 2022

get your copy now contacting us directly writing ✉️: slepayment@gmail.com

The premiere video recording of SUSURRUS I. It’s the very first version of this composition. The combination of 2 instruments born more than 200 years apart (classical guitar and 13-course baroque lute) is extremely unique. Thank you to my true friend and amazing musician Jerzy Zak

SUSURRUS I

Cantus Planus | Incantatio et Psalmus | Canticulum (2021)

The title – Susurrus (Lat.: susurrare), meaning a whispering, murmuring, or rustling sound – depicts the gentleness and humbleness of the compositional materials used to establish the three movements of this piece.

The first sketches were created without any specific instrumentation in mind. I started on the piano and wrote in polyphony (single voicing and multi-voicing techniques). The melody is meant to flow and intertwine with other voices, horizontally, not vertically.

I was largely inspired by my study of chants, psalms and Gregorian hymns. The purity, modesty, asceticism, and minimalism conveyed were a complete detachment from contemporary music. The greatest attention was given to the smallest change of interval, and there was a complexity within its simplicity that fascinated me.

It was, however, not my intention to copy the past. I wanted only to draw on the consolidation of the atmosphere, asceticism and extremely careful consonance of successive intervals, single voices and their layering. Furthermore, I did not wish to use any original chants, psalms or hymns. Instead, I wanted to create every interval, every melody, and every co-interaction from scratch.

Cantus Planus

Cantus Planus (plainchant) is a body of chants used in the liturgies of the Western Church. When referring to the term plainsong, it is those sacred pieces that are composed in Latin text. Plainsong was the exclusive form of Christian church music until the ninth century, and the introduction of polyphony.

The monophonic chants of plainsong have a non-metric rhythm. Their rhythms are generally freer than the metered rhythm of later Western music, and they are sung without musical accompaniment (pure monody vs multi-layered monody). This inspired my decision to organize the time using an uneven but organic time signature.

I incorporated the essence of purity and asceticism through a very conscious choice of scales. The Chant in this movement is built on the aeolian pentatonic scale (A C D E F), which is a natural minor scale consisting only of 5 pure natural notes.

Incantatio et Psalmus

Incantatio et Psalmus is the supine form of incantō (“sing, recite, enchant”) integrated with psalm (a sacred song; a poetical composition for use in the praise or worship of God). Continuing with the depiction of purity, the second movement is built on the aeolian mode in its entirety.

Canticulum

Canticulum (song or incantation)  is a hymn, psalm or other Christian song of praise with lyrics taken from biblical or holy texts other than the Psalms.

The third movement breaks free from the dominance of one (Aeolian) scale. The main theme of Canticulum appears not only in different tonal forms in the same key, but modulates through a variety of different keys and tonics. The form of polyphony is mainly shaped by a dependence on the interval of a 3^rd.

Number ‘3’:

The number 3 is of particular importance in Susurrus. It is one of the most important numbers in the Bible. It represents harmony, The Holy Trinity and God’s presence. In Susurrus, the number 3 is represented not only in the number of movements, but also in the interval of thirds, which shapes the monodic but also polyphonic compositional narrative of the whole three movements.

Instrumentation:

Susurrus can be orchestrated and adapted for many smaller or larger chamber ensembles. This is one possible version of the piece.

As its very first version, the combination of 2 instruments born more than 200 years apart (classical guitar and 13-course baroque lute) seemed extremely appropriate to the genesis of Susurrus.

I hope Susurrus will find many performances in new and unusual pairs of instruments or larger ensembles (across contemporary as well as historical instruments).

Marek PASIECZNY (17th of July, 2021)

Newly recorded PŌKAREKARE ANA for Solo Guitar is now on YouTube. Based on famous Māori melody, originally written for my first concert tour in New Zealand.

PŌKAREKARE ANA (The Waves are Breaking) for Solo Guitar | single is OUT NOW on all major platforms!

Based on famous Māori melody, originally written for my first concert tour in New Zealand, later on published in the second edition of the score-book TRAVELS.
LISTEN / STREM / DOWNLOAD

Broadcast on the Polish National Radio of the concert which has been recorded during 57th Henryk Wieniawski’s International Music Festival w/ Krzysztof Pełech which will be aired during the audition Miejscówka z Dwójką

music by Marek Pasieczny and Pasieczny’s original transcriptions of music by W. Długoraj, J. Polak, and H. Wieniawski | 2nd July, 6:30 pm, Polish National Radio, Polskie Radio Pr. II

Seven Jazz Pieces (version for Two Guitars) by Marek PASIECZNY

Edition Type: Full Score + parts: I Guitar and II Guitar & composer’s program notes | Publishers: SLE London
Catalogue Number: SLE072 | Pages: 52 | Date Published: 27 June 2022

get your copy now contacting us directly writing ✉️: slepayment@gmail.com

unforgettable memories from an evening concert at 57th Wieniawski International Music Festival w/ brilliant Krzysztof Pełech during which we gave world premieres of brand new transcriptions of Wieniawski’s pieces and performed extreme variety of music solo and duo!

organised by Ośrodek Kultury i Sztuki we Wrocławiu (OKiS) & Festiwal im. H. Wieniawskiego w Szczawnie-Zdroju.

unforgettable recording session w/ Prof Piotr Rojek on SUSURRUS III (for Solo Organ)
at beautiful Kościół Parafialny pw. Wniebowzięcia NMP

Such a magnificent place to perform music by J.S. Bach, A. Pärt, D. Cato and my own w/ organist virtuoso prof. Piotr Rojek who also gave world premiere of my triptych titled SUSURRUS III (for Solo Organ)

• concerts (solo & duo) w/ Krzysztof Pełech and prof. Piotr Rojek
• composition & guitar workshops during Summer Guitar Festival and Mistrz i Uczen
• world premiere of SUSURRUS III (for Organ Solo) and four arrangements for two guitars of music by Henryk Wieniawski commissioned by OKIS

CZERWIEC:
5ty – solo i duo razem z Prof. Piotr ROJEK (organ)
16:00 | Kościół Parafialny pw. Wniebowzięcia NMP, Kamieniec Ząbkowicki (II Festiwal Muzyczny im. Marianny Opańskiej) m.in. PRAWYKONANIE: SUSURRUS III (na organy solo)

18ty – duo z/ Krzysztof PEŁECH
19:00 | Teatr Zdrojowy, Szczawno-Zdrój 57th Wieniawski International Music Festival
m.in. PRAWYKONANIE: Henryk Wieniawski, cztery kompozycje na dwie gitary

LIPIEC:

15sty – duo z/ Krzysztof PEŁECH
19:00 | Trzebiatów, Trzebiatowski Ośrodek Kultury

17sty– duo z/ Krzysztof PEŁECH
16:00 | Kośćiół Św. Pawła i Piotra, Namysłów (XXIII Letnie Koncerty Organowe)

17sty – 24ty warsztaty kompozycji i gitarowe: Summer Guitar Festival | Krzyżowa ZAPISY

SIERPIEŃ:
24ty – 30ty warsztaty gitarowe: Mistrz i Uczeń | Krzeszowice ZAPISY

Seven Jazz Pieces: DUO (version for two guitars) composed by Marek PASIECZNY and performed w/ Krzysztof Pełech out now on all major platforms